jarek91 – Page 12 – Soapbox Rants: In Exile

MacGyver Phone?

The iPhone has been much lauded as both a savior and a plague. It both fulfilled and crushed hopes. It spoke of style and yet lacked substance in several places. But regardless of your feelings about this device, you have to admit that Steve Jobs definitely got everyone’s attention trained on Apple’s little morsel of electronic goodness. On the other end of the spectrum, in more ways than one, is a little company called HTC.Â They make Windows Mobile smartphones. One of their most popular, the TyTN has been a boon to the Microsoft collective. HTC does to Windows Mobile what Apple does to style…they kick it up a notch. And now it looks like HTC is about to do it again with their TyTN II (also known as the P4550 and the Kaiser).

Several people running tech sites have gotten models to review and the news is good. With twice the RAM and ROM of the predecessor, built-in GPS, and a tilt up screen when in landscape mode…it seems HTC has decided to bring some game. Rumors currently (as we haven’t seen official releases from companies) say we should see the AT&T Tilt (possibly the AT&T 8925) in about a week. There is also a possibility that there will be two models, one with a front camera for video conferencing and one without. This will, of course, change the cost of the phone. Pricing should be in line with what the current AT&T 8525 debuted at.

Now this phone isn’t the alternative to the iPhone if you like form over function. Love it or hate it, the iPhone is heavy on the sleek and stylish looks. The TyTN II is a little bulkier and less refined. But can you open your Office 2007 documents on an iPhone? Yes, the TyTN II comes with Office 2007 support. This is great because as businesses move to the new version and inevitably send files out in the new format…mobile workers will still be able to see and edit what is sent to them.

Which brings us to one of the real differences between the two products. People that need to get work done are the ones most likely to pick up the TyTN II. Less business oriented users will probably gravitate to the iPhone. Now I’ve had my hands on the original TyTN and on an iPhone. While the majority of my cellular use is personal, I’d much rather have the TyTN II in my possession. I have more use for a phone with Office capabilities than a phone with a novel interface. Especially since most of the actual iPhone functionality is available on the TyTN II. Instead of iPod mode, you can use Windows Media Player. Instead of using IMAP or POP to get Exchange email, just use Pocket Outlook. Best of all…the TyTN II has MSN Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, and AIM from the factory.

I was one of the many buying into the iPhone hype, albeit a little skeptically (after all, who actually believes all of the marketing hype these days?). As time has begun revealing its inadequacies, I find myself more and more drawn to this new option that offers all I wanted from the iPhone and most of what I wanted beyond the iPhone.

UPDATE: It looks like HTC has changed their homepage to include a large banner for the TyTN II. I think we can safely assume that it’s official. The TyTN II is here and the carriers should have them in our grubby little hands within weeks. Now…if you’ll excuse me, I need to see if I can find a way to get the upgrade price before my upgrade eligibility in October.

New Vista Patches

According to this article at arstechnica.com, Microsoft has finally released a couple of patches to address performance and compatibility issues. The biggest issues addressed by the performance patch in my opinion would be:

•	When you copy or move a large file, the “estimated time remaining” takes a long time to be calculated and displayed.
•	After you resume the computer from hibernation, it takes a long time to display the logon screen.

As for the compatibility patch? Only one item jumps out at me (probably because I experience this all the time):

•	The Printer Spooler service stops unexpectedly.

These are listed as KB938979 and KB938194 on Microsoft’s website. With any luck, they will be included in Patch Tuesday’s release. I like Vista. I like it a lot. But it still has a way to go before it becomes the true successor to XP. There is simply no excuse for some things, like the amount of time it takes to unzip a file. I’ve tried several experiments to attempt to solve my performance problems with zips. They all had the same result. My Packard-Bell 486SX/25 unzipped files faster. So kudos to Microsoft for working on the issues and here’s hoping they get the rest of these performance lags fixed soon.

Into Ubuntu

Over the years I’ve run a number of Linux distros and I’ve watched them evolve. For the last couple of years, I’ve been purely Microsoft on my home computers. When that errant nvraid driver update killed Vista (and I still can’t find my install CD and license key), I decided it was time to see what has changed in the OSS landscape.

So after managing to get my data away from the RAIDed disks, I fired up the system with a freshly burned copy of Ubuntu 7.04 (Feisty Fawn). It proceeded to load a LiveCD version using Gnome as the GUI. The boot was pretty quick and the hardware detection worked wonderfully (with one exception, covered later in this article). I was presented with a plain desktop that had everything you would want to see for a basic home user: web browser, email reader, OpenOffice, and a way to browse files. Sure there is more than that, but these are the things that most people are going to be looking for right off the bat. Music players and games and video editors usually come in second to these staples.

