Terrorist...

[TheBlizzard]

Originally Posted by JET

Do we lock down all the borders and turn the US into a militarized state because we have had a couple of incidents?

Its in the future. Maybe not in our lifetime but it will happen eventually.

[StealthGST]

The terrorists are a bunch of cowards who are trying to get the upper hand by using pussy tactics... that, sadly... work.

Guerilla warfare works... look at Vietnam.

[Onefast99gsx]

Yeah Guerilla warfare works but we can't do that anymore. Our soldiers would go to jail for war crimes. It's B.S. It's like the war in Iraq really isn't a war. We're just playing defense over there. Now dropping a 1 megaton bomb on Hiroshima in 1945, THAT was war.

Craig- I totally agree. I also think in the future, perhaps far into it. We will have some sort of mandatory tracking system, personal barcodes tatooed-like or some embedded device for tracking. How something like this would get rolled out into society i don't know. Something like this was actually predicted to happen. Maybe not in our lifetime but somebodies. The technology is there, NOW. Heck, my cat has a little chip in her if she ever gets lost. It's not satellite tracking but i'm sure that's possible with something else out there.

[xluciusx]

Yeah something like that would be a huge blow to "personal freedom" but I mean at least in the case of crimes it would pretty much take care of everything. I mean how are you ever going to commit a crime if its possible to always know where a person is.

[LightningGSX]

Originally Posted by xluciusx

Personally, I would love to be the first to say this, people need to realize that their religious beliefs are a bit outdated. You know like 2000 or more years. I don't believe in god, I don't follow any religion and I think the world would be a better place if people would just move on and let the old religions die. Yes religion has in the past done some good for the world, but it has also been holding back science for thousands of years as well as giving crazy people "reasons" to kill other people.

Religions themselves aren't the problem, its mans' screwed up interpretations of those religions that are the issue.

Other than that, I totally agree with you, for many years now, I've been trying to convince people religion has held back society and technology myself.

Reminds me of a quote by one of my favorite authors, Nobel winning physicist Steven Weinberg -
“With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.”

[xluciusx]

Originally Posted by LightningGSX

Religions themselves aren't the problem, its mans' screwed up interpretations of those religions that are the issue.

Other than that, I totally agree with you, for many years now, I've been trying to convince people religion has held back society and technology myself.

Reminds me of a quote by one of my favorite authors, Nobel winning physicist Steven Weinberg -
“With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.”

Yeah thats exactly how I feel. I mean there are people out there who can just do their thing and not affect anyone else. Then there are the people who think everyone else needs to know all about THEIR religion and how great it is. And then there are these f-ed up radicals, in EVERY religion I might add, who think anyone not in their religion needs to die.

People need to get a damn grip on reality. BTW that quote dominates. I'm glad there are some others out there that see things the same way as me.

[LightningGSX]

Speaking of this, Einstein is a prime example.He could have pushed science so much further before his death, but his religion conflicted with new theories of quantum mechanics and clearly led him down the wrong path.If there are any physics fans in here, you may know of the his "cosmological constant", which is now known as "Einsteins Greatest Blunder", IMO his greatest blunder was his belief in god.

[Onefast99gsx]

And what were his beliefs in God?

[LightningGSX]

Originally Posted by Onefast99gsx

And what were his beliefs in God?

Same as most other religious people

[xluciusx]

Yeah that stupid god doesn't play dice stuff...its amazing that someone as advanced as him would even stop to consider religion.

[Onefast99gsx]

Well i for one believe in God. I don't hate yous for not believing in God. I can't imagine a world without God and religion though. I think without religion we'd have no sense of purpose. Without religion, who would be our leaders and guidance? Please don't even say our presidents and other leaders. How would we distinguish from right and wrong, good vs. evil. I guess until you've lost someone as close to you as i did, you begin to have a whole new perspective on life. I'd like to go knowing or thinking that there is something better on the other side. It's just hard to believe that there isn't a God. Who created us? Better yet who created Earth, or the other planets, the sun, the stars and everything else out in space or space itself. It had to of come from somewhere. I guess if you're only scientific about it and say that we started as gasses or something, well what/who created the gases? You could go on and on. Was there ever such thing as 'the absense of anything' ? Couldn't have been, we had to start from somewhere. But how, where did that somewhere come from? I think there is a book on this. It's interesting.

[LightningGSX]

Originally Posted by Onefast99gsx

Well i for one believe in God. I don't hate yous for not believing in God. I can't imagine a world without God and religion though. I think without religion we'd have no sense of purpose. Without religion, who would be our leaders and guidance? Please don't even say our presidents and other leaders. How would we distinguish from right and wrong, good vs. evil.

So you're saying those of us who don't believe in god have no sense of purpose and can't distinguish right from wrong?

[niterydr]

aww shit here we go...

