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Your Paracast Newsletter — August 4, 2019


Gene Steinberg

Forum Super Hero
Staff member
THE PARACAST NEWSLETTER
August 4, 2019

www.theparacast.com

A Futurist Explains How to Face Our Technological Future on The Paracast

The Paracast
is heard Sundays from 3:00 AM until 6:00 AM Central Time on the GCN Radio Network and affiliates around the USA, the Boost Radio Network, the IRN Internet Radio Network, and online across the globe via download and on-demand streaming.

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This Week's Episode: Gene and Randall present futurist speaker and author Christian Kromme. Christian is an expert in disruptive technologies and the author of the Amazon best-selling book “Humanification – Go Digital, Stay Human.” In this book, which you can download free of charge from his site, he focuses on the fascinating parallels between biology and technology. He maintains that the waves of technological innovations that follow each other in rapid rate are, in fact, no coincidence. His book helps the business world anticipate and navigate in an extremely rapidly changing world and benefit from the latest technological changes. He challenges organizations to think like a surfer, so they know how to surf the next great wave of technological change. Are we ready to face the future? Is the rise of machines a curse or a blessing?

J. Randall Murphy's Ufology Society International: Ufology Society International (USI) - Explore the UFO Phenomenon

William Puckett's Blog: UFO Reporting Center, Latest UFO Sightings & News.

Christian Kromme's Site: Christian Kromme - Futurist Keynote Speaker and Best Selling Author

After The Paracast -- Available exclusively for Paracast+ subscribers on August 4: Gene and Randall present Special Correspondent William Puckett and his UFO sighing update. This week he discusses an episode that occurred on July 26, 2019 in Tustin, MI, where a woman discovered strange marks on her body. You’ll also hear about reports of star-like objects zigzagging and circling on July 21, 2019, in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, a report of a large V-shaped object seen in the daylight in Logansport, IN in 2006, and a slow-moving large orange orb in Montreal on July 28, 2019. Futurist Christian Kromme continues the discussion that began on the August 4, 2019 episode of The Paracast with more of his fascinating views about our possible future. The discussion includes Kromme's observations about the possible impact of "first contact" with extraterrestrials.

Reminder: Please don't forget to visit our famous Paracast Community Forums for the latest news/views/debates on all things paranormal: The Paracast Community Forums. Check out our new YouTube channel at: The Official Paracast Channel

A Dystopian Future
By Gene Steinberg

As you have probably observed, many sci-fi films that depict our civilization in the early 21st century haven’t been terribly optimistic as to how humanity will fare.

Some films have been equally overeager in predicting a miserable future. So the 1981 movie, “Escape From New York,” envisioned a major war involving the United States and Soviet Union; this was a decade before the USSR was broken up. But it wasn’t an outrageous concept during the height of the Cold War.

In this film, Manhattan was used as a maximum security prison, and a soldier turned criminal, portrayed by Kurt Russell, plots an escape.

And it’s hard to forget the impact of “Terminator,” from 1984, which was one of the early Arnold Schwarzenegger films that cemented his reputation for delivering fancy quips. He was back many many times.

So in 2029, an AI system known as Skynet, fated to start a nuclear holocaust, sends our favorite Terminator back to 1984. His, or its, goal is to prevent the birth of the individual who will lead the rebellion against Skynet by killing the woman who will become his mother.

These films and others depict a post-apocalyptic future, where our civilization is shattered and we poor humans struggle to cope with the mess we created.

Yet another example is “Star Trek: First Contact,” perhaps the best “Next Generation” film, in which Captain Picard and the crew of the Enterprise must return to 2063 to prevent the evil cyborg/human Borg from changing the future by altering a crucial event. It’s yet another depiction of a post-apocalyptic civilization. As depicted in the Star Trek canon, eccentric scientist Zefram Cochrane invents warp drive, and his maiden voyage draws the attention of Vulcans, thus initiating the event depicted in the title.

With stories such as these, it’s hard to envision a very pleasant near-future for humanity. Indeed, all the turmoil we are experiencing today around the world would seem to point in that direction. It almost seems as if those films — and others with equally pessimistic visions — were, in some ways, prophetic.

Now I do not expect to be around long enough to see humankind go to hell in a hand basket, unless it happens in the relatively near future.