The only icon on the desktop is one labeled Install. So I open it. Thus begins a simple 7-step wizard, most of which can be ignored unless you want to use a language other than English. There is nothing complex about the information asked for and the partition tool has a fully automatic option which I imagine most Joe Suburban users would pick. If you can click a radio button and type a user name and password, you can install this system.

After you’ve completed the wizard, you just sit back for about 15-20 minutes and click Finish. The software unloads itself, ejects the CD, then requests that you press Enter to reboot. That’s it. No compiling. No editing .config files. No choosing kernel options. You reboot into the fully functional Ubuntu system. From here you can either start using it as your everyday OS or you can jump into the Add/Remove option under Applications and install some new software. I would suggest at least adding the Restricted Use package, otherwise you’ll find some irritating deficiencies such as no MP3 playback. I understand the necessity for the separation and the reason it isn’t part of the base install…lawyers…but I would like to see future releases mention this a little better up front. I managed to find the fix pretty easily with the power of Google.

Of course, with any system there are bound to be some problems. Mine was the Creative X-fi Platinum sound card. This card is completely different from previous cards. In other words, the Linux sound systems (ALSA and OSS) cannot use the device. Creative has yet to offer any technical information to open-source developers so they can write drivers. They claim there will be a closed source driver out this year in beta for Linux, but the release has already been pushed back once so I won’t hold my breath. Fortunately, I have AC’97 audio built into the motherboard, so I just turned it on and voila…I have music.

Now, why would anyone want to get out of Windows and jump over to Ubuntu or another Linux distribution? That answer will vary from person to person. Me? I like a number of applications that would cost me hundreds, probably thousands, of dollars under Windows but cost nothing but the time to download and install under Linux. One of my personal favorites is Bluetooth OBEX support through the file manager. It’s nice to open the equivalent of My Computer and browse over to my RAZR to copy photos, ringtones, wallpapers back and forth with a simple drag-and-drop. Or how about using GTKPod to update my iPod since I can move files both ways? Granted, you lose the iTunes store ability…but I only bought one song and that was the result of a free song on a bottle cap from one of my Dews.

Software updates work much like Windows Automatic Updates. You get a notification in the panel equivalent of the System Tray (next to the clock). You click on it. You tell it to install the updates. Done. Yes, there is the occasional update that will ask for a reboot, such as kernel updates. But by and large, most updates will take place on the fly with no restart necessary. This is one of the joys of a modular system. If the module is updated, just reload the module into memory.

I have to admit that a large part of my decision to jump over to Linux for a while is Beryl/Compiz Fusion. I like eye candy, especially if some of it actually makes work easier. So I’ve been playing with Beryl and the Emerald theme manager and I have to say that the cube is fun even though I usually flip between desktops with the scroll wheel or keyboard shortcut. Regardless, I give kudos to the developers for putting some truly useful and time-saving modules into this package. I’d forgotten what a wonderful thing it is to have multiple desktops when you’re used to running 8-15 apps at a time.

So far, I have nothing but praise for what the people over at Ubuntu have done for the OSS community. With just a little more polish in spots like driver support (from anal-retentive hardware manufacturers), I would say that Linux has finally gotten ready to enter the true desktop market for the masses. Yes, I know…a lot of geeks have been running Linux as a desktop for years…but I’m referring to Joe Suburban and his grandmother. Until there is acceptance from the not-tech-savvy, Linux will never be a player in the home desktop area.

Windows Home Server RTM

According to Qblogger over at the official Windows Home Server Blog, the code has been finalized and released to manufacturing. I tested the software on and off throughout the beta and it’s an overall well designed product. I’ve seen a few people complaining about it lacking certain features, but they seem to forget what the purpose of this device is. This is a media sharing and desktop system backup solution. It’s a server for suburbian families that have lots of music and photos they want the kids to be able to get to easily. It’s a desktop backup system that is simple to use so any important information on any system in the home is protected from hardware/software failure.

This product is not a corporate or professional level server. It isn’t meant to run Exchange or SQL or host your blog. If you want these things, go buy Windows Server 2003 Small Business Server or build a Linux box. However, if what you’re looking for is a system to backup the important files on your home computers and share your media from a central, always-on location … then this is a good choice. It integrates almost seamlessly with XP and Vista (at least from my experience) and does a good job at the tasks it was designed for. As a matter of fact, the only problem I had was that I didn’t setup my main Vista system to backup before I toasted it with an errant RAID driver upgrade. (My main system has about 200GB more storage than the box I used for the Home Server.) Oh well, live and learn.

