Scientific State (Part I)

=====Few things spiritually motivate the fundamentalist -- religious and pretty much every other kind, too -- like talk about the end of the world. Tonight I watched the two hour special on the History Channel chronicling human civilizations love affair with the Apocalypse. The show covered a lot of the scenarios and beliefs that surround the topic, but it largely centered itself within the beliefs presented by the Old and New Testaments.
=====From the time I was able to conceptualize death -- a moment I dont actually remember, but it must have been some time before the age of three -- until about the year 1998, I had a nagging fear of worldwide holocaust. The fear was much less severe after about the age of eleven, when the U.S.S.R. fell. Before that time, however, the fear was something that I contemplated at least once a day. I believe that this contemplation, when mixed with heredity, led to the clinical depression with which I would eventually be diagnoses. My strong belief in the inevitable devastation of the entire planet as well as everyone and everything I ever loved was fueled largely by my exposure to religion -- both Catholic and Protestant.
=====My fear of nuclear annihilation was lessened, by a very small amount, when I was about five years old. It was around this time that my mother married a Muslim. After seeing that religion could be different for different people, a concept not readily administered in church, I gained hope that religion could not only be optional, but fallible. In this sense, I suppose it was my search for hope that led me to become what some might consider an Atheist. I do not consider myself to be a true Atheist, but this is beside the point. This information is being given so that my perceptions can be understood more clearly. Had I not been exposed to the existence of Islam as a youth, I am pretty sure that I would have to have been institutionalized, eventually. Ironically, it would be the existence of Islam that would allow my fear of global holocaust to remain intact after the fall of the U.S.S.R.
=====Shortly before the fall of Soviet Russia, the United States began war on a new enemy. That enemy was Saddam Hussein. It was told to children, of which I was one, that Saddam Hussein was wholly evil, which he may be, and that he wanted to destroy the United States and Israel with powerful weapons. My brief moment of relief from the fear of seeing my family, and myself, be melted where they stood was swallowed whole by these teachings. It seemed as though I was really the only kid in my group of peers that had any legitimate fear or understanding of what my teachers were implying. To ease my stress over the situation, I rationalized that Iraq was by no means the world power that the U.S.S.R. was, at the time, and that they would probably not be able to acquire or use the rocket technology necessary to create a full-out nuclear war. This rationalization probably enabled me to maintain my sanity well into my teen years.
=====Today, my fear of global holocaust as facilitated by war is greatly diminished. If one were to estimate some percentages, it would probably read something like 100gbsp;between the ages of three and five, 85 etween the ages of five and ten, a brief period of near 0round the age of eleven, a return to fear of about 70 etween the ages of eleven and fifteen, a slight reduction with a fear of about 55 etween the ages of fifteen and nineteen, back to an area of around 0-5 etween the ages of nineteen and my present age. With an adult mind, I have a greater understanding of what people are actually willing to do and what they really want for themselves. Dictators want power and wealth. You cannot have power and wealth when you have destroyed everyone and everything. Fundamentalist groups, like Al-Qaeda, present a slightly scarier reality, when it comes to killing everything on principal, but dont possess the means necessary to carry out such a plan. Being as the only real threats to global annihilation are groups that wouldnt be able to fit the bill for such a task, my fear is basically nil.
=====It is amazing to me, though, that there are adults, around the world, who not only believe that the end of the world is coming, but that, through the power of their religion, they can bring it about. More specifically, I am talking about the Christians who believe in an Anti-Christ, and the fundamentalist Israeli Jews who they wish to aid in building the Third Temple on the ever-so-magical Temple Mount. These people believe that if they rebuild Salomons temple, which has been destroyed on two occasions, where the Dome of the Rock now stands, that it will usher in the events described in the Book of Revelations. In other words, God cannot, or will not, bring about events such as the coming of the Four Horsemen, the Rapture, the raising of the dead, or the establishment of the Kingdom of Heaven, until these people construct a building. So, this means that not even an infallible God can escape becoming the victim of red-tape. Despite the humour of the situation, the bloodshed and war that it creates is not as funny -- not as funny. There has to be something darkly funny about a nation of adult human beings killing each other and their children over a game of Dungeons & Dragons.
=====It is clear to me that these people -- the Muslims, who have claim to the land through conquest, war and victory, the Jews, whose only claim to the land is biblical and barged in to claim half the country out of nowhere, and the Christians, who back the Jews and cause all sorts of trouble in a place they dont even belong -- are not responsible enough to be in possession of so much land, let alone a country.
