US House votes to continue NSA's phone surveillance

[Oompa Loompa Dude]

That's some uptight thinking, to think it is only the empire who is able to know truth. The ultimate goal for humanity is to know where every single atom in the universe is. Where it has been and where it is going. All facts are to be revealed, it is not the empire, it's archaeology.

We must start preparing our selves for the coming Singularity, the hive mind. We are in that process, just look at Facebook, reddit and Google Glass. If you do it, some one will record it, and it will be online, end of story. There are more cameras than people in some places, and every robot is recording and sharing everything we do (technically not yet, but Skynet is in development, it will be real in a few years, your dishwasher will be on the robot internet).

You do bring up a point, and one I would say is the most important, democratizing this technology, so that it is not exclusively in the hands of the wicked. In a world of quantum computers, Google Glass and robot internets, privacy is a technological impossibility, there is no right or wrong to that fact, it just is. And in that world, nobility, justice and equality are the most important things to hold on to and defend.

What I am saying is, the truth will be revealed, all truth, past present and future. That's not the problem, how we organize our societies is where the problem lies.

But Dude revgms...I still jerk off manually, man.

[Rev. Gary (revgms)]

And your toaster is watching, welcome to a brave new world. What's needed is for us to not judge each other by how we jerk off.

Our destiny is to know everything, what I'm saying is don't fight to obscure truth, fight for nobility, forgiveness and justice. Fight for love, not secrets.

[LotsaBadKarma]

I overheard a guy in the bowling alley bar telling some other dude about how he likes to start jerking off with his right hand and then suddenly switch to his left. I thought that was probably the closest he would ever get to a threesome.

Yup. I made that up.

[Rev. Gary (revgms)]

Another point I'd like to make, there can be no unified humanity that keeps secrets from itself.

Look to the Tsun Tsu, "all war is deception", when we cling to the excessive need to keep secrets, we perpetuate a state of war between all humanity, a subtle but real impediment to a truly enlightened society.

I'm suggesting there is something deeper and more meaningful than the perception of privacy, something more deserving of our energies and attention.

[Oompa Loompa Dude]

And your toaster is watching, welcome to a brave new world. What's needed is for us to not judge each other by how we jerk off.

Our destiny is to know everything, what I'm saying is don't fight to obscure truth, fight for nobility, forgiveness and justice. Fight for love, not secrets.

revgms, we're not judging you by how you jerk off, electronically or manually. Of course you do, dude.

But you gotta understand, man, not all people are meant for 'peace and love', there's a lot of nihilists out there who would be willing to cut off their girlfriend's toe for a million dollars...WITH nail polish. You don't wanna know about it, believe me.

What I don't understand is how we still believe in the "We", as in the "Royal We", like the Media We, and the Government We, and the Technology We. Do we believe that there's really a We? There's not dude. But maybe you're not privy to the new shit, but anyway, that's what you pay me for.
When a politician says, "We", he is talking about an imaginary ideal that does not exist, but still sends the right shivers up people's spines to get the votes.
When any American says "We", he is dreaming that everyone believes what he believes, and thats not always true, man.

Now what about these developments in erotic software? Google glass? Robotic toasters?
You might fool the fucks in the league office, but you don't fool Jesus. It's bush league psych-out stuff. Laughable, man.
These are toys for the people who can afford them, they're distractions, man. Take off your google glasses and look at the other countries in the world, where people are sleeping in bamboo shacks and still cooking over wood or charcoal fires. You want to live in your robotic home with your Hive mind and your Google glasses in your own Royal We World, dude, while people in other countries sleep on the ground, and eat one meal of rice a day. And as long as you don't see it, and you're fed the right propaganda, you can pretend you're living in a technologically advanced society of peace and love.

[Rev. Gary (revgms)]

There is only one species of humans, we are them. We may hold different ideas and have different desires, but we are all subject to the same laws of physics and physicality, or as Buddha would say the same four noble truths.

44 year old war vet and survivor of many horrors, I know of nihilists, and in other contexts I use the term sociopaths, the estimate being one in twenty humans is a sociopath. Ya I know of 'em

Question, how is one to look at how others live around the world, with out using technology? How do you even know that stuff without accessing the hive mind? You know these things because of robots (satellites taking pictures), because of google, because of technology. Even if you claim paper books as your source, you still used technology. Google glass is just an extension of what we began with language and writing, the accumulation and sharing of knowledge and truth. It is one lineage from cave paintings to quantum computers and beyond, to know and make sense of the universe.

Hell, how are we having this conversation? We are accessing the proto-hive mind right now, this forum is the beginnings of the Dudeism corner of the Singularity.

