[Keeping It Simple]

Originally Posted by EVOLghost

http://io9.com/5937356/prominent-sci...s-just-like-us

Prominent scientists sign declaration that animals have conscious awareness, just like us



:O!

Isn't that Cthulhu in the photo!?

[EVOLghost]

Yes!


It's to show that he will KNOWINGLY destroy our world!

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

The man with the long white beard was Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople, the spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians. Fortunately, he is known for his easy, affable manner, and he joined the laughter that followed.
But his commitment to environmental activism is deeply serious, earning him the nickname the Green Patriarch. He has preached that caring for the environment is a religious imperative, and for more than a decade, he has made a point of bringing together theologians and scientists like Dr. Goodall for debates and briefings.
This year’s reports of record melting of the earth’s ice sheets and extreme droughts have given a new urgency to Bartholomew’s messages about the degrading natural world. While economists and politicians prescribe more growth and consumption to overcome economic crises, the patriarch insists that the real crisis is cultural and spiritual, and can be overcome only by moving away from rampant materialism.
All human beings, he has said, should draw a distinction “between what we want and what we need.”
In September, he published a strongly worded encyclical calling on all Orthodox Christians to repent “for our sinfulness” in not doing enough to protect the planet. Biodiversity, “the work of divine wisdom,” was not granted to humanity to abuse it, he wrote; human dominion over the earth does not mean the right to greedily acquire and destroy its resources. He singled out “the powerful of this world,” saying they need a new mind-set to stop destroying the planet for profit or short-term interest.

“Traditionally in Christianity, sin was what you did to other humans,” said Kallistos Ware, a prominent Orthodox theologian based in Britain, “but Bartholomew insisted that what you do to the animals, the air, the water, the land can be sinful, not just folly, and that was quite a change.”

Still, Bartholomew’s seat, established 1,700 years ago, holds primacy among the world’s 300 million Orthodox Christians. As “first among equals” in the church, he acts as convener and can set the agenda for discussion.

Not all church prelates are inspired by his efforts to enlighten the faithful on the environment. “The patriarch is going against the current in much of Orthodoxy,” said the Rev. John Chryssavgis, an archdeacon of the church and adviser on environmental issues. “He has to preach and promote this constantly.”

“He wants a permanent institution,” Father Chryssavgis said. “When he passes on, there may not be the same concern for the environment.”
The impact of the patriarch’s many sermons and conferences is difficult to gauge. There has been wide interest in a new book, “Greening the Orthodox Parish,” said Frederick Krueger, its American editor. Subtitled “A Handbook for Christian Ecological Practice” and with a preface by Bartholomew, it covers theology, special liturgies and prayers as well as science papers and practical advice.

Numerous Orthodox monasteries and churches in Eastern Europe and the United States have switched to solar energy in recent years.gone further than most; some theologians call his stance revolutionary.

Subtitled “A Handbook for Christian Ecological Practice” and with a preface by Bartholomew, it covers theology, special liturgies and prayers as well as science papers and practical advice.

Numerous Orthodox monasteries and churches in Eastern Europe and the United States have switched to solar energy in recent years.
Among them is the Chrysopegi monastery on the Greek island of Crete, where the nuns use the environmental texts of the patriarch and other theologians in their teachings.
“More and more young people are coming to our courses,” Mother Theocheni, the abbess of the monastery, said at the conference at Halki, near Istanbul. “They come to find meaning. Many seem to find inspiration in ecology. It’s been growing fast for the last 10 years.”■

NY Times Op-Ed

 

[EVOLghost]

brain cells from pee pee?

[floatingslowly]

I cannot give Robert Schunk enough praise.

[Rob Instigator]

I read all of Schunk's stuff but I do not see exactly what the hypothesis is?

The Sun will likely just becoem a red giant and slowly cool for a billion years, once it's supply of nuclear fuel has run out.

Hopefully, humans will have evolved into beings of pure consciousness and energy,. capable of traveling through space at light speed.

and then we will no longer need all the big bootie tumblr sites.....

[floatingslowly]

I dread paraphrasing on my phone, but basically, his theorem regarding the formation of our solar system based upon a breakdown of heavier elements, that are typically created as a part of stellar fusion/supernovae and spread, universally, by the large outward forces that come during these star's demise; a fate that our middleweight sun will likely avoid, instead bloating to consume the inner-system, and subsequently burning itself toward dwarfism.

Have no fear, there will always be a need for big bootie tumblr sites (and planets with higher levels of lithium).

[floatingslowly]

Did you hear that instead of heliopause, V'ger found a new, previously untheorized region of space??

[Rob Instigator]

V'Ger is col'chillin on the edge of the solar system, and it takes what, like 14 hours for a signal to get to us from V'Ger?

[Severian]

Originally Posted by EVOLghost

http://io9.com/5937356/prominent-sci...s-just-like-us

Prominent scientists sign declaration that animals have conscious awareness, just like us



:O!

Just as a heads up, if you're reading it on io9, it's probably something that's been in the works for 2 decades or more. I read that page all the time, but it is pop-science^10, and I think that Star Trek book guide posted today has been its biggest revelation.

[Rob Instigator]

plants have conscious awareness

so far there is no way to say that rocks and dirt and water do not have conscious awareness.

[floatingslowly]

I swear to god, the next time you call ME a hippie...

(I'm with you on the plants)

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by Rob Instigator

Hopefully, humans will have evolved into beings of pure consciousness and energy,. capable of traveling through space at light speed

sure you mean "background radiation"

[floatingslowly]

Has anyone seen my Nag Champa???

[Rob Instigator]

we are already background radiation

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by Rob Instigator

we are already background radiation

we're mostly water with various minerals suspended in a carbon matrix

not quite at "pure light-speed waves of nothingness" just yet

[floatingslowly]

www.decayfilm.com


HARD SCIENCE: HARD AT WORK.

[Rob Instigator]

all matter is just energy in a different form. we are all radiation.

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by Rob Instigator

all matter is just energy in a different form. we are all radiation.

yes yes, but organized it's a different story.

what i meant to originally say is that consciousness requires a proper casserole to gel into: a skull with all that jello. the idea of "pure consciousness" is what nietzsche called the shadow of god that remains after god is dead.

[Rob Instigator]

Nahhh, consciousness exists without brain and skull. plants have consciousness and no centralized brain.