I can't wait until we lose our Superpower status

[MrScorpio]

Then maybe, we can get our own house in order

[Random_Australian]

1. You might lose a lot more stuff at the same time. Be careful what

you wish for.

There are tough times ahead, even with these polls.
The damage has been done.

[Robeson]

2. Agreed....

...100%.

[Oeditpus Rex]

3. As much as the thought of holding the planet at gunpoint

disgusts me, I think I'd feel worse if it were the other way around. :scared:

[IChing]

4. The dichotomy of your reality

leaves little left
for PEACE ON EARTH

[Random_Australian]

5. meh. Real reality does the same, unfortunately. (special trivia inside)

(leaves little left for peace on earth, that is).

Trivia: I wrote "I must prevail" on the end of that post, before deleting it. Why did I do that?

[IChing]

6. spatio-temporal construction

which can be clearly brought into consonance with physical experience is denied.
That a mechanical system should permanently admit only discrete values of energy or discrete states—

Does that explain the Why?

[Random_Australian]

8. No. Who says 'consonance' anyway? Is it a typo or is that what

you meant to say?
No, it doesn't. Stop trying the wig treatment. What's more, it may not be acceptable to my visual/spatial interpretation of reality, but I can easily consider it using mental constructs. What the freak are you yabbering about?

Why should that be of consequence to that psychological phenomena? An argument that it came from the processes at a similar level of consciousness to my typing would be acceptable, perhaps due to internal or subconscious visualisation of a particular referenced set of information - which in this example would be a vision of the future and my causing actions that influence it from the context of the sentence, but the mere discrepancy between my interpretation of reality in the macroscopic sense and the microscopic processes which enable that reality are inconsequential, I thought!

Edit: Typo.

[IChing]

9. LOL.....mine was purely a physics expiation

of your psychological question of Your removal and your obvious delectation in removing the consumation of your thoughts

And yes I meant the word expiation.

It is the lounge. DUDE or Dudite.:)

what time is it there by the way?

[Random_Australian]

10. 10 to 6 pm.wednesday april 19.

O.K. point taken.
And stop using so many big words! I'm only first year uni! And only 1/4 of a year into that! (We start our year in March, so it is really a month and a half)

[Spider Jerusalem]

7. There will never be peace on earth.

Not until we (and most other large animal species) are extinct.

Human nature ensures that. Territorial group-oriented animals with hierarchichal social structures will ALWAYS engage in conflict of one sort or another with other groups of their own kind. It's as inevitable as death and taxes.

[pokerfan]

12. you advocate species suicide?

For the "good" of the planet?

There will never be peace on earth. Not until we (and most other large animal species) are extinct.

Only we and other large animals (mammals) engage in violence?

Do small animals exist in peace?

Forget animals. Ever really look at what plants do to each other?

We have evolved intelligence. Is that not a value?

Why the self hate?

[billyskank]

15. No, violence is rife in the animal kingdom

There's a funny thing though. Generally, the larger and more powerful the animal, the more ritualised conflict becomes. It is thought that this is so that most conflicts can be resolved before actually coming to blows ("yes, I give in, your tusks are SO much bigger than mine") because the animals have so much ability to mortally wound one another.

Humans are pretty weak as they are, so we do not have so much inhibition in our fighting. But technology has changed the equation. With it, we do more damage to ourselves and everything around us than any other animal can.

[Spider Jerusalem]

22. Not self-hate. Awareness.

Humans as individuals are generally all right. As groups, though...well, they're almost inevitably in conflict with OTHER groups. The social organisation of our species leads to conflict. Millions of years of evolutionary heritage and hardwired behaviour aren't going to change. Human history is largely a history of CONFLICT; it doesn't take an especially perceptive person to see that, or to conclude that the dream of 'peace on earth' is ONLY a dream, and not something that's within our species' grasp unless we evolve OUT of what we are now (but we'll probably kill ourselves before we get the chance).