Regardless, it’s clear that the producers of these films, and others depicting similar outcomes, didn’t have to spend much time examining tea leaves. The signs have been there for decades, assuming we are foolish enough to continue along such a tragic path.

Now Star Trek’s creator, Gene Roddenberry, predicted that humanity will eventually come together to form a peaceful civilization, becoming a member of an equally peaceful Federation of peace-loving worlds. So First Contact, with a little help from the Enterprise crew of a later generation, initiates the process.

But if our future is destined to lead to disastrous outcomes, how can anyone have hope that we can find the path to peace?

Well, futurist Christian Kromme, in his appearance on the August 4th episode of The Paracast, is more optimistic. Yes, there will be dark days. Rampant technology may overwhelm us, but eventually humanity will come together to overcome its problems.

Now I’m not a fan of his vision of a utopian society and all, but making technology our friend, free of the current concerns of privacy and other issues, is not so bad an idea.

But it’s only one example of humanity overcoming its troubles. At least it happens without outside interference or influence, or maybe that’s what it requires.

In religion, there’s the Second Coming, but even that vision postulates a potential armageddon in which only the chosen people are rescued. Concepts of Space Brothers are similar. Humans can’t do it alone; they require some outside force to intervene in our affairs to set things right.

That there are so many concepts that are essentially similar might, to some of you, indicate that things are fated to change in ways that will be quite unpleasant.

But it’s far from the first time that we’ve confronted a possible end of the world scenario.

During the height of World War II, for example, millions were killed. It was easy to see why many people strongly believed that the end was near, and the threat of nuclear conflict in the years that followed helped to buttress that view.

The early flying saucer contactees presented their tales of contact with ET in that environment. It’s no wonder that some, such as George Adamski, recruited a number of followers. He, after all, was evangelizing the wisdom of the Space Brothers, beings who promised peace and love for all.

In other words, it was a modern day religion with technological trappings. It was about physical beings, traveling in physical spaceships, delivering messages that would exhort humans to overcome their troubles. But ET has, thus far, been totally feckless in solving our problems.

Over the years, there have even been a number “end of the world” predictions, and let’s not forget the misinterpretations of the Mayan Calendar and supposed expectations of some sort of worldwide catastrophe, or mass epiphany, in 2012.

Of course, when 2012 came and went, and nothing untoward happened, there was good reason to be jaded about yet another end of the world prediction. The arrival of the year 2000 was also supposed to herald cataclysmic events, if only because the internal clocks on many computers weren’t designed with the expectation of the arrival of a new century.

Such beliefs, however, largely envision a sudden event or a series of events that precipitate armageddon. An action movie of that title even had its heroes flying to an asteroid and altering its destructive path to save the world.

And don’t forget that ongoing climate change may result in disastrous consequences if we don’t fix the environment.

In all this, humans usually expect saviors to come along and rescue them. It’s not something we can possibly do ourselves if we just make the right kind of changes before it’s too late to act. As optimistic as some these beliefs might seem, that all is not lost, I’d like to think we are shortchanging ourselves.

Why should we require the intervention of outside parties, even if they are the machines we create, to prevent disaster?

I have little doubt that ET is out there, and may already be visiting our planet. But we shouldn’t expect them to just swoop in and rescue us. We have no idea whatever what their motives might be, so why should we expect friendly visitors?

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Great newsletter . The element on so called "Climate Change" or "Global Warming " is a contentious issue as seen as way of the 'socialist collective ' to share wealth to poorer nations from the UN policy. Remember we live in a World where 269 million are displaced . Old friend who worked in the UN for many years said its more "corrupt than a pick pocket or two in Oliver Twist"( the UN is changing to get rid of corruption that has been a problem ). Rather think Solar Warming is the real cause a natural event and humans only been around for snippet on the Earth and is a reality of living on this blue marble planet we all call home.
 
Great newsletter . The element on so called "Climate Change" or "Global Warming " is a contentious issue as seen as way of the 'socialist collective ' to share wealth to poorer nations from the UN policy. Remember we live in a World where 269 million are displaced . Old friend who worked in the UN for many years said its more "corrupt than a pick pocket or two in Oliver Twist"( the UN is changing to get rid of corruption that has been a problem ). Rather think Solar Warming is the real cause a natural event and humans only been around for snippet on the Earth and is a reality of living on this blue marble planet we all call home.

Climate change is no longer a debate. It has not been so for many years.