What I am speaking to transcends politics or nationality, I am talking about technology and science, including the sciences of cognition (where you'll find the spirituality of being human). Our human evolution is no longer driven by exterior conditions, we can manipulate our DNA and merge with our technology now, the potential is limitless. That really has been the case for a very long time. We have been evolving through our technology since we found fire and stone tools. Thousands of years ago we learned to make light by burning wood, today we have captured light itself and made it stop dead in a stone. What limits are there to us? http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/162289-light-stopped-completely-for-a-minute-inside-a-crystal-the-basis-of-quantum-memory

And who says we can't live simple lives in grass huts on beaches and still have a tablet pc, or be online while exploring the forests. This isn't about replacing the natural world, it is about understanding it, and using that understanding to limit suffering for all beings as much as possible. You can walk the Appellation Trail with your Google Glass 2.0 contacts in, take pictures, share your experiences with friends in real time. Or discover a wounded fellow hiker and get them help at incredible speed. Or spot an environmental disaster about to unfold and call in help for our furrier fellow Earthlings. What sux about that?

Yes, we are still plagued by the base emotions of fear and greed, but those of us who can, must look beyond that to give hope to those who can not.

Do I think it is a done deal, not quite, we still yet may destroy ourselves or our civilization, but meh, nothing lasts forever.

[Oompa Loompa Dude]

i appreciate your style dude revgms, you got the whole technology thing goin on.
but as i said, i still jerk off (and travel) manually. i know those things because i have seen them first hand.
if you prefer to sit at home and look at everything through virtual reality, thats cool man, but i gotta tell ya, yur in the running for the laziest man worldwide.   

yeah technology is cool, man, thats cool. but what bothers me is the Royal We thing. Like when you said "we" can capture light and make it stop dead in a stone...what do you need that for dude?

I mean...can YOU capture light personally? I know I can't. Why call other people's achievements as our own, grouping them together in a way to suggest that technology is the leader of humanity rather than something else? What else? Anything else, dude. And I know its just like my opinion, but making more and more and more advanced technology, and making it the leader into the future is, I think, an unsuccessful path and will lead only to self-destruction. Besides that, sucking up to all the corporations selling you a new technology every few months is just letting a stranger fuck you in the ass.

Develop wisdom dude. Intelligence and technology has already run way ahead of common sense and wisdom. Its time to lay off, grab a caucasian or an oat soda, kick back, roll a few, and abide. That's why we're here in this here forum Dude. To advance our wisdom with other Dudes. I love Dudeism because people don't bash each other. They refrain from aggression and try to abide. But it's not common, man, we are the exception. Most of the people out there act like 8-year olds.

[Rev. Gary (revgms)]

Er...why is it one or the other? Why can't I be a hippie, organic buying, camping and meditating Dude who also knows the current state of quantum physics? Why can't I get off the cushion, after zazen or taking my Mountain Seat (Shambhala), and volunteer at the Stone Soup Cafe, then login and share that experience with all my Dudiest friends? http://dudespaper.com/stone-soup-caf-brings-food-and-community-to-needy-urban-achievers.html/

Why can't we find the reasonable balance? The goal of technology is the same today as it was when we used it to end our fear of the night with fire, to improve life and lessen suffering.

Quickly, to the stopping light thang, it is big because it will open up quantum networks, making it even faster and easier for an EMT in the field to communicate with the hospital, to save more lives. It is a piece in the puzzle for subspace communications also.

I understand your Yin about this, but a little Yang is not bad, it makes the whole. Technology is no more contrary to the Tao than a butterfly, it is in how it is applied that matters.

I use "we" because it is the only label I dig for humanity, not big on "us" or "them", I would say Earthlings or beings, but I tend to think that would confuse some people. The Tao would also work, but again it would lose some folks. I try not to get lost in the ten thousand things.

Even as the Dalai Lama promotes science and technology, he is yet to cast off his robes and embrace materialism. Why then should I?

[Oompa Loompa Dude]

Intellectually, I don't know if I am able to meet the challenge of your arguments, dude, I am not really a thinker type of person, I'm more of a feeler type. And all I can say is that it just feels wrong. No matter how you rationalize it and make it sound good, in the end, I gotta go with the Dude inside of me and he feels that some technology is over the line, man.
As you said, we are Earthlings, we come from the Earth and will go back to it, we should stay connected to the Earth to live in balance, rather than connected to our technology. You can have both, but not really, because one takes away from the other. You can't hear the bird's song or the wind in the trees when you have a headset on, even just one ear will distract you, and you can't fully see nature if one eye is hooked up to google glasses.

Besides that, the Earth has her own temperament, and is wild, no one person or group of people rule her so in tuning in to nature, you can connect with that freedom. But tuning in to technology is tuning into slavery as the technology is ruled, created, and distributed or sold by other men.

And besides that, man, putting your faith in technology is not the answer, man, it's living for the future and not living in the present, not being in the moment, and I'm sure that's not a Dudeist, Taoist, or Buddhist way to live.
So try to stop letting your brain fly away into quantum physics and the proverbial wave of the future. You are not what you see on tv, or on the internet, dude, you are...well....lost my train of thought there...

You are what you eat, dude. And for me that would be an In and Out Burger. So try to be the burger revgms....be the burger, man....In....and...Out....Breathe....In....and....Out. Those are good burgers, revgms.

