Syria: No City

[dust]

Damascus:

 

 

 

 

Homs:

 

 

 

 

Aleppo:

 

 

 

 

Latakia:

 

 

 

 

Just thought that, for some of us, it might be worth looking at. The four biggest cities in Syria, destruction fairly evident.

 

Rather than make some kind of statement with this, for now I'll just wait and see what anyone might have to say.

[Karl]

Dreadful waste, but that's war.

[Andrei]

Have you seen Berlin footage in 1945 after the war?

[dust]

Have you seen Berlin footage in 1945 after the war?

 

What kind of footage? The devastation?

 

I've seen photos. And of Warsaw, and Stalingrad, and Hiroshima, and London...

 

Why do you mention Berlin in particular?

Edited February 2, 2016 by dustybeijing

[Andrei]

Why do you mention Berlin in particular?

 

Because that's the one I saw on youtube:

 

[zerostao]

and yet..........

[Karl]

and yet..........

 

A murderous regime seeking to dominate other sovereign states.

[Marblehead]

... and yet wars continue to be waged in order to grow the ego of man.

 

But hey, we are the most populous species on the planet except for ants and nobody cares much about ants.

[Geof Nanto]

But hey, we are the most populous species on the planet except for ants and nobody cares much about ants.

 

Bacteria total population 4 quadrillion quadrillion; total biomass 1,000,000 million tons

 

Ants total population 10 billion billion; total biomass  3,000 million tons

 

Humans total population 7 billion; total biomass 350 million tons

 

Domestic chickens total population 18.6 billion; total biomass 40 million tons

 

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2011/11/03/141946751/along-with-humans-who-else-is-in-the-7-billion-club

 

(BTW I care about ants. But agreed, us humans are definitely anthropocentric in outlook. ) 

Edited February 2, 2016 by Yueya

[Marblehead]

Well, I knew someone would challenge me on the numbers but the essence of what I said still stands.

 

Yes, most ants serve a useful purpose in nature.  But I still don't see a useful purpose for fire ants.

Edited February 2, 2016 by Marblehead

[Karl]

... and yet wars continue to be waged in order to grow the ego of man.

 

But hey, we are the most populous species on the planet except for ants and nobody cares much about ants.

 

Of some men. Usually the ones in nice safe places who send the poor to die for lies.

 

I always laugh at those Hollywood films where the hero must save the president/politicians/government buildings. I would love to see these supposed leaders, at the front of a group of men going into battle against a hail of missiles, lead, high explosive, sharp steel and flame. Those who volunteer men for war, should, at least have had experience of real, bloody combat first. If you really are a patriot and are facing an implacable enemy bent on destruction, then our leaders should have the courage to march into battle side by side with the men they command.

[Karl]

Well, I knew someone would challenge me on the numbers but the essence of what I said still stands.

 

Yes, most ants serve a useful purpose in nature.  But I still don't see a useful purpose for fire ants.

 

Or Scottish midge, mosquito, tsetse fly and several other disease spreading beasties. Not that the midge is disease spreading, but I have no fondness at all for the little sod. You can add ticks and horse flies to that list.

[Apech]

Or Scottish midge, mosquito, tsetse fly and several other disease spreading beasties. Not that the midge is disease spreading, but I have no fondness at all for the little sod. You can add ticks and horse flies to that list.

 

 

I find your attack on our insect brothers and sisters highly offensive.

[thelerner]

  But I still don't see a useful purpose for fire ants.

They put out floods .

 

back on OP. 

War is bad.

Civil Wars tend to be even worse.

Civil wars where other states use the various sides as proxies end up the worst. 

Edited February 3, 2016 by thelerner

[shanlung]

Well, I knew someone would challenge me on the numbers but the essence of what I said still stands.

 

Yes, most ants serve a useful purpose in nature.   

 

I also wonder about the aedes mosquitoes.

Can be a real blessing to our planet.

 

If only they carry a virus that caused sterility to Man instead of giving tiny heads to babies.

 

Idiotic Taoist waiting to be found quilty and cruxified for things he said as inhumanity to humanity, or for the language used.

[dust]

If only they carry a virus that caused sterility to Man instead of giving tiny heads to babies.

 

Not sure I can comment too harshly on that one. It would solve a lot of other problems. We'd have to make sure the mozzies were spread out a bit though, in the interests of fairness.

[Karl]

Not sure I can comment too harshly on that one. It would solve a lot of other problems. We'd have to make sure the mozzies were spread out a bit though, in the interests of fairness.

Doh !

 

The old myths die hard that's for sure.

 

For every mouth that requires feeding, there must be strength and brains to produce something. The only reason this doesn't happen is that people are prevented from owning property, accumulating capital, or given welfare as a means Of creating dependency. The result is revolution, war, plague, famine.

 

The people who often call for population control are, ironically, are often those who choose to live in major centres of population. They don't choose to live in the millions of miles of empty land because they enjoy the fruits of a mass of people who live, work and trade together.

 

We are no where close to capacity on Earth. It will be the billions of people who work, save, produce and consume who will eventually allow us to leave this planet and find new homes amongst the stars. We need only encourage laissez faire capitalism to flourish and we will get there faster.

