Multicultural gems of wisdom (equals rambling)

Chinese fortune cookie, made in Germany, thinks that With reflection and sensitivity you surely get to your aim. All truths are simple. Perhaps a Swedish herring could reveal the part about figuring out the aim. Meaning of life cannot be work. Yet it is, for some, not sure how I feel about becoming one of them. Temporary solutions have a tendency to become permanent.

Transhumanism

I recently attended three lectures at TransVision 2006 conference about Emerging Technologies of Human Enhancement, organized by the World Transhumanist Association. I'm linking here the abstracts from Is Life Extension an Enhancement? and Technological Evolution.

One of the lecturers, Dr. Aubrey de Grey, Ph.D. and a biogerontologist, says there's a chance the first human to live a 1000 years old has already been born. Let us amuse ourselves for a while and consider this. I suspect most will say that would be a catastrophe of overpopulation - which, as you know, is becoming a reality already, regardless of the future possibilities of life extensions. This is an issue humanity will have to resolve one way or another in any case. Even if the first human to live a 1000 years had indeed been born already, it would take some great amount of time before these technologies could be put to use to benefit the rest of the humankind. This in turn gives us a fair amount of time to solve the overpopulation problem, which, and I can't emphasize this enough, we'll have to solve anyway. So why wait till we've got everything figured out - I have faith in the on-going evolution of the creative spirit of the humankind, so to say.

Another lecturer pointed out the concern some seem to have of becoming very bored if having to live that long. "Well", he said, "if life is boring, then certainly death is going to be even more boring!"

I overheard someone at the conference say Finland has the largest amount of WTA (World Transhumanist Association) members in relation to population number. Somehow this wouldn't surprise me. Most Finns I know are extremely enthusiastic regarding questions on life, death, and the possibility to better their lives, keeping ethics in mind. The following is directed to someone dear to me, who just the other day commented how I am not critical about things I get excited about. I believe any scientist in the world who ever made any significant breakthroughs had to first overcome criticism - of their own and of others. It is the brave enthusiastic mind that makes miracles happen.

To see is to believe

Marking any transition by making a physical change in the environment helps the transition become permanent. Sometimes it's as simple as changing the places of the furniture, which is also great for freeing any energy blocks. The mind believes what it sees, and can thus be visually manipulated. In short: esthetics matter.

Vacation was superb, and although I'm now going back to work, I'll still have all the free time I need for various subjects of interests, such as becoming immortal and hmm, possibly rich.

Lapland

Did some serious hiking with one of my best friends, as well as on my own. Lots of entertainment provided by...

...drowning in the lakes...

...animal encounters...

...forests so far the eye can see...

...peatlands...

...and much more.

Decoding

Less knowing, more feeling! is the call of the day. Gladly yet reluctantly I let go of all pretention of knowing, presuming, supposing, predicting, foreseeing, of having any idea on what are my or anyone else's limits - there might be none. I'm starting to believe in the infinite sea of possibilities all humans carry inside of them, infinite shapes and forms they can choose to have. They can become anything they decide to, even if they don't know what exactly have they decided.

When there's not much more left to do, it is time to feel.

Other than that, been watching movies about teens: Teresa Fabik's Hip hip hora about early teens and Larry Clark's Bully about late teens. Such passionate creatures, those teens.

Imperfection is beauty

Physically looking at things from different angles opens new (event) horizons. My city has such beauty when looked at from roof-level.

As have people, who will forever remain slightly imperfect, regardless of their efforts. These marks of imperfection in looks and characters fascinate me to no end.

Finland, 292 points. Sweet!

Just cruise

Theme cruises are good fun!

A friend asked what projects regarding self development am I undergoing at the moment. I laughed a little, as it's very true there never seems to be a project-free moment (she's the same). In that rather comatose state of body & mind I thought of two:
1) Cutting down on criticizing a lot (secretly in my mind) - it's only about projecting personal issues to these objects of criticism anyway. Would be more beneficial to face the things that get on the nerves.
2) Coming to terms with permanent unsureness of everything.

And, usually by the time I can communicate thoughts I'm almost done processing them. So new projects ahead then.

Listening to Emmi: One time

The alien within

I'm trying to solve which are worse and which are better: to feel like an alien, to be considered an alien by others, to erroneously be paranoid about being considered an alien, to be paranoid about feeling like an alien. I'm sure it all has to do with egocentricity.

Nothing a lengthy jog or a workout in the gym can't fix.

The ability for verbal communication is a miraculous advantage. Even a small child can convey the most complex of thoughts with the deepest philosophical content to anyone who speaks the language. Not to forget the important things, such as explicitly (and if necessary, loudly) expressing personal likes and dislikes.

Fuels

Neste Oil starts selling 98 octane bio petrol Futura 98 next week (the original date April 10 was postponed). The bio component is ethanol, currently imported to Finland from abroad. Lännen Tehtaat is planning to start ethanol production for bio petrol in Säkylä, integrating it with feed industry. According to this news, the alcohol beverage company Altia is considering the same for their factory in Koskenkorva.

Different bio fuels are listed and rated here in the latest issue of Voima.

Meanwhile, I should do something about the bent spokes of my bicycle and buy a helmet. I've heard of friends (and their heads) saved by the helmet, so I figured I might as well stop risking head injuries.

I'm looking forward to a weekend with family, which includes three darling nieces. Would be nice if there'd be some of planet Earth left for them to live on.

Cozy lazy

Saw Peter Ustinov's Romanoff and Juliet (1956) by the Finn-Brit Players. Lively actors (my favorites being those of Evdokia Romanoff and the Archbishop) and the corny message of love and peace - worked.

"Was Karl Marx ever in love?"

The company of truly dear friends visiting far and near topped the comfortably lazy weekend. My thanks! The weekend was exceptional, too, as on Saturday I got to move around in a car and on Sunday watched a film in the tv. Haven't got neither of the gadgets myself; the public transportation around here fortunately being as excellent as it is, and the tv being addictive and mostly full of bs - so I threw mine away some years ago. If I'll ever learn to use it in small doses only, I might consider taking it back. So far, haven't had any particular reason or need to test that.

Der Sandmann is calling.