[mdost03]

this fighting is getting no where. we sound like a bunch of damn politicians trying to get some point across.

[LightningGSX]

Where's the fighting? This thread is rather civil.

[CVD]

Is there God? Sure, go ahead. Knock yourself out.

Is there an afterlife? Dont kid yourself. This is it, enjoy.

[Onefast99gsx]

Originally Posted by LightningGSX

So you're saying those of us who don't believe in god have no sense of purpose and can't distinguish right from wrong?

Huh? There has been no fighting in here that i'm aware of........


No, not really. But it's rather tough and compliated to explain. I truthfully don't even know what my sense of purpose is, YET. Going to work everyday, eating, sleeping, working on dsm's, etc.. I don't know, but is that a purpose for me? Who knows. I'd like to think that there is more for me than that. You or anyone can have their own opinions, that is just mine. I'm no minister/preacher or anything. I'm just an average person just like the rest of us here. Truthfully, i haven't been to church in years.

This is interesting to talk about. It gets more interesting sometimes than someone making 500whp on their dsm. Those things are just episodes that are basically meaningless except to the person stating the fact.

[JET]

Originally Posted by Onefast99gsx

Well i for one believe in God. I don't hate yous for not believing in God. I can't imagine a world without God and religion though. I think without religion we'd have no sense of purpose. Without religion, who would be our leaders and guidance? Please don't even say our presidents and other leaders. How would we distinguish from right and wrong, good vs. evil. I guess until you've lost someone as close to you as i did, you begin to have a whole new perspective on life. I'd like to go knowing or thinking that there is something better on the other side. It's just hard to believe that there isn't a God. Who created us? Better yet who created Earth, or the other planets, the sun, the stars and everything else out in space or space itself. It had to of come from somewhere. I guess if you're only scientific about it and say that we started as gasses or something, well what/who created the gases? You could go on and on. Was there ever such thing as 'the absense of anything' ? Couldn't have been, we had to start from somewhere. But how, where did that somewhere come from? I think there is a book on this. It's interesting.

Along those same lines, who created God? If he has always just been there, why couldn't earth have always just been there? I have gone really deep into this myself and have my own opinion on things. I won't try to push my views on anyone else, but I may throw in a few questions that make you go, hmmm....

[sleepy2lazy]

Originally Posted by CDeutsch

I'm not the biggest America supporter but I do believe Germany and Japan are much better off now than the road they were headed down. Off hand I can't think of any other instance in history where a group of people were defeated and instead of taking everything they had, the country was rebuilt for them instead.

I'd love it if we stopped going into other countries, but it's just like the cops. Usually you hate it when they're around, but as soon as somebody breaks into your house you're like "where the hell are the cops?" Kind of like the whole G8 Africa thing. We hate America! (But we love your money)

I can understand you to some points CDeutsch, but in truth, two of those countries could have developed on its own. Cannot turn back time to change it and nor can we predict it but, America left Japan / China in turmoil.
Europe / Russia / America invaded Japan far back in the days. Russia / Europe disregarded its investments in Japan due to the war of 1812. Napoleon's quest for power. America was the only one left in that, and it basically ruined the power structure and economy of Japan that has been stable for centuries before foreigners came in there.

In China, America supported the democratic group which destroyed China. Rise of Communist Mao took place. If only America woulda supported Mao. (IMO, Communist Mao in his early stages during China's civil war actually had the best form of government i have read about. The reason that i think he took over with an iron fist was due to Russia / America's interference, thus Mao shut off all connections with countries. W/O those two nations interfering, the country may have prospered. Germany after WWI was left in ruins. Korea with Nuclear Weapons? Now America is a bit afraid? Maybe Korea just wanted some Nukes for its own defense, kinda like, "You got guns? We got guns ! Back off our country and let us deal with it"

Anyways, due to past historic events. I am for the war. Too late to stop it and change it now, it has to be resolved. IMO, If the US pulls out now, then history repeats itself, basically like Vietnam. This is why we have history class, not just to know past events, but to watch the moves we make in the future.

[Onefast99gsx]

Jet- exactly... I thought about that too. Who created God? I've wondered the same thing myself. But something has to come from something(if that makes sense). I don't think there could have ever been the presense of nothing. But how is that possible? What made the something? It's an endless loop that will drive you insane.

Interesting stuff Sleep2lazy. I think the reason that we'our government' doesn't want places like Iran, Korea, Iraq, etc. to have nukes is because those countries harbor terrorists. Put a nuke in the hands of a terrorist that gives no shit about life or themselves, "You got a problem." It's odd though that we try to tell other countries what they can and cannot do. That's exactly what the government does right now.

I was watching CNN at lunch as i always do. I couldn't believe it. Around 50 million people died during WWII they said. I hope we never have to worry about nukes going off because there basically woudn't be anything left to even worry about.