humanity
The evolution of humanity, from one advancement to the next.
What Everyone Should Know About Osho
The entry ticket to the Osho Commune International in Poona, India, is a hospital certificate stating that your blood has tested negative for the AIDS virus within the past month. If you haven't brought a certificate with you to India, you submit to the needle at the local hospital. After picking up the form a few hours later, you walk several blocks to the commune through the crowded, dusty, diesel smelling streets of the city, which is located about 120 miles southeast of Bombay. You enter the commune through a gate manned by robed guards. Past that point, you are surrounded by an 11-acre Edenic world that's designed to defeat death.
By Futurism Staff8 years ago in Futurism
Mysticism Guide
In the West, we choose between countless different brands and models of automobile and canned string bean; Now, with the blooming of eastern mysticism in our midst, we must shop among a vast proliferation of ways to heaven, a chaotic spiritual supermarket where no consumer commission sets guidelines. Mysticism, older than science or logic, offers umpteen intuitive and direct ways to happiness and wisdom. Don't be a careless shopper. Can you really afford the tens of thousands of dollars it might take to be saved by Scientology? Have you considered the hardships Mel Lyman's Karma Squad might impose on you? Are you aware, in short, of just what's cooking in your favored cult? In this article, the major cults and sects active today are outlined, along with a handy guide to costs, survival-potential, guru-biographies, and what to expect for your mind and body. Welcome to the wonderful world of mysticism.
By Futurism Staff8 years ago in Futurism
Evolution of Cults
The decline of secret "orders" like the Masons has been balanced by new and weirder quasi-religious sects, which intrigue science-surfeited youngsters with obscure philosophies. The 60s brought with it hippies saying it was the Worst of Times. Respond to the polluted air and the putrid rivers and the unsafe streets by leaving the cities altogether, they said. Dance in tune with nature out beyond cemented-over civilization to find your authentic self. Most of us are not about to take that step, yet we have embraced their entire array of neo-religions, para-religions, pseudo-religions. In a word, cults.
By Futurism Staff8 years ago in Futurism
Tucson's Biosphere 2 Lessons
The human brain has spawned a parallel universe of imagined lifeforms, landmarks, and civilizations. Though usually conceived of as fiction, this parallel universe often leaks into various Earth systems. Robot explorers, genetically engineered animals, artificial intelligence, international space stations—these are, before anything else, the products of our imagination. They are what happens when an organism is capable of asking itself: What does the future look like? The Biosphere 2 in Tucson, Arizona is a totemic example of how such fantasies can carry over into reality.
By Megan May Daalder8 years ago in Futurism
Economics Vs Environmental Crisis
From our wildlife being taken over to our greenhouse gases being at an all-time high, environmental crisis is forcing us to ask what, how, and why. Throughout history, there have been recurring battles between man and nature in every century, from nature versus big corporations to growth versus quality of life. In each battle, each opposing side struggles to regain control of the situation at hand. But what they really should be addressing is: When have we gone too far?
By Kenneth Brower8 years ago in Futurism
Science Needs Unreasonable Leaps
An abiding fascination of science is its propulsive creativity and unreasonable leaps. Why does the occasional lone genius succeed where a lavishly funded, mission-oriented project has failed? Even odder, why should Alexander Fleming, half a century ago, have made his mightily significant discovery of penicillin—yet leave its consummation to Howard Florey and Ernst Chain more than 10 years later? Often it requires great risk for scientists to make great strides.
By Bernard Dixon8 years ago in Futurism
Yar's Plume
It was uncomfortably chilly on the night we saw each other last. I remember the methane snowflakes and the carbon ice, the first time around. The landscape around the Plume had an unusually eerie feeling. Even a really long displacement such as the one I was going through now could not approximate the feeling. The memory somehow made the hair on my back rise. A distant, logical, and pedantic part of my troubled, aching mind sought to inform the other part—the instinctive, impulse-driven part—that technically, I had no hair. No back for that matter either.
By Vasileios Kalampakas8 years ago in Futurism
Examining the Fermi Paradox
The Fermi Paradox is the apparent contradiction between the high probability of other lifeforms in the universe and humanity's lack of contact with extraterrestrial civilizations. For every grain of sand on Earth there are 10,000 stars, a vastness so immense it escapes comprehension. Humanity should not be the only intelligent life in the universe, but so far no evidence indicates otherwise. Robin Hanson is amongst pragmatic intellects who answer the paradox by amplifying the differentiation between finding life, and finding intelligent life.
By John Foley8 years ago in Futurism
Java From Hell-Coffee Enhances Super Powers
I should’ve seen it coming when I first saw it. When I saw my guy pal Bob Bloch- flying. Literally! I found that a particular affront, considering that, underneath my modest disguise of a human being like you and everyone else on this planet, I am, in fact (cue the echo chamber):
By David Perlmutter8 years ago in Futurism