The Boston tragedy, the Texas explosion, shootings everywhere.
Posted by Tittles (Member # 12939) on :
Sounds like normal everyday humanity to me.
Posted by jebus202 (Member # 2524) on :
Sounds actually quite tame when you compare it to tragedies of the past, both man-made and natural. I suppose these events *are* happening in America though.
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
The death toll from the Iraq coffee shop explosion yesterday is higher than all the events in US news combined.
Their End Times have been doing on for a decade now.
Posted by James Tiberius Kirk (Member # 2832) on :
It's the end of something, that's for sure.
Posted by Aris Katsaris (Member # 4596) on :
quote:Does it feel to anyone else that these are the end times?
Everything must feel like the end times to you. "Oh no, a stubbed toe. It must be the end times!"
Over 150,000 people die every single day, but I'm sure it must be the end times if an additional 3 die in Boston.
The end times as you think of them will NEVER come. Even when humanity has gone extinct, the "end times" still will not have ever come.
Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :
Not really.
Posted by theamazeeaz (Member # 6970) on :
Given that the campus I'm on is in lockdown right now. Just a little. Posted by Mucus (Member # 9735) on :
Also, for many countries, things have never been better. Compared to three decades ago, there are something like 700 million less people living in extreme poverty around the world despite rises in population. We're seeing massive advances in the standard of living throughout the world, the rise of the middle class, massive expansion in infrastructure, etc. You have to look on the bright side of life too.
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
I can understand why people in Europe in, say, 1350 thought that End Times were upon them. Thinking that what's going on in the US just lately is indicative of End Times just seems like hyperbolic silliness.
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
Some people just want to see the end times in everything, so they do. Whether it's people who grew up in religious households that stressed eschatological imminence and that it's totally going to happen any day now, or survivalists who totally see everything cracking apart always, or relics who think that we lost some sort of golden social structure or principle which mean it's all downhill from here.
Posted by Dr Strangelove (Member # 8331) on :
My thought went to that whole Bible verse that says something about War and rumors of war... earthquakes... etc. The first part is definitely true, and earthquakes in Iran (that affected Pakistan quite a bit as well) and New Guinea a couple days ago. Just sayin.
Though I personally think that from a Western Christian standpoint, 1350 or 1940 would jump out as much more apocalyptic than 2013.
In all seriousness though I think there's something to be said for increased media coverage. It may seem like the world is getting worse, but its just that we get to see it in detailed slow motion due to technology. There's actually an interesting talk by Steven Pinker (I think at the California Commonwealth Club) about how objectively speaking, violence worldwide is at an all time low.
Posted by Jake (Member # 206) on :
quote:Originally posted by Dr Strangelove: My thought went to that whole Bible verse that says something about War and rumors of war... earthquakes... etc. The first part is definitely true, and earthquakes in Iran (that affected Pakistan quite a bit as well) and New Guinea a couple days ago. Just sayin.
When haven't there been wars, rumors of wars, and earthquakes?
Posted by Sa'eed (Member # 12368) on :
Maybe it's just my anxiety as a lapsed Muslim that Muslims have once again committed terrorism against a country we immigrated to in search of a better life.
Posted by Dr Strangelove (Member # 8331) on :
Uh, don't you remember? That time... when all things were nice and rosy and wonderful. You know... back then.
But global awareness of tragedies is higher than ever. I can't imagine how much freaking out there would have been if the Bible writers had had the internet.
Posted by Tuukka (Member # 12124) on :
quote:Originally posted by Dr Strangelove: objectively speaking, violence worldwide is at an all time low.
Yup.
We are in living in an age of exceptional peace and prosperity - The most stable and peaceful period in the entire human history.
We could argue all day whether people are happier now, as that would be hard to prove either way.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
Now I'm just imagining Redditors fact-checking the books of the Bible as they were released to the Internet. "That's not a real risen Jesus! You can tell by the pixels!"
Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :
I wonder if the past was more violent than these days. We don't really have public lynchings in this country anymore, for example.
