"I don't believe in astrology, but I find this line of thinking interesting to fantasize about."
I find that (for me, at least) much of the appeal of paganism as a religion is that its observations may hold true even if you totally discount the deities as external forces (which I do). Natural systems and cycles, once observed, are found repeated in many other circumstances. It's like fractal art where patterns in one scale are found at larger scales as well.
My favorite sci-fi series, The Uplift Saga, is about the concept of galactic societies finding and then deliberately modifying young species for improved sentience. Such "benefits" come with a multi-million year contract of slavery (sorry, indentured servitude), then the new species can go on to uplift (enslave) yet more species for millions of years.
I finally started posting regularly on this blog 4 years ago with a note about cuttlefish. I happen to think that cuttlefish (and possibly octopi and squid) are as smart as chimpanzees and african grey parrots. I was greatly disturbed to see the following video on YouTube which, by my thinking, amounts to the torture and humiliation of a sentient mind. It's quite nauseating when viewed with that interpretation, so fair warning...
no subject
I find that (for me, at least) much of the appeal of paganism as a religion is that its observations may hold true even if you totally discount the deities as external forces (which I do). Natural systems and cycles, once observed, are found repeated in many other circumstances. It's like fractal art where patterns in one scale are found at larger scales as well.
My favorite sci-fi series, The Uplift Saga, is about the concept of galactic societies finding and then deliberately modifying young species for improved sentience. Such "benefits" come with a multi-million year contract of slavery (sorry, indentured servitude), then the new species can go on to uplift (enslave) yet more species for millions of years.
I finally started posting regularly on this blog 4 years ago with a note about cuttlefish. I happen to think that cuttlefish (and possibly octopi and squid) are as smart as chimpanzees and african grey parrots. I was greatly disturbed to see the following video on YouTube which, by my thinking, amounts to the torture and humiliation of a sentient mind. It's quite nauseating when viewed with that interpretation, so fair warning...
"Dancing squid bowl dish in Hakodate"
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxQmOR_QLfQ
Yes, we badly need a trans-species bill of rights.