Doomsday

Lets say, human being evolved into being step by step and then one day the earth like many other stars in this universe will die of natural cases or human error . Then we need to answer one fundamental question, can we provide some purpose of our being other than living for the sake of it.

After searching for a long time in we are unable to find any alien life across the known universe. Not even a micro organism but we keep on insisting that we will find something eventually. And after so many failed attempted we resort to IA.

Artificial Intelligence is the next big thing along with internet of things on our agenda today. We are trying to create something with a conscious because we believe its the only thing that human have which made them so superior to other creatures living on our plant. Lets say, we are able to create a creature called IA then we will use it for the benefit of who? And IA will be aware of itself and more intelligent then humans then will it be realistic for superior mind to work for humans, the same way lets say humans work for donkeys.

Either one way or the other all of the world as we know it will come to its conclusion. But speculations will keep haunting us for the time beings like the stories of bed time which keep on playing in our dreams like a horror movie on repeat.  May be IA can do wonders which we cannot see at the moment, may be its the new gene in the bottle we have been looking for since our childhood. But it will also eventually run out of power.

The most advanced machine, I have ever encountered in human being, but despite of its self sustaining mechanism it also dies eventually owing to some bacteria or viruses or decay called aging. Then how we can make sure that IA will survive the biggest offender in this universe called environment. As we know, even dino could not survive the rain of fire.

What we are running from is the end and strangely we are running towards it, on one hand, we consider ourselves the builders, creators but failed to recognize the creator of this universe. We build things with help of materials, man power, machinery and all the resources available to us and yet these things do not last our own life time. And we compare ourselves modern despite the fact the people before us have created more better buildings we are not even able to unlock those mysteries.

If there are no aliens and there is no way to put a conscious into a computer software, then may be there is a purpose for our time on this plant other then building skyscrapers and atom bombs. And sooner or later this world will face its end and we may have to face our creator and justify for our deeds. May be we only believe after we see, but sometime, we also believe bed time stories.

Choices

“Every being has to face the outcome of her/his choices they make in life”.

Its a very short and simple sentence, anyone could have thought it, listened it, spoke it or wrote it. But there is more to this sentence than mere words, for example, what you conceive out of this sentence. I am going to explain what I understand of this sentence.

If I want to travel from point A to point B in this time then I have multiple choices in this specific time in History. I can travel on foot, by bicycle, motor cycle, car, plane, ship or in variety of other transport. Each of these means of transport have there pros and cons. Some may cost more then the other with different comfort level and there are different time span for each mode of travel. Lets say my choice can also be influenced by the nature or difficulty level of the path I have to travel. Suppose, I have to travel only one kilometer, then instead of getting on bike or in car, I walk the whole way. But if there is mud in the way then may be I would prefer a car or horse instead of getting my shoes dirty or may be I do not mind getting my shoes dirty and walk through the mud any way.

But then again, there is a possibility that I could slip and my cloths are also ruined along with a chance of getting hurt. After thinking about this possible out come, I may change my decision of walking after all. As you can see environment surrounding us can also influence our choices so as many other factors, but in the end we are the one to face the music.

In the same way, each one of us have to make choices in our life and there are multiple options available for each of us. May be some of us have more option than others but ultimately the basis choices we have to make are similar in manner, for instance, where should we live?, how should we live?, what should we eat?, how much should we work? how much money do we need?, how much resources we should gather?, how many people we make friends?, or how many people in our live we can afford? and many more situations present themselves before us to make some kind of choices.

Hence, sometimes we end up in situations which we do not like and blame others for our grievances but actually we are the one who made all those choices which lead us to this point. Same is the dilemma with most persons living in a mixed cultural societies, multi racial, secular countries. If these people enjoy the better facilities provided by their host countries then they should also learn a way accept the intolerance of these societies towards different people. This means that if you want to eat wheat then you may also have to bear the labor of harvesting it in a hot day of summer.

Terrorism

By definition the use of violence and intimidation in the pursuit of political aims.

According to Global Terrorism Index,Terrorist activity is highly concentrated — five countries accounted for 78 per cent of deaths. Fifty-seven per cent of all attacks and 78 per cent of all deaths occurred in only five countries; Iraq, Nigeria, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Syria. What all these countries have in common, ISLAM as their most practiced religion or it was in case of Nigeria. Then why these countries see the most terrorist attacked carried out in the name of ISLAM? That is a point to ponder.