Articulation and Percipience

Communication is a fundamental tool of modern life. Though we tend to think of communication as verbal or written in most cases. All too often we forget the myriad of ways one can convey thoughts and feelings to others. On the rare occasions that we actually notice the other forms of communication such as facial expressions or body language, we are prone to misinterpreting the meaning. I theorize that this is because we have desensitized ourselves through modern communication avenues to a point where we are losing touch with these parts of our brains that decode the information gathered using the senses other than hearing.

In early days, before the Human Race had developed oral and written communication, we still managed to convey thoughts, ideas, and emotions to one another. We used all of our senses and understood. In today’s society of instant messaging, email, television, and fast food, we have begun to lose the ability to see what is right in front of us. Some people compensate for this loss of understanding by using lengthy explanations for even the most simplistic of thoughts. It avoids some misunderstandings. However, this quite often is not enough.

The reason for that is simple. We live in a world where things are moving ever more quickly. We do not allow ourselves the time to actually contemplate what is being said to us on all levels. We take what is on the surface and jump to the first conclusion that jumps to mind. This does not invalidate earlier claims about the subconscious. Why? Because we are now talking about using the surface only…not just for what we are taking in, but for what we use to interpret it. Conclusions based completely in the conscious are very prone to error.

What, then, is the remedy for this? I cannot give a definitive answer. Every person is different and the reasons will vary from individual to individual. In general, though, I would say that slowing down the jumping to a conclusion would be a step in the right direction. Don’t just take the first impression of what someone is saying. Take a moment to reflect on everything you see, hear, smell, and feel from the person with whom you are communicating. If there is room for doubt in the resulting conclusion, then ask for clarification and remember where the error in judgement, if there was one, happened. Learn from it.

All of life is a learning exercise. When we stop learning…we have stopped truly living. We have ceased to grow as a person and have stopped our part in the evolution of the Human Race. Our evolution is vital for survival on many levels. I have stated before that our technological evolution has outpaced our spiritual, emotional, and mental evolution. If this trend continues, the Human Race will cease to exist as a result of our own folly. Simply put, we will kill ourselves even as we are doing today. There must be a balance if there is to be survival. Balance with nature. Balance with others. Balance within ourselves. It is an imperative of the Universe that we cannot avoid.

Y.A.i.B.P.

(that’s Yet Another iPhone Blog Post…like we have a shortage of them)

Having played with one in the AT&T store right down the road, I can say that I wish I had the money to drop on the little morsel of technological geek candy. Sadly, Apple has opted to make it stylish only for those who have large salaries and almost no expenses. I don’t know about the rest of the world, but there’s no way I can just up and drop $500 on a phone…much less $600 for one with more storage. Add to that the higher monthly expense since the iPhone plans all need the unlimited data pack and you’ve got yourself a second mortgage.

Despite Apple’s extortionist ways and AT&T’s mafia-like control, I want one. I watched the Apple iMarketing machine with new iHype generator and even drank the iKool-aid. The device is very cool. It even works mostly as advertised and that’s no mean feat in today’s market where it is all too common to be promised the moon and given a block of moldy cheese.

The interface is extremely intuitive and simple. I would expect nothing less from Apple. The touch screen capabilities are absolutely some of the best geek candy I’ve managed to experience in a long time. The overall design, while definitely sleek, is also easily functional. I can’t say whether or not that opinion will hold up after a long call, but my trips to the AT&T store to play with something far out of my price range have convinced me that at least for my short average phone calls, this thing would work just fine.

Add to all of that the iPod capabilities and you’ve got a potential long term revenue for the little brother of the technology world. That is, if the batteries hold and the few software glitches get fixed while AT&T tries to beef up their network to handle the extra load. Oh…and while you’re at it…how ’bout some 3G? After all, you don’t go out and get a brand new Porche and drop a Yugo 3 cylinder engine in it…

Transformers

I watched Transformers yesterday. I went in with a carefully guarded hope that Michael Bay had managed to not destroy one of my favorite shows from my childhood. Let’s face it, more often than not such undertakings are met with near universal disgust at the result…Super Mario Brothers comes to mind. With that said, I’ll fill you in on my take of the overall movie while trying not to include spoilers.