[CanuckAmok]

31. Ah, but then there will be no taxes, grasshopper.

[rockymountaindem]

30. I'm with you

The best answer for an American citizen to give when asked why the US should be a superpower is "because I live there".

I'd rather be the superpower than the overpowered anyday.

[billyskank]

11. Just make sure you don't end up

sucking up to whomever becomes the new world superpower. Believe me, it's really embarrassing. x(

[SeattleGirl]

13. Hello, billy darlin'

I don't know about MrS, but I don't think he meant we should suck up. My take is that we (America) should stop being so freakin' arrogant, and start taking things at home more seriously.

[billyskank]

16. Hi SG!

I know MrS didn't mean that. My point was that we USED to be the dominant superpower, the USA of the 19th century, if you like, and that memory still informs our foreign policy to this day. The foreign office is still obsessed with "punching above our weight". This, in my opinion, is the reason for our sycophantic relationship with America, which debases us so much.

[tjwmason]

18. Billyskank for Foreign Secretary.

That's the best summary of the F.C.O. and our foreign policy in general I've heard for some time.

It's quite an irony that the brown-nosing has actually got worse under a Labour government (though perhaps one should say under a "Labour" government).

[billyskank]

19. You mean to say

an unremittingly New Labour government. x(

[tjwmason]

20. That's the polite version.

I can think of several other ways to put it - not suitable for those under the age of 18.

[Random_Australian]

14. OT: Wow! I only just noticed you weren't American!/ On topic: Yep, it sure

is... We get it ba-aa-aa-aa-aa-ad.

[CanuckAmok]

32. You think you've got it bad? Try living upstairs from them!

What a racket, I tell you, and I don't know what they're cooking, but it smells!

[TheBaldyMan]

17. 2020, China invades Venezuela and America contributes a Mech Inf Division

this will be about 25% of all thats left of it's army.

[Peter Frank]

21. It won't work that way...

Our Gov is not our gov anymore.

The multinationals are having a field day with our Constitution.

The noose is now loosely around around our necks. It will tighten quickly with Bush's growing unpopularity.


Bush is not the problem -- his puppeteers are.

[Deja Q]

23. The bigger they are, the harder they fall.

And they have the ability to destroy everything.

Let them.

[terrya]

24. I agree.

We need to fall as an empire first. And it's inevitable...the cycle of history is replete with risen and fallen empires. I'm reading "American Theocracy" right now, which gives a great deal of perspective on our situation.

[dr.strangelove]

27. I just started it

this morning on the train. Great opening.

[dr.strangelove]

25. Are you sure? I don;t ever want to lose our superpower status?

I believe with great power comes great responsibility and we are abusing our power right now in a very irresponsible way, but to lose that status is insane. I enjoy our freedom and that it is very difficult to harm me in my home. There are lots of bad people in the world, as a history of wars, invasions and aggression has shown. Being the strongest nation limits my friends' and family's exposure to harm from these huge mistakes. I agree that we should fix our own house and act with more responsibility on a worldwide level, but to wish we would lose our position of strength does not make sense to me.

[AngryAmish]

26. I have superpowers

For example I can eat over twenty chicken wings at a sitting.

[jukes]

28. Dig That!

:toast:

[SteppingRazor]

29. Right. Because every other country in history that lost such dominance...

was better for it in the end. :eyes:

Remember the Roman Empire? The Greeks? The Ottomans? The Soviet Union? etc., etc., etc.?

Loss of "superpower" status has always meant the loss of a great deal of other things as well. In the case of the Soviet Union, it's meant widespread corruption and crime in the new Russia.

In the case of the Romans, it meant a thousand years of benighted ignorance.

Feeling lucky?

[CanuckAmok]

33. Part of that result is the emergence of other domineering empires

If there is no 'next superpower', what would happen then?

[NewWaveChick1981]

34. Does that mean Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and

the whole Superpowers Justice League will haul our asses down to the Hall of Justice for reckoning? :P