Posted by Hobbes (Member # 433) on :
quote:Originally posted by Synesthesia: I wonder if the past was more violent than these days. We don't really have public lynchings in this country anymore, for example.
Depending on exactly what you mean by "the past" and "more violent": yes. We live in essentially the safest, least violent age ever experienced by mankind.
Hobbes Posted by Darth_Mauve (Member # 4709) on :
I see a lot of similarity between this desire for it to be "The End of Days" and the desire of the deluded terrorists of Boston to fight of Chechyan Freedom. Its similar to the desire of militia men who take to their bunkers to fight the coming "revolution" or the "Socialist destruction of the US." Its a search for meaning, not in the random disasters of the world, but for their own lives.
What could be more meaningful than being one of the "Chosen" to survive the End Days, or to be the "Chosen" of Allah to be Martyred in his cause, or to be the next Washington or Jefferson in your heroic defense of the country. Each of these options is more meaningful, to some, than the standard dirt-farmer, or plumber, or yet another software engineer.
If its a search for meaning, for righteous fame, for being special. Its a search where the searcher craft the meaning themselves, over the tragedies of others--including those tragedies created by the searchers.
Posted by Stephan (Member # 7549) on :
Except Chechnyans attacking US civilians seems to me to be a bit like if during our revolution we set off bombs in France.
Posted by Glenn Arnold (Member # 3192) on :
To me, global warming represents a kind of secular end times.
Posted by jebus202 (Member # 2524) on :
quote:Originally posted by Dr Strangelove: My thought went to that whole Bible verse that says something about War and rumors of war... earthquakes... etc. The first part is definitely true, and earthquakes in Iran (that affected Pakistan quite a bit as well) and New Guinea a couple days ago. Just sayin.
Even within the last decade, would 2004 not be a year which had war and natural disaster on a much greater scale than we're experiencing right now?
Posted by jebus202 (Member # 2524) on :
quote:Originally posted by TomDavidson: Now I'm just imagining Redditors fact-checking the books of the Bible as they were released to the Internet. "That's not a real risen Jesus! You can tell by the pixels!"
This comment would get upvoted to hell on Reddit.
That's not a compliment.
Posted by capaxinfiniti (Member # 12181) on :
quote:Originally posted by Glenn Arnold: To me, global warming represents a kind of secular end times.
Elaborate? That sounds interesting.
Posted by Thesifer (Member # 12890) on :
There are no "End times" ... The world may end, heck even the universe, at some point. But it won't be because of any specific plan. Just something that happens.
Posted by Tittles (Member # 12939) on :
Humans do tend to be very self centered. The rat-men who evolve after we're gone are going to say our endtimes were their beginning times.
Posted by Sa'eed (Member # 12368) on :
Guys, I don't really believe in the "end times." I was just implying that this past work week has been quite intense and crazy.
Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :
quote: I can't imagine how much freaking out there would have been if the Bible writers had had the internet.
quote:"Why'd you choose such a backward time in such a strange land? If you'd come today you could have reached a whole nation. Israel in 4 BC had no mass communication."
Imagine the subreddits!
Posted by C3PO the Dragon Slayer (Member # 10416) on :
quote:Originally posted by Teshi:
quote: I can't imagine how much freaking out there would have been if the Bible writers had had the internet.
quote:"Why'd you choose such a backward time in such a strange land? If you'd come today you could have reached a whole nation. Israel in 4 BC had no mass communication."
Imagine the subreddits!
Jesus could have fed not just 5000, but millions over the internet by sending the bread and fish through peoples' computer screens.
Posted by Stephan (Member # 7549) on :
quote:Does it feel to anyone else that these are the end times?
Everything must feel like the end times to you. "Oh no, a stubbed toe. It must be the end times!"
Over 150,000 people die every single day, but I'm sure it must be the end times if an additional 3 die in Boston.
The end times as you think of them will NEVER come. Even when humanity has gone extinct, the "end times" still will not have ever come.