I’ll start with the previews. They lend the opinion of a near non-stop action flick. This isn’t the case. There are a myriad of side stories that take place throughout the movie that I found engaging. The writers did a good job at telling stories of the different people drawn into the conflict even if their characters weren’t quite as fleshed out as they could have been. Some of them offer humor while others touch the heart (and quite possibly can be construed as commenting on current world affairs a bit). The pace of the movie starts out a bit on the slow side but it doesn’t really feel like it’s dragging. As things accelerate, you find yourself being swept into the frantic battles with little sense of transition from the slower events that happened earlier on.

Now, I can’t say the movie should get glowing reviews…it wasn’t all a cakewalk. There are characters that were quite obviously put in for the younger audience…The Section 7 officer comes to mind rather quickly. I’m certain that was his whole purpose for existing in the movie…to add a little of that ‘weekday Nickelodeon almost-teen’ show feel…fan service for the kids that don’t remember the original Transformers TV show. There is also little things like the way some body panels on the Autobots will split when they transform into robots, yet you see no lines between those panels when in car form. Admittedly, it’s nit-picking, but I notice such things. I do have a couple of theories as to how that could work such as their ability to morph those panels or their holographic capabilities…but it’s still something that bothered me.

Finally, let’s talk about the music. It’s the same pop-culture action-flick fare you’ve come to expect. Hard Rock from various bands jams in the background during most of the action sequences. The selections do help with the mood of simple bad-ass butt stomping, but I doubt it will stand the test of time. There is no “The Touch” moment that stands out musically.

And for the record, I was one of the one’s that protested all GM Autobots. Bumblebee is a VW Bug, damnit. But his personality was pulled off with a flare that just matched the Camero while still retaining, as far as I’m concerned, the core Bumblebee character.

Pash and Avarice

I thought about the best-man’s speech that I gave for Wolf at his rehearsal dinner and it inspired me to delve a bit more deeply into the subject I broached. The line of my speech went something like this:

“…We live in a world where being jaded and cynical is the norm. It is a world where love is far too scarce. You two have found a gift, probably the most precious of gifts that can be granted…”

Of course, there was more to it but this is the section I wish to expand upon. We do live in a jaded and cynical world. Far too many of the Human Race have traded such virtues and Love, Honor, and Trust for the cheap wine of Greed and Power. I do believe that Love is the greatest gift given to the Human Race. There is no single force more powerful in our possession. Think of all of the great good and great evil done in the name of Love. It is the single most potent expression of emotion we have. Unfortunately it has fallen in status over the course of our ‘evolution’.

How can we truly think that we have evolved when we sacrifice the greatest part of ourselves for meaningless baubles like technology or money or ‘power’ in the rat race? Why must Love suffer for these changes to happen? They are not related in any way other than through the Human Race itself. What is it about ourselves that causes the paradigm shift to cruelty for material gains? What material possession could make us even begin to consider the possibility of maybe thinking that it could be worthy of doing nothing more than paling in comparison to Love?

I have a theory on that, actually. Mother Culture. The force of media, societal conditioning, peer pressure, and well calculated misinformation. Mother Culture is responsible for this shift. It was not something done overnight. It has been centuries in the making and it still is not done. She is a cruel mistress that requires cruelty and apathy from us to survive. Unfortunately, she has been getting exactly what she wants.

This is the reason I love freely. This is why I never pass up a chance to fall in love. There is not nearly enough in this world right now. The only way to change that is to fight the flow of humanity’s drive. I’m not saying we should forsake all of our worldly possession or strive to move up (in Mother Culture’s meaning) in the world. By all means, if that is a motivation for you to continue on in life, then do so. There is nothing wrong with that.

But never, let me repeat that…never…pass up the opportunity to love. Love is the greatest force ever conceived. It is the greatest gift the Human Race was ever given. It is the most precious thing we possess. It should be shared freely and often. It should be unrestricted. Let Love flow and the world will become a better place. Why? Because Love conquers all. No amount of malice or hatred or bias or self-loathing can withstand unrestricted Love.

I speak not of physical acts. I speak not of things that laws forbid. Using the word for such things is Mother Culture’s doing. She had to cage the boundless to control it. Love would defeat Mother Culture otherwise. When I say Love, I mean a deep feeling of affection for another. It could be the Love one feels for a parent or sibling. It could be a romantic Love that one feels for that special someone that they hope to spend the rest of their lives with. It could be the Love that soldiers feel for their country. Love has many forms and all of them are beautiful. All of them are profound in their own way. All of them should be experienced.