If there are muslims killing muslims for ISLAM, then there must be some kind of misunderstanding, because according to ISLAM a muslim can not kill any other muslim or for that matter any living thing just for fun. Period. But if you are not practicing ISLAM then that may not be a problem. Religion has been used for political gains time and again in history so has been terrorism. What do you called killing two entire cities at least 129,000? Was that not terrorism for that matter. The highest number of people killed in terrorism attacked until 2014 is 35000 in a year. But that is still behind 129,000 or may be  437,000 which is the number of people killed in homicide in 2014 around the world.

Then why terrorism is that much of a issue for west when there loss is much less as compared to their gains in terms of proxy wars, arms deals, drug supply and free ground for military experiments. In which text book, it is written that killing 360,000 in Afghanistan, 174,000 in Iraq, 250,000 in Syria and  over 35,000 people in Pakistan was a better way to cope with grief of killed 2,996 people in New York? 819,000 people are now dead since 9/11 and world is in a far worse shape then it was when it all started.

273 living souls are dead per one person died in a attack from different parts of the world, who had nothing to do with that attack. Is it not terrorism? in the case of the colonization of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, when 90% of the indigenous population was wiped out in 500 years of European colonization. West has only one solution for every problem they face, every thing they like,”give us more or die”. They are unable to feel empathy, sympathy, love or for that matter any other emotion then hunger. Its not these most effected countries who are responsible for the terrorism but its the superiority feeling of west in their small brains, which they have after taking hold of a big gun in their short tempered hands is the reason of all the terrorism around the world.

Racism

Number of forcibly displaced worldwide:

59.5 million

Yes… 59,500,000 is the number of people living without a proper home, without proper means, without any kind of prospect of future and yet all around the world we hear about racism and bigotry the same.  A poet of subcontinent named IQBAL once said that “The biggest God in the recent Gods is country” because by definition we are swore in to protect its borders and make it great, without even thinking that what greatness really is?

If greatness is burning all the people with a different religion, color, ideology then most of the nations around the world are already great. Which one nation is without prejudge, most of the people in this world do not want admit the plain and simple truth that is EVERYONE IS SAME. None of us is a superman or superwomen by birth, there is no noble blood, no one with a claim of iron throne, or with a claim on spiritual second of any kind is different then his subject or follower, there are no super, sand or rock stars around.

We all share the one world and we all have the same claim on this world. In other words,  born in certain vicinity with certain zip code does not make you better than any other zip code. Each human being, if born healthy have 2 arm, 2 legs, 2 eyes, 2 ears, one mouth, one butt with hole, one nose with two holes and if someone don’t have some think then it does not make then small but they make make up for that with good nature.

But in a world, where every one is in the league of justice, there ought be some villains and weaker the villains, better the outcome.  So our forefathers wrote impressive stories about the existence of these dark forces which awakens time and again in one color or other, in form of a baseless cult or in the form of backstreet boys. Making it easier for us to locate and eliminate these evils and save the day time and again.

But this war is more difficult then we thought, because most of the evil reside within the shapes of human beings ( “Killing animals for fun is also banned now a days”) and distinguishing them is really hard.  So for this purpose, we track them down with special evil detector and bomb them with our super powers. In this way, we know that either evil is eliminated or quarantined.

Mostly evil like some special kind of colors and warm areas across borders, but sometimes if it come in the country then we can also gang up on them and shut the borders for good. But some time these evil forces also get hold of our friends and they start killing our own people like they are evil. which make the forefather stories a little less trust worthy but never the less we have to keep fighting. Until either there is no more evil or there is no more us.

Insanity of the Human Beings

Yesterday, I wrote my first blog post First Opium War https://plightblog.wordpress.com/2016/01/18/first-opium-war/

Because as a smoker since my college, I also have an addition. But as all of you may know, buy a cigarette is not that much of a problem around the world because its not harmful to human beings, right? Or may be it is because Tobacco was the first great commercial success of England’s empire in America. Indeed, if we date the creation of a formal imperial structure to the passage of the Navigation Acts in the mid-seventeenth century, then it was tobacco that called the empire into existence.

As a subcontinental subject of former British Empire, Originally chartered as the “Governor and Company of Merchants of London trading into the East Indies”, the company rose to account for half of the world’s trade, particularly trade in basic commodities that included cotton, silk, indigo dye, salt, saltpetre, tea and opium. The company also ruled the beginnings of the British Empire in India.So drinking tea at least 3-4 time a day is also in my DNA, I suppose.

