Future thrills

Iraq is going out, Afghanistan must end. But the United States are selling weapons like never before.  Now the focus is on Iran – what shall we do with ever unruly Iran – and the Arabic countries are buying and stacking up weapons, Israel likewise but their weapons being even more sophisticated – sophisticated weapons are coming into everybody’s hands. And where does Turkey stand? And Nato? And who is supplying Iran?

So what is the purpose of it all? What is it that we do to ourselves and others?

The powers of destruction are greater than ever before, and summing up the killings in conflicts of the world is sad reading and getting sadder all the time – about 9 million killed in WWI, 60 million killed in WWII, then lots of killing in preemptive  and local wars, genocides numbering more than 60 in the decenniums after WWII and with with more than 15 conflicts killing over a million.

Weapons are getting more deadly efficient, sophisticated and super-expensive all the time, a big plane or a missile system costing billions of dollars. The economies of many countries need these conflicts to keep up their BNP.

Balanced security policy is said to be necessary, and leads to this kind of arms race. There will be a release of all this weaponry by putting it into action one day – what else shall it be used for – we can only see the contours now, but the pieces are coming into place. Will it be a number of small conflicts killing off about 1-5 million people each time or will it be bigger this time?

So why must we follow this path into death – and what good does this do? What are the problems we solve by acting like this? Why is thinking about peace considered naive? Applying logical thinking we easily find that the warmongering is surely creating trolls in our heads and we are behaving like zombies. The resources spent are truly wasted, the lives lost likewise. Or is this all really about the state of the superpower the US: power,  economy, influence?

So play must be changed – soon – before we find ourselves engaged in a WWIII. The new players like China, India, Brazil etc. must be called upon to balance the game. Civilization show yourself.

Humans have two main responses: intellectual and instinctive.

Your intellectual side is always sorting things in groups of good and bad. The reason for this is survival, your mind must find all bad things that can threaten your survival. It creates habits to protect you, makes you slow to search out the new ideas and happenings around you. Your mind wants you to relax, be lazy and dream and make you survive. Most new thoughts will generate fear in your mind to keep you from destroying yourself. It is assisted by further forces inside your mind – your mental center or blind spot – in the form of programmed or default reactions like comfort, anger, depression, drugs, flight… to make you a creature of habits of survival.

Instinctive response is fast, often angry or scared, and controlled by your habits and is often a default response – in the form of a habit.

You have to work hard to become aware of this. Through self-observation you can see what is happening, but do not let your body become tense by judging what your mind is doing to you. Just observe unecessary thinking and build strength and understanding.

Humans learn through observation, repetition, trial and error, play and all are aimed at survival. So the challenge is to respond logically and not by showing up some habit or default response. Emotion is energy and it can be channelled towards love or anger. When you observe yourself in a relaxed way you may be able to wait and see, understand, choose an action according to the aims you have set for yourself.

Self observation is the key, and you must start there.

It is becoming apparent that we have no grand design for the universe – at least not yet. The old models are failing us and new ones are needed. New theories are being put forward in the name of biocentrism. Biocentrism is a combination of observance, physics and biology helping to explain the world. We wonder at the fine balances of the universe, the mammal software we are all carrying that helps create what we see, the role of the observer, time and space, life and death. Life is possibly the creator of the universe.

The big science has been physics, and our models for understanding the world has been built around modern physics: energy, light, matter, quantum mechanics, time and space. But life’s origin and consciousness can not be explained by physics. The fundamentals are not in place. Understanding does not come from cells and their processes or the genome either. The ways we understand this have all been created by us, but perhaps there is nothing without the observer.

We need to unite physics and living and introduce biology and make our perception – seeing, thinking, hearing – part of it. Reality is thus – probably – what we perceive, and it involves our consciousness too. Where there is no observer – no one to perceive – there is nothing, just a probability of reality. Life and observation thus creates the universe. Space and time is the method we use to perceive changes in the universe. So if we take consciousness away there is nothing. Life requires emotional energy to create consciousness and perception. So where does the energy of life come from and where does it go when we age and die? Energy does not disappear, it only changes form.