One should never fear to Love another. One should not feel that it makes them a bad person to feel romantic Love for more than one person. It means that you have taken a step away from Mother Culture. It means you are one step closer to being a person who is helping to give to the world that which is sorely lacks. You are improving the ‘evolution’ of the Human Race. Once you see Love for all of its many gifts and accept that Love is a wonderful thing that should be shared by everyone, then the shift will begin to move in the right direction. It will be the way Nature intended…the way we were meant to be.

So, everyone, I say Love often, Love deeply, Love freely. Do not cage something boundless. Do not limit the power of Humanity. Show your Love.

Aspirations and Contemplations

I find it frustrating at times, being ‘the nice guy’ according to those I hang around with. It isn’t that I have a problem with being perceived as this caring, attentive, helpful person…but there come times when it ends up being a very taxing aspect of life. Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t change it for anything. I -do- enjoy helping and listening and being there for others.

I just wish that sometimes there wasn’t such a demand for so much of me in so many directions all at once. I suppose it isn’t all that bad. I just have a tendency to have a shorter fuse on my tolerance when things pull me in too many directions without downtime. As a result, I’m sometimes rather short with my friends. This is what actually upsets me about the whole thing.

Maybe some people would see it as a justified reason to have an outburst or to tell a couple of people exactly where they can get off for a bit. I don’t. I really don’t think there is ever a justifiable reason to do that to a friend that is asking for some help or even just a friendly ear. It’s just one more thing I have to work on in the never ending project of improving myself and learning to control every aspect of my being. In reality, I believe that should be the ultimate goal for each and every person on this planet…complete master of one’s self. Would there really be anything left in the realms of the impossible (or highly improbable as I prefer to look at it since I believe -nothing- is impossible) if we all managed to completely master our own minds, emotions, thoughts, and souls?

I am very much an idealist when it comes to my thoughts of possibilities. I like to think that if we all managed to achieve such a goal, the world be be an infinitely better place to exist. With complete mastery of one’s self, prejudice and malice would cease to survive. Greed and jealousy would be forced to retire. Love and respect and honor would again hold sway and power. It sounds much like a childhood fantasy world. And that’s the real tragedy. People get so caught up in the whole idea of having to ‘grow up’ that they lose the ability to dream. They lose the ability to hope and wish and strive for what gets labeled later in life as ‘a childish flight of fancy’. There is nothing wrong with these things. It is possible to be ‘more mature’ and still cling to one’s imagination. I’ve done it. Others have done it. But we are a minority.

Unless more people can turn from Mother Culture and see that the key to our survival as the Human Race lies in the ability to dream and the desire to pursue these dreams, well…let’s just say the road we’re on is heading very quickly towards a bridge that’s out. The war, famine, strife, and rampant injustice in the world -does- have a weakness. Our minds and hearts are the true weapons to defeat all that is wrong in this world. Mother Culture has decided that life is much easier if we cage these things in terms such as maturity and responsibility. Mother Culture may be right. Life might be a little easier this way. I mean, if you aren’t pestered with little things like actually pursuing a dream to make it a reality…life is much easier to get through. But how hollow is that life? How empty is such an existence?

Would it not be better to forsake inhibitions and pursue thy dreams? Even if the dreams are never made a reality, you will have lived a full and true life in pursuit of a worthy goal. The destination on such trips is never the true purpose. The trip is both the challenge and the reward. Every experience teaches something about one’s true nature and desire if one is willing to look upon the view with truly open eyes and mind. Let’s be honest…if you don’t know yourself then how well can you possibly know anyone else? We base our observations of others on comparisons to ourselves. This leads to the inevitable conclusion that the better you know yourself, the better you can understand others and understanding is the key to life.

It never ceases to amaze me how few people are able to see things like this after walking the road of life for much longer than I have. Don’t take that statement as conceit. It isn’t. I do not for a single moment think that I’m some really wise sage. I just make observations. I’m certain more than a few have been wrong just as I am certain I will have more in the future. If I can get enough people to look at the world through open eyes and open minds, perhaps more of the truth of life can be uncovered. That would be a wonderful thing to witness. Humanity might even find the power to change course before hitting that bridge that’s out. I cannot speak for anyone else, but given the choice I’d rather survive.