=====In other postings I discussed how religion retards the growth of science and development. I believe it is time that a place existed in the world that was outside the grasps of the religious right. One might say that China and other forced Atheist states are already ahead of me. But, you see, China forces ideas on to its people, or it did, and it also retarded the development of many thought processes, arts, and sciences that the government saw as threatening. I am not talking about a communist, Atheist state. I am talking about a state that is established outside of all forms of developmental retardation. I am talking about a state in which all of the worlds scientists are automatically given citizenship, and, with that citizenship, the supplies, resources, and freedom to advance their ideas and research to levels it cannot reach while the religious or idealistic fundamentalist groups try to pin it down with unreasonable laws. Dont misunderstand; the religious right is only a part of such social retardation. Leftist fundamentalists also seek to retard certain helpful sciences. I am talking about a state free of all scientific limitation. I could fathom no better way for these religious fundamentalists, and religion itself, to atone for all the death, suffering, and developmental stagnation it has caused than by surrendering "The Holy Land" to such a cause.
=====I know what youre saying; "but, George, the son of God was born in that place! Moses led hundreds of thousands of slaves from Egypt across a desert for forty years to found that place! Mohammed talked to a winged man with a magic rock in that place! We cant just give it up!" My first response is, "Do you hear the words youre saying -- I mean, really hear them?" Then, I remember who Im speaking to and I offer compromises.
=====The first compromise I offer is the betterment of the planet in exchange for your patch of desert. Without limitations, science could probably advance five times as quickly as it does right now. That means that medical science, astronomical science, historical science, and biological science could go from the year 2006 to the year 2056 in the next ten years. That means that new medicines and vaccines, like a cure for AIDS and cancer, could, and probably would, be discovered and save millions of lives. That means that new strains of plants and food resources would be developed that save billions of lives. That means that we would better understand the universe and space-travel, and work on a possible solution to the overpopulation of the Earth. That means we could advance our understanding of the ecosystems of the world and better understand how to prevent human contamination and destruction of these environments and ultimately save billions more lives of all species, humans included. That means that we would develop better ways to produce the products that we need to sustain civilization that would reduce the negative affects on the environment. That means that the overall well-being of the entire planet, and all the lives that it harbors, would be greatly improved, just because the great scientific minds of the world were given a place to converge and study freely. I dont think any God would frown upon its creations being made healthier and stronger.
=====The second compromise I offer is automatic peace. If you people had nothing over which to fight, then you wouldnt be fighting. You could simply move the source of your religion from the material world into the supernatural world, where it belongs. You could hold your religion in your souls and in your hearts. Your religion could be one of spirit, not of rock, sand, concrete and dirt. If that was the case, it wouldnt make any difference what religion anyone was.
=====If the prospects of billions of saved lives and an end to fairy-tale wars doesnt interest you, and you believe you would eventually want to fight the new scientific state for the Holy Land, then I can still offer you one final compromise. That compromise would be unity. You guys could stop blowing each other up, for a little while, to unite against a common foe -- common sense. I would sleep well knowing that, because I chose to move in on the Holy Land, Christians, Jews and Muslims could band together as brothers in arms. Maybe such a union would lead to long-lasting understanding. Maybe such a union would lead to the idea of sharing these lands you have all dubbed equally holy; though, not so holy that killing people all over the place with in it is out of the question. Obviously, God hates chicks way more than murder. But, I digress. I was offering you the gift of unity as compromise, or trade, for the Holy Land.
=====I know little about what God wants. I leave that up to you people. If God is really into all the murder and hate you guys create, because people dont worship it like it wants them to, then I guess Im out of line. If God is into the harmony, health, peace and prosperity of its creations, despite what they believe, then I think Im well within my rights to lay claim to these lands.
=====I need two things from the rest of the world. I need places for the people that would be moved out of these areas to live, without any trouble. Africa, China, and South America, Im looking at you -- be a team player. Everyone would benefit equally from the nameless scientific state. The scientific state would not be shackled by government or religion. The scientific state could spread its discoveries and benefits all over the globe. I also need all of the worlds scientists to agree to migrate to this new state. Think of how much work could be accomplished if you didnt have all that bureaucratic red-tape around which to work. Scientific minds, more dedicated to the advancement of the field than to patriotic notion, from countries that ordinarily could never be brought together would be able to work side-by-side, sharing each others advancements. All of the worlds knowledge could be centralized in one neutral state. If the prospect of the Holy Land isnt your speed -- an idea I only propose because Im a jerk -- then find an island somewhere. Find any place that such a state could be established, and establish it. If the rest of the world can make these two concessions, this state should be established immediately.
=====I dont think anything could halt global holocaust quite like the all-around betterment of the entire planet and civilization. Consider all the fear and loss that could be avoided by the founding of the scientific state. Disasters would be better managed or avoided, hunger would be eliminated, and disease would be all but mastered. For the good of humanity, for the good of everything we know, even the good of all that is holy, this needs to be done.