[Rev. Gary (revgms)]

Or you could leave technology in the hands of non-dudes, none of us paying attention just waiting for them to crash civilization. Naw, we gotta have a hand in how it is applied, like say for super efficient solar cells, fusion, CO2 scrubbers and a space program capable of saving every Earthling from an asteroid.

Of course scientists love the natural world, that's their job, to love it so much they try and understand it, every bit of it. This is the natural arch of evolution, once a planet produces complicated higher life forms they develop technology, eventually creating new non-organic life forms. Nothing un-natural exists, nothing comes from outsside our universe, we are following our natural course. To procreate and expand into new eco-systems like space.

What I'm saying is, how do you know we are not supposed to develop technology so that we can know the universe. What if that is why we are here, so that the universe might know itself, look at all the beauty we have been privy to thanks to Hubble. If we are the universe in human form, then the universe can look upon itself and make a record of what it sees, we are literally the universe getting to know itself. That is half of the noble pursuit of science and technology, the other is lessening of suffering.

Besides, Caucasians, beer and bowling balls are all technology, everything short of walking around naked grunting at each other is technology. Everything beyond the law of the jungle is a product of technology.

To the larger point, and to circle back on topic. Does it make sense to you to let only the greedy and frightened have and use new technology? All these things will be created, do we leave them to the NSA and Monsanto? It is technology and the good people who employ it that is going to break the death grip big oil has on our society and environments. With out technology Edward Snowden could not have warned us that technology was being used against us. Technology can lead to democracy and enlightened societies just as easily as it can rape the natural world, it only matters who controls it.

Don't turn your back on technology, that is like giving Bank of America free reign to manipulate markets unchecked, embrace technology so they don't have total control over it. With that, may I now present to you the greatest speech ever given, in it the promise of technology is made clear, along with it's danger of leaving it in the hands of the un-loved and un-natural.

"Let us fight for a world of reason, where science and progress lead to all men's happiness!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQU9J2ssOF8

[DigitalBuddha]

"Let us fight for a world of reason, where science and progress lead to all men's happiness!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQU9J2ssOF8

Right on, Charlie!

[Oompa Loompa Dude]

I'm not against all technology, just some technology, which I feel is over the line.

And whether the citizens and the Dudes of a nation express interest in technology or not, it will not prevent those with power to hoard and keep secret many technologies which they don't share with the public.

If you are truly for what you say, Dude, "a world of reason where science and progress lead to all people's happiness" then don't preach for technology because you are already preaching to the choir, people love technology, even I am fascinated by it, though I see it's dangers.
Instead, preach transparency of corporations and governments, because that is the path to the future you want.

And by the way, "This is the natural arch of evolution, once a planet produces complicated higher life forms they develop technology, eventually creating new non-organic life forms."...
I have 2 questions about this statement:
How do you know this? "once a planet produces complicated higher life forms they develop technology, eventually creating new non-organic life forms"?? Are you an alien, dude?
And, can you give an example of an existing non-organic life form? I find that a bit stupefyin'.
I thought you had to be organic to be alive? Course, I can't say I seen London, and I never been to France, and I ain't never seen no queen in her damn undies as the fella says.

[Rev. Gary (revgms)]

Instead, preach transparency of corporations and governments, because that is the path to the future you want.

I believe I did

What's more important and where the real fight lays, is in how noble are our laws, and how forgiving can we be to each other. In the age of the dick pic, we need to learn to for give each other for being human, and not criminalize non-crimes that reveal our humanity.

In a world of quantum computers, Google Glass and robot internets, privacy is a technological impossibility, there is no right or wrong to that fact, it just is. And in that world, nobility, justice and equality are the most important things to hold on to and defend.

The term I use for relating that concept is "democratizing technology" and yeah mang, that is some important shit.

In regards to evolutionary arches, I am going with thinkers like Michio Kaku and Isaac Asimov on this one. And my point of view is evolution started with the big bang and nothing but hydrogen and helium, taking those simple bits of matter evolution is constantly in the business of making things ever more complicated and interesting. It is almost as if the universe can't stand to be bored and always seeks novelty, kind of like us humans.

Right now we are on the verge of creating robot swarms which 'live' like an ant colony. And what is a brain? A carbon based wet computer is all I find there, is life based on computational power? I think so, an opinion I share with scientists and philosophers with better brains than myself. Am I making an absolute assertion, no. But should we not do stuff because we can't know the whole and complete truth of our existence. I think not.

Let me ask, what do you think is the end game for humanity? Do we stop and call it a day, or do we press on with evolutionary spirit?

As for the rest, well we just don't know dude. Those are the big questions.

What is it to be 'alive'? What is life, how do non-living atoms stack up to produce an interesting and animated, well anything? Can we even know these answers? How do I know I am not a brain in a jar being fed a virtual reality through wires? I can't know that, all I can know is that I am aware, "I think therefore I am" the rest of you I am not so sure about.

That's how I find the current state of affairs, so like take it as opinion, but I do have a bit of evidence and citations to back it up.