The Human Race has a massive untapped potential for doing great things that could shape the entire Universe. The problem is that the Human Race has a massive untapped potential for doing terrible things that could shape the entire Universe. We witness some of what we are capable of every day on the news, courtesy of Mother Culture. The media revels in the joy of shocking headlines and in-depth stories about atrocities committed by our Race. On very rare occasion do we see half-hearted stories about the use of our potential for kindness and tolerance. In a perfect society, we would not need encouragement to bring forth the better angels of our nature. Unfortunately we don’t live in such a society. We have not nearly evolved enough emotionally and spiritually for such a society to exist and survive.

We must look within ourselves for the encouragement to bring about the potential for great things. This is not an easy task to be given. Nothing in life worthy of pursuing is easy, though. And that is one of the great crimes of the times. Mother Culture has brainwashed the masses into looking for the easiest path for the short-term reward. She has taught us that this is the best way to live life. Short-term effort for empty rewards. Monetary and materialistic gains are achieved for the mere sacrifice of everything that can make us a truly great Race capable of cultivating within the Universe the seeds of a true utopian society. Few of us are left that look to the future with child-like eyes capable of seeing the alternatives to the path our world is on. But we persevere. Why?

We hope.

Signs and Portents

Somehow I am still amazed at how much we take for granted. Life is full of little miracles that take place every moment of every day. We have become so attuned to the way things are that we no longer find wonder in the things that fascinated our developing imaginations as children. Time passes and we become jaded and sometimes cynical where we used to be dreamers. What happened to the dreams of adolescence? What happened to the magic that filled our minds?

Who said that there is an age where such things are inappropriate? Who decided that such things were foolish and a waste of time? Are not our greatest achievements given to us by the hands of dreamers and free thinkers? Are they criticized then for being what they are? Are they scorned for holding on to the essence of enchantment? No, they are respected for their contributions. They are hailed for their foresight. There is no shame in holding on to that which made us all young at heart. There is no defect because someone chooses to look at life through the eyes of youth and wonder.

I am reminded of a quote from Babylon5 when the technomages were leaving the galaxy. One of them explained who they were to Londo and it struck a chord with me. This is what the Human Race should be. This is what we should embrace if we wish a truly better world.–

“We are dreamers, shapers, singers, and makers. We study the mysteries of laser and circuit, crystal and scanner, holographic demons and invocations of equations. These are the tools we employ, and we know many things. Fourteen words to make someone fall in love with you forever, seven words to make them go without pain, how to say goodbye to a friend who is dying, how to be poor, how to be rich, how to rediscover dreams when the world has stolen them from you.”

This is what Mankind lacks in sufficient quantities. Where are our legions of dreamers, shapers, singers, and makers? Where are the blacksmiths that will forge the future that we all wish for but never strive to achieve? Where shall we search to find our guides to a better life…a better world? I have the answer. In actuality, we all do.

They will be found every time you look into the mirror.

Some of us will have to dig and scrape to remove that which Mother Culture has used to bury our true selves. Some of us will already have cleaned away the dirt of this modern world to discover what lurks beneath. There is a child full of wonder and hope in each of us. This is the key to our true evolution, not the enhancement of technologies. Our technology has already outrun our maturity and understanding. It is time that we began to catch up to our creations. We must again move beyond ignorance to some semblance of intelligence and enlightenment. It is a task that will be long. The alternative, however, could be worse. It could be our own destruction as a Race.

The same reason one does not give a four year old a hand grenade and keys to an M1A1 tank is the reason the Human Race should not have the breadth and sophistication of our current technology. For all we think we know…we have no understanding. We are like diapered infants barely from our mother’s womb when it comes to our perception of the Universe. There is so much we do not know, so much we do not understand, and so much more that we understand incorrectly.

Faster computers and more accurate weapons do not make us advanced as a species. Knowing who we truly are to the Universe and what our role is within the Universe…that is where the evolutionary path lies. The other path is a much shorter one. It involves our Race removing itself from existence. This is what will happen should technology continue to outpace understanding and enlightenment.

Should that come to pass, what would happen to our stories, our poems, our art and music? What would happen to the real contributions to life that have been made by our Race? Where would the understanding we have managed to gain in some small part by the free thinkers and dreamers go? It would be lost for all time and the Universe would be made less by the loss.

Another Babylon5 quote comes to mind as a perfect way to describe the Human Race and why we should strive for this understanding.

“Then I will tell you a great secret, Captain. Perhaps the greatest of all time. The molecules of your body are the same molecules that make up this station and the nebula outside, that burn inside the stars themselves. We are star stuff. We are the universe made manifest, trying to figure itself out. As we have both learned, sometimes the universe requires a change of perspective.”