What Should We Worry About?

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Dragline
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What Should We Worry About?

Post by Dragline »

See http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/what-1 ... ried-about

I think the most common answer was that "we worry too much", although the range of responses is quite varied.

I kind of liked the last six:

"146. That we worry too much, and “package our worries” in a deleterious fashion. –Mary Catherine Bateson, professor emerita

147. That because of climate change, resource shortages, drones, or other unanticipated reasons, a major war will arise. –Steven Pinker, psychologist

148. Stupidity. –Roger Schank, psychologist

149. I have stopped worrying about the problem of free will, because it will never be settled. –Howard Gardner, Hobbs Professor of Cognition and Education

150. That science is in danger of becoming the enemy of humankind. –Colin Tudge, biologist, editor at New Scientist

151. That we will be unable to live without the internet. –Daniel C. Dennet, philosopher"

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Ego
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Re: What Should We Worry About?

Post by Ego »

I am worried that one socially isolated scientist will gain the ability to destroy humanity yet fail to apply the scientific method to their belief that they will transported to an after-life of heavenly paradise for using it.

Chad
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Re: What Should We Worry About?

Post by Chad »

Spending your life not doing what want on the bet you can buy yourself the freedom to do it later.

Felix
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Re: What Should We Worry About?

Post by Felix »

In areas where the human mind is involved, it is always interesting to ask people who have taken lots of psychedelics:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crRSUnbVi48

Felix
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Re: What Should We Worry About?

Post by Felix »

On a similar note:

This is a very old story about a farmer who was very zen.

There once was a zen farmer who lived in the coun­try­side near a small village.

One day his horse ran away and when his neigh­bours found out they came call­ing ‘Zen farmer, zen farmer isn’t it ter­ri­ble your horse ran away?’

And the zen farmer replied ‘Maybe yes and maybe no,’ to which his neigh­bours only shook their heads as they walked away.

The very next the farmer’s horse returned and he had a beau­ti­ful filly with him and all his neigh­bours came run­ning once again.’

Zen farmer, zen farmer, isn’t it won­der­ful your horse came back and brought with it such a beau­ti­ful filly?’

And again the zen farmer replied, ‘Maybe yes, maybe no.’

And again his neigh­bours went away per­plexed at the zen farmer’s atti­tude for what was clearly such great luck.

The next day, when the zen farmer’s son tried to ride the filly, he fell off break­ing both his legs.

And sure enough, his neigh­bours all came run­ning and cry­ing, ’ Oh zen farmer, such ter­ri­ble news, your son has bro­ken his legs while try­ing to ride­the beau­ti­ful filly!’

Once more the zen farmer sim­ply replied, ‘Maybe yes, maybe no.’

Thor­oughly frus­trated by the zen farmer, his neigh­bours left in dis­gust, for surely this was the worst of all disasters.

The next day, the Emperor came through the vil­lage where the zen farmer lived, look­ing for young men to con­script into ser­vice but,because he had two bro­ken legs, the zen farmer’s son was not taken when all the other vil­lagers sons were made to go.

When the Emperor had left the vil­lage with his army, the vil­lagers all came to the zen farmer and said, ‘Oh zen farmer, you are so lucky your son broke his legs so he does not have to go off to war.’

And once more the zen farmer replied, ‘Maybe yes, maybe no.’

We can never be cer­tain what lies ahead and whether we are blessed or we are cursed.

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Ego
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Re: What Should We Worry About?

Post by Ego »

Reviving this dead thread because I think it needs reviving.

On Sunday night we stayed in a motel and had access to something I haven't seen in quite a while..... a television. All day Monday and part of Tuesday I felt a low-level nagging worry about everything. Terrorists. Riots. The economy. Disease. Homelessness. Prescription drug side-effects. Race relations.

By Wednesday afternoon my senses returned and I realized that the TV had provided a microscopic view of various trouble spots. Once I panned out, all was well again.

We need more of this...
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/22/opini ... -know.html

Dragline
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Joined: Wed Aug 24, 2011 1:50 am

Re: What Should We Worry About?

Post by Dragline »

“There are indeed (who might say Nay) gloomy & hypochondriac minds, inhabitants of diseased bodies, disgusted with the present, & despairing of the future; always counting that the worst will happen, because it may happen. To these I say How much pain have cost us the evils which have never happened!”

Thomas Jefferson, Letter to John Adams, Apr. 8, 1816

BRUTE
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Re: What Should We Worry About?

Post by BRUTE »

huh, interesting list. brute likes the following:

21. Not much. I ride motorcycles without a helmet. –J. Craig Venter, genomic scientist

23. “I've given up asking questions. l merely float on a tsunami of acceptance of anything life throws at me... and marvel stupidly.” (complete answer)--Terry Gilliam

27. That we will stop dying. –Kate Jeffery, professor of behavioural neuroscience

37. Don’t worry—there won’t be a singularity. –Bruce Sterling, sci-fi author

40. We need institutions and cultural norms that make us better than we tend to be. It seems to me that the greatest challenge we now face is to build them. –Sam Harris, neuroscientist (despite Harris)

42. That Americans are homogenizing and exporting their view of a normal mind around the world. –P. Murali Doraiswamy, professor of psychiatry

52. “What worries me is that we are increasingly enmeshed in incompetent systems, that is, systems that exhibit pathological behaviour but can't fix themselves.” –John Naughton, Edge editor

54. That the internet will end up benefiting existing power structures and not society in general. –Bruce Schneier, security technologist

63. “As someone fairly committed to the death of our solar system and ultimately the entropy of the universe, I think the question of what we should worry about is irrelevant in the end.” –Bruce Hood, mondo-bummer

100. The Unavoidable Intrusion Of Sociopolitical Forces Into Science. --Nicholas A Christakis, physician (not that science has ever been an objective, bias-free discipline, ever)

112. The exploding number of illegal drugs. –Thomas Metzinger, philosopher (that's an easy one, decriminalize all drugs)

120. “The most worrying aspect of our society is the low index of suspicion that we have about the behavior of normal people.” –Karl Sabbagh, writer, TV producer

121. “Many people worry that there is not enough democracy in the world; I worry that we might never go beyond democracy.” –Dylan Evans, CEO of Projection Point (democracy is the new secular religion - even talking about it or criticizing it is blasphemy)

125. That authorities and companies will soon be able to read people’s brains. –Stanislas Dehaene, neuroscientist

FBeyer
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Re: What Should We Worry About?

Post by FBeyer »

Ego wrote:...
We need more of this...
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/22/opini ... -know.html
Fun Fact: Public transportation in Copenhagen has little info screens in busses and trains. They all show The World's Best News as part of the info cycle.

http://worldsbestnews.dk/

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