The extinction of human interaction takes yet another step forward...

I am currently reading the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. First they had representatives of the population, the Senate, and elected head with term limits. The populous became complacent and disconnected, they were cut out of the loop, the Senate was then stuffed with cronies and term limits for Caesar became lifelong. Starting the long decline of the empire.

I have always appreciated Durants’, The Story of Civilization where he says that throughout history civilization sparks and ignites, grows bright for a time, flickers and dies, and sparks somewhere else. We have been lucky enough to live (or at least me) post WWII in a relatively peaceful time for the earth. Climate change is going to cause enormous global conflict. Hang on to your hat.

Anyway, I agree with you. Although I have no idea why you brought that up. The global commerce I have been involved in has been an exceptional source of reducing tension and bringing the countries together and pushing off conflict. I have friends in China, across Europe, Mexico, Japan… supply chains reduces conspiracy theories about what the “other side” is thinking.

@ghdprentice ....and you are one lucky individual in your experience. 👍

Speaking of stories that make you do a 'parking brake halt from 80'.....

Spouse 'n self on a road trip, long ago, away in somewhere lower Idaho.
Stopped at a crossroads, middle of nowhere with nothing but a half dozen parked dusty cars...a small whiteish bus pulls over, appropo amount of citizens dismount.

Bus has a very odd name, but no other means of discerning it's service to or for....  *?*

Intersect one woman nearing her car.... 'What, Whom, Why?'

"It (X) is a mine."

Really...what for?

" Molybdenum.....used for making rocket nose cones."

Oh....

"Yeah, business is real slow.....we need a war."

It's still....very hard...to either describe or even our reaction to that comment.  Or the simple matter of fact way it was stated.

We got the 'ell away from there.....but it took awhile to shake the effect of that tossed over shoulder aside.

Happy to think you were engaged in trying to balance That out....to Any degree...

A dying tree falls into the river. It becomes a haven for small creatures and food for others.
It leaves behind roots and a stump which equally becomes a home for life and nutrients for others. When will it cease to be a tree?
Our atoms will feed the cosmos and continue the cycle or achieve an infinite absolute zero which will be a damn shame.
Zoom calls suck but I am retired now and have more important things to do like contemplate atoms and trees and what component to add next. 

@millercarbon     

"Ahh yes, the old we are still running around in bear skins living in caves story. Just exactly how far gone do you have to be to believe this while using your keyboard to put this on the internet?"   

My apologies I didn't think anyone would take that sentence literally. I will try to make it so the entire bell curve can understand next time.

So the algorithm of the soul is?  Does music matter without musicians?
Without ears to measure?  What function is being recreated?  If a tree falls in the forest…  Can a virtual twin be beautiful?  A shadow?  If ye are gods, then surely, also devils.  How do we reconcile oppositions?  With great power comes great responsibility.  A celestial pantheon inside of each, we are lived by powers we pretend to understand.  Humans are pathological animals.  Character as destiny.  Are we citizens or consumers?  Would you rather create art, or melodrama?  Do we live in a culture, or an economy?  Listening for the Muse, we discover portions of ourselves.  Revelation.   What cosmological imagination animates its children’s labors?  What value, ones intent?  How one listens determines what one hears.  What have you sacrificed?  What have you lost?  Who have you loved?  Who are your mentors?  Whose tree of ideas do you reside within?  How does one ‘see thru’ events?  How one looks, determines what one sees.  The middleware of the soul is Democratic.  Breathe.  The great sin of the age is literalism.  Play, as if your life depended upon it.  Don’t let perfection become the enemy of the good.  Remains a sceptic, not a cynic.  Poems, like songs, are prayers.  Sing.  Life at best, is an approximation, and to have lived is to have failed.  Learn to love your failures.  All origins are obscure and absolutes are bullshit.  Count your lucky Qubits.  Laugh at yourself, after all it’s the fools progress.  Called or uncalled, the gods are present.  Believe in miracles, we all contain a bit of magic, be it dark or light…