Actually they will. The Universe will eventually fizzle out and all forms of energy will cease to exist. It will take billions upon billions of years, but eventually it will happen.
Posted by Darth_Mauve (Member # 4709) on :
oops, double post
Posted by Darth_Mauve (Member # 4709) on :
quote:Jesus could have fed not just 5000, but millions over the internet by sending the bread and fish through peoples' computer screens.
With my luck, my fish and bread would have been lost in the spam filter.
Come to think of it, if he would offer canned pork products--he could have transformed spam into Spam (though that would not have been quite kosher, would it.)
Posted by umberhulk (Member # 11788) on :
The true sign of the end times will be when Hatrack stops reacting to crap in comically academic ways.
Posted by odouls268 (Member # 2145) on :
quote:Originally posted by Samprimary: Yeah totally the end times guys
quote:Originally posted by Tittles: Humans do tend to be very self centered. The rat-men who evolve after we're gone are going to say our endtimes were their beginning times.
"roach-men"
fixed.
Posted by Glenn Arnold (Member # 3192) on :
quote:Originally posted by capaxinfiniti:
quote:Originally posted by Glenn Arnold: To me, global warming represents a kind of secular end times.
Elaborate? That sounds interesting.
The term "End Times" isn't copyrighted by christianity. Anything that could bring about the end of life on Earth as we know it could be called end times. Global warming qualifies. So does global thermonuclear war.
The difference, to me, is that Global warming is, at this point, inevitable. We're living in a period where we're not waiting to see if it happens, we're waiting to see how bad it will be.
Even the biblical "end times" doesn't exactly predict the end of the earth so much as a battle between good and evil, where "life on Earth as we know it" changes radically. Well, we're there.
Posted by rav (Member # 7595) on :
It does not feel that way to me.
To me it feels as though the world is getting smaller, and all of the problems and tragedies are front and center for all to see.
Two things happen when the world gets smaller: The status of the people begins to equalize, Any problem begins to be everyone's problem.
Posted by Jeff C. (Member # 12496) on :
It would be hilarious if, after we start sending civilians to Mars as part of our long term settlement plans (80 thousand people recently submitted applications), the Earth ended and the Mars colony was left to survive on its own.
Which they do. Then, hundreds of years go by and the Mars colony has managed to expand and grow into a Martian metropolis, spanning dozens of miles. People have mostly forgotten their Earthly origins and have begun terraforming their dead, red home, piece by piece.
Thousands of years later, Mars has become the new Earth. Humans no longer think about Earth, and many don't even believe the old origin stories. People begin to move away from the old settlements and after a long while, new nations form all over the world. Eventually, they start sending people into space, and then, many years later, there's an expedition to a nearby planet called Earth. The company in charge of the trip asks for volunteers. 80 thousand sign up, but only a few dozen are chosen at first.
And so, at last, the adventure continues...
Posted by Sean Monahan (Member # 9334) on :
I would read that story.
Posted by Aris Katsaris (Member # 4596) on :
quote:The end times as you think of them will NEVER come. Even when humanity has gone extinct, the "end times" still will not have ever come.
quote:Actually they will. The Universe will eventually fizzle out and all forms of energy will cease to exist. It will take billions upon billions of years, but eventually it will happen
Hence why I said "the end times *as you think of them* " -- namely not the entropic death of the universe, but the whole Christian/Islamic prophesied end of the world and a final judgement, etc.
quote:The term "End Times" isn't copyrighted by christianity.
Come on. I also like being a linquistic hipster myself sometimes, but it's best to not drag in the religious connotations of "End Times" when we're talking about a real-life phenomenon. It only muddles the issue.
Speaking for myself I think that self-improving AI will in this century (or at the very latest the next) either destroy us or radically change the nature of our lives -- that Global Warming which at worst will only render *some* portions of the earth inhabitable is peanuts compared to that. Hence my interest in dontating to and following the work of the Machine Intelligence Research Insitute (formerly known as the Singularity Insitute).
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