My Novels

Saturday, February 02, 2002

I hadn't planned on the bike ride this morning, since it was quite cold. But when I went outside, it was just right, so I went and enjoyed it thoroughly. After my shower, I did some housecleaning, took care of my parakeet's cage, etc. Then I went to the library and got a huge stack of books. I got one on computer programming; I'm considering taking an online class in C++, but thought I'd look at a book first and see if it really is something I'd like to do. I also got a variety of non-fiction, and a couple of novels, just to see if I can revive my interest in fiction. I've not read much fiction in the past year, seem to have burned out on it -- reading as well as writing.

Here's some excerpts of articles:


Scientists at Economic Forum See Grim Future


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Scientists at the World Economic Forum predicted on Friday a grim future replete with unprecedented biological threats, global warming and the possible takeover of humans by robots.

"Extreme pessimism seems to me to be the only rational stance," said Sir Martin Rees, Britain's Astronomer Royal, at a session devoted to the future threats and opportunities presented by scientific advances.

He was especially concerned about the development of new biological weapons that could easily fall into the hands of dissonant groups or individuals and cause widespread devastation.

Even if governments tried to regulate and limit the spread of dangerous technologies, Rees said such efforts would probably be little better than current attempts to control the international drugs trade.


This isn't news to me, since I follow science closely. But what was interesting was the discussion group commenting on this article. The ignorance is truly shocking, plus the fact that it seems the majority of the public is (like most of humanity) short-sighted and self-centered, when it comes to future catastrophes of our own making. I made a few posts about other disasters, such as cosmic catastrophes that we really can't control -- and the distinct possibility that humans as a species may go extinct. Needless to say, most posters couldn't even accept this possibility at all. It makes you wonder about the I.Q. of the average person, doesn' it?

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Nobody prepared us to consider these amounts of money

Nice commentary on the ga-zillions of money being tossed about in the current presidential administration for defense, and other programs.

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I did get all my income tax work in order, and will hopefully get those done soon. And my PC is running much better, smoother since a tip I found about checking the system files under Win98 help section at the Microsoft website. I hope it continues this way, for then I can get a nice laptop...

Guess that's all for today.





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