 

It worries me that people on a spiritual forum are opting for forced population control which is effectively violence to others in order that the person doing the violence accomplishes his own goals. If people require contraception, the market can do that.

Edited February 3, 2016 by Karl

[shanlung]

Not sure I can comment too harshly on that one. It would solve a lot of other problems. We'd have to make sure the mozzies were spread out a bit though, in the interests of fairness.

 

 

Not to worry.

 

Aedes, especially aedes aegypti, very democratic and found in all continents other than Antartica.

Especially where rubbish are strewn and left uncollected which is almost everywhere.

 

Very very fair.  In golf courses or in the slums.

[dust]

It worries me that people on a spiritual forum are opting for forced population control which is effectively violence to others in order that the person doing the violence accomplishes his own goals. If people require contraception, the market can do that.

 

OK...what I said was silly, and it's perhaps hard to tell that I was being facetious.

 

I wasn't really suggesting we should implement population control, forced or otherwise, mosquito-based or otherwise ... Certainly not, and I hope you and others know that I'm in favour of sustainable agriculture, accessible healthcare, vaccination for major diseases, accessible birth control, better education on the aforementioned issues, and better education generally, as long-term means to improve health and gradually decrease population sizes and quality of life worldwide.

 

To get facetious again, though: if bugs started making everyone infertile, we'd all have more time on our hands (without all the pesky children to look after) to focus on these issues...

[Marblehead]

War is bad.  Only some insects are bad.

[Apech]

War is bad.  Only some insects are bad.

 

Incest is worse.

[Karl]

OK...what I said was silly, and it's perhaps hard to tell that I was being facetious.

 

I wasn't really suggesting we should implement population control, forced or otherwise, mosquito-based or otherwise ... Certainly not, and I hope you and others know that I'm in favour of sustainable agriculture, accessible healthcare, vaccination for major diseases, accessible birth control, better education on the aforementioned issues, and better education generally, as long-term means to improve health and gradually decrease population sizes and quality of life worldwide.

 

To get facetious again, though: if bugs started making everyone infertile, we'd all have more time on our hands (without all the pesky children to look after) to focus on these issues...

 

I found it very easy not to have children though. I just didn't have children by ensuring I didn't have any. If I had wanted them, then I certainly wouldn't have considered them pesky.

 

There isn't a need to reduce population size, what we need to do is to allow those poor countries to trade freely, have property rights and the potential to accumulate capital through their efforts. China was almost entirely agricultural a few years ago and had restrictions on childbirth because of their communist system which prevented ownership and capitalism. A few years later on and a little bit of laissez faire has resulted in a booming economy (which woukd have been sustainable had they not fallen for global financialisation/Keynesianism). Even with a slowdown, they are already having issues with a declining population as is most of Europe.

[Karl]

Incest is worse.

 

Tell that to your sister.

[Karl]

War is bad.  Only some insects are bad.

 

Bees are nice, butterflies too, crickets, pond skaters, mayflies, dragonflies. Bluebottles and Wasps I could do without, but I see that they do have a proper place and function in the scheme of things.

[dust]

We're going to have to get back to Syria at some point, but

 

 

I found it very easy not to have children though. I just didn't have children by ensuring I didn't have any. If I had wanted them, then I certainly wouldn't have considered them pesky.

 

Again, I was being facetious, and I did think it was pretty obvious this time....I'm assuming you did get that!

 

But on the serious side, because of awful education many millions - if not billions - of people in the world genuinely don't understand how to not have children, or that not having children might be a good idea, etc.

 

 

There isn't a need to reduce population size,

 

I'm not sure what you mean. There are too many people for comfort -- I don't think I know anyone who believes we need more people on the planet, anyway -- but this isn't exactly what I meant. When I said "improve health and gradually decrease population sizes and quality of life worldwide", it is that these things go hand in hand. Stable populations are a symptom of a healthier, happier society.

 

With improved education, health, free trade, etc etc, leading to a good quality of life among a well-educated population, people have less (perceived) need to have lots of children, they are not tricked by religious monsters into believing that birth control is evil, there is less violence and less risk of war, etc.

 

 

what we need to do is to allow those poor countries to trade freely, have property rights and the potential to accumulate capital through their efforts.

 

Sure, of course. Among other things.

 

 

China was almost entirely agricultural a few years ago and had restrictions on childbirth because of their communist system which prevented ownership and capitalism. A few years later on and a little bit of laissez faire has resulted in a booming economy (which woukd have been sustainable had they not fallen for global financialisation/Keynesianism). Even with a slowdown, they are already having issues with a declining population as is most of Europe.

 

Population booms in China have, I think, been responses to war, famine, and having a generally shitty time of it.

 

 

 

That the birth rate remained so much higher than the death rate for so long is in part due to, again, poor education and general quality of life, and not because everyone was suddenly healthy and happy in the wake of Maoism. It is since education and QoL (due in large part, yes, to the booming economy) have begun to significantly improve for so many that the birth rate has begun to decrease -- I think this is, partially, regardless of the OCP.

 

According to some sources (though I haven't found the original data) the WHO says that increases in death and fear of death lead to a higher fertility rate in a population.