You may start wondering that what is the point of all the above non sense I am writing. So, here it is, the insanity of human beings. We want to cut trees to build houses, boards, papers and heating fire places. We get the crude oil out the earth and the produce enough carbon dioxide to inflate earth temperatures. We develop real estate on jungles and agricultural land. We drop our garbage straight into oceans and then catch enough fish to endanger their existence just for the sake of business.

Yet it never occurred in my minds that despite spending R&D budgets on developing CO2 capture technologies, why not just plant more trees on the vast amount of lands that are producing nothing. So that they may capture the CO2, why don’t world superpowers put their minds together to generate enough electricity from water, wind and sun to run each car or jet on electricity. Is it that hard, or may be impossible?

I think, its because there is no refueling of electric car with oils so there is no more incentive for carrying out such lame experiments. Why not, just collect the royalties and sleep after taking our favorite kind of drug. Why not just make cars that are bigger, faster and luxuries? or may be Economy is bigger than humanity?

My point is in which state of mind, a human being do all that we are doing in this world? Just like British empire knew that what opium was for? what tobacco does? But they promoted it and benefited from it quite the same without any conscious. How does this work? in which state of mind people decide to go on to moon or mars for settlement? how about not destroying this plant? How about feeding and educating the under privileged people rather than looking for alien life and new worlds.

Lets say? if this insanity got a new world like it got America a few centuries back, who will make sure that they will not do the same to that new world?

First Opium War

According to history, wars have been around ever since the human civilizations exist, although multiple efforts had been carried out after, before and in between the wars to resolve the issues by other means. Wars do occur and people always tend to find reasons. When we take a broad look at all the wars that have happened and their reasons, not a single one of them can be justified logically. It is a waste of resources, man power and abilities. But yet time and again we find news of violent conflicts from all around the world.

Of all the reasons, varying from land disputes to resources capture and ideologies. The economy of the war plays an important roll in these conflicts. As most of the people are aware that fighting a war requires money, resources and man power. The outcome of a war leaves both sided with causalities, destruction, chaos and enormous debt. Rehabilitation of the war zone, taking care of refugees and rebuilding infrastructure will also require money which the winner or loser of the war may not have and had to borrow again.

Creating debt, that the coming generations of both nations or the same nation will have to pay in decades to come. So, we might want to ask ourselves a question, why it is more easy for a financial organization to sponsor war than peace. And in which state of mind the ruling class find it reasonable to go on a war rather than paying some tax to avoid it.

In the age of discovery starting from 15th century , EU figured out that they are not alone in this world and they can easily conquer and deprive the rest of the world from their freedom and resources and use them for their own well being. They started to create a world much different and violent then ever before. But when they had enough, they started to get fed up of the local issues and retreated to their own borders and sealed them.

But before doing so, there is a war named after a drug which they fought to restore the balance in the universe. The Opium Wars were two wars in the mid-19th century involving Anglo-Chinese disputes over British trade in China and China’s sovereignty. The disputes included the First Opium War (1839–1842) and the Second Opium War (1856–1860). Yes! the human rights champion, the greatest empire in the history fought a war for Opium recovery. This was long before  June 1971, when President Nixon declared a “war on drugs.”

What keeps the drug industry going is its huge profit margins. Producing drugs is a very cheap process. Like any commodities business the closer you are to the source the cheaper the product. Processed cocaine is available in Colombia for $1500 dollars per kilo and sold on the streets of America for as much as $66,000 a kilo (retail). Heroin costs $2,600/kilo in Pakistan, but can be sold on the streets of America for $130,000/kilo (retail). And synthetics like methamphetamine are often even cheaper to manufacture costing approximately $300 to $500 per kilo to produce in clandestine labs in the US and abroad and sold on US streets for up to $60,000/kilo (retail).

Therefore, this profit margin keeps the wheels rolling and even attract  the Governments officials to take a dip while standing along a flowing river. If somehow, the government cuts the middle man and keep all the profits for it self and also provide arms and ammunition to the gangs controlling the production fields to protect their assets do not seem as a bad choice to restore balance to the universe and making some money along the way.

And these conflict zones are also without any restraints of U.N.O. LAWS or other neighboring countries to face any defamation for their part, because they are already inglorious bastards in their own sense. And again, WAR ON DRUGS budgets all around the world will also provide people with jobs and economy will flourish by their spending. And in my view the first opium war was not the last opium war. It may change colors and dimensions but its far from over yet.