These new ideas have been proposed, research is in the works, new knowledge must be found. These thoughts are fresh and immature, but has been growing for some time. Discarding some of the old thinking is never easy, but humans will keep doing it.

See Lanza/Berman: Biocentrism

The African continent has about 30% of the the world’s resources and is of great interest to the big multinationals and most states.

There is a heavy military presence in and around Africa, mainly from the US and France, but military advisers from China are seen. China is also building a blue military force – meaning ships. And Russia?

This is an economic battle: who will get hold of the resources? Will the Africans themselves – the people – be satisfied with the returns? The rewards should be ample: oil, mines, forests, crops.

So will we see preemptive wars US-style, and will the contestants be using stabilizing tools in the name of security policy?

African agriculture is also in demand, the big players are coming, renting land, growing their own food in Africa, Monsanto coming in. Food will be increasingly important.

Economic domination may be followed by cultural domination – e.g. films.

There is still a lot of poverty and people are leaving for Europe. But there are promising signs of progress as internal forces are building up. Urban living is increasing, peace initiatives are seen, regional cooperation is developing, continental power groups are being formed to work on African unity, peace and security.

So let us hope we can see an indigenous African culture – let there be no economic and cultural invasion from the so-called West.

A large number of people in many western countries lose control of their lives by becoming depressed – often as many as 1 in 6. The result is a mind full of dark negative thoughts and lives that are put on hold or worse.

The treatments offered as coping tools are diverse and individual – talks, activity, mentors, group therapy, medication. We use enormous resources to turn people away from depression. Many people never recover and enter a state of permanent depression, unable to do much, being miserable.

In GB the value of lost labour has been estimated at pounds 100 billion per year.

So why is this happening? Why are our minds filling up with troublesome thinking?

The pressures, the omnipresent threats presented by the media, the resulting anxiety, the information chaos, the difficulties, the unfinished business, the loosening of social norms, the constant changes in personal relationships and in jobs – the sum of it all often becomes too great. If you fall slightly behind or feel you are falling slightly behind the negative feelings start and your mind may wander off in the wrong direction. Depression may be seen as a survival method – a cry for help.

So each individual’s work on mind control must be upgraded – we must focus on what we do, what we think, what happens to us and protect ourselves. You must make a personal choice of seeking to know yourself and act accordingly, and not let the emotions wander off with your mind. You must become aware and see absolutely what happens. You must see yourself in real life in action and the consequences it has. The tool is self-observation.

So therefore observe yourself all the time – see what happens, see what state you are in. If it seems too heavy for you – stop it – protect yourself – withdraw from it all and take your loved ones with you. It requires effort, but you may be well rewarded.

You want to be in control of yourself and to contribute, develop and create. Your emotions are the root cause of it all – observe what they do to you – find out and you may have a solution.

The world is increasingly being urbanised. We all realize that this is how we are going to live so it better be a good place – and ecological too.

One factor contributing to urban wellbeing – and in many ways – is green city surfaces. They are the home of plants and if properly made they absorb excess water, delay the flow of water and relieve drainage systems.

Green roofs are increasingly seen as a resource in this respect. Urban planners design the roofs so they can absorb massive amounts of water, have plants and be used as paths and for various activities. Heavy roofs may have load capacity of 900 kg/m2, and sizes are in the tens of thousands of square meters, the biggest in Northern Europe being 28000 m2. Watering and fertilizing is normally sparse.

Green roofs regulate temperature, making it lower in summer and higher in winter. A study in Chicago has shown enormous cost savings related to cooling costs in summer. There are also health effects as greenery absorbs gases, influence particle flow, cleans the air, takes away CO2, NOx.

Many countries now have incentives and requirements related to green roofs: Canada, US, many European countries, some are aiming at quite high percentages of green roofs in cities. The EU has subsidies in place to encourage green building.

Rain gardens are also being built, and their main job is to delay water flow.

So watch out: green urban environments are spreading – maybe they are coming to a place near you? What about growing crops on these roofs in the cities?