It’s only a debate to those that are incentivized to disbelieve it, but that is the realm of religion and imaginary friends, and there’s no winning a debate with people that won’t be rational.
 
Climate change is no longer a debate. It has not been so for many years. It’s only a debate to those that are incentivized to disbelieve it, but that is the realm of religion and imaginary friends, and there’s no winning a debate with people that won’t be rational.
It seems to me that a lot of the rhetoric is mired down in terminology like climate change versus global warming, or pollution versus industrial byproducts, or ecology versus environmentalism, or climate versus weather. Then add to that the variables of blame denial and conspiracy, and it's little wonder there's still confusion and disagreement.

I think the most reasonable approach is to start with the idea that "climate change" is exactly as it sounds. History shows that over an extended period of time, the climate changes. It changes in ways other than temperature, but these days most of the focus is on the average increase in temperature, hence "global warming". The questions yet to be answered with any level certainly appear be how much is attributable to human activity, which human activities are most responsible, and weather or not anything should ( or even can ) be done about it.

There's no longer any real doubt that human activities play a part, but there may be other causes as well. Debates persist about the Sun being the primary cause, but a closer look at those claims reveals insufficient evidence. Yes the Sun is getting hotter, but barring a direct hit from a massive coronal discharge, the Sun won't affect climate change in our lifetimes. We just know that it must be getting hotter because of the way stars work.

The more immediate cause appears to be the greenhouse effect, for which CO2 has been largely to blame, while the water vapor from high altitude aircraft has been largely ignored or downplayed in what seems to me to be some sort of self-serving economic game of denial. Not surprisingly, the politics and money of it all play a significant role, e.g. carbon credits and other opportunistic ways to extract wealth rather than solve the problem.

Want to actually do something? Try this girl's suggestions.
I'm doing it, and have reduced a lot, but am still getting mired down in packaging.
 
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It seems to me that a lot of the rhetoric is mired down in terminology like climate change versus global warming, or pollution versus industrial byproducts, or ecology versus environmentalism, or climate versus weather. Then add to that the variables of blame denial and conspiracy, and it's little wonder there's still confusion and disagreement.

I think the most reasonable approach is to start with the idea that "climate change" is exactly as it sounds. History shows that over an extended period of time, the climate changes. It changes in ways other than temperature, but these days most of the focus is on the average increase in temperature, hence "global warming". The questions yet to be answered with any level certainly appear be how much is attributable to human activity, which human activities are most responsible, and weather or not anything should ( or even can ) be done about it.

There's no longer any real doubt that human activities play a part, but there may be other causes as well. Debates persist about the Sun being the primary cause, but a closer look at those claims reveals insufficient evidence. Yes the Sun is getting hotter, but barring a direct hit from a massive coronal discharge, the Sun won't affect climate change in our lifetimes. We just know that it must be getting hotter because of the way stars work.

The more immediate cause appears to be the greenhouse effect, for which CO2 has been largely to blame, while the water vapor from high altitude aircraft has been largely ignored or downplayed in what seems to me to be some sort of self-serving economic game of denial. Not surprisingly, the politics and money of it all play a significant role, e.g. carbon credits and other opportunistic ways to extract wealth rather than solve the problem.

Want to actually do something? Try this girl's suggestions.
I'm doing it, and have reduced a lot, but am still getting mired down in packaging.

It's also a bit of a false debate - even if human activity isn't the primary cause for climate change (which it is), we would still benefit in any case from dealing with it.

Whether it's volcanoes or the sun or the beings of love and light from Pleiades causing the Earth to heat up, reducing our emissions that contribute to climate change and sea level rise is a good idea.

Logic is often in short supply when your paycheque depends on facts being debatable.
 
Logic is often in short supply when your paycheque depends on facts being debatable.
So true.
It's also a bit of a false debate - even if human activity isn't the primary cause for climate change (which it is), we would still benefit in any case from dealing with it.
We'd like to think so. After all, who can argue that caring for the environment is a bad idea? That's what opened the door to dealing with it via money transfer schemes - Carbon offsets can do more environmental harm than good
Whether it's volcanoes or the sun or the beings of love and light from Pleiades causing the Earth to heat up, reducing our emissions that contribute to climate change and sea level rise is a good idea.
Sometimes I get this sort of cynical detached feeling and think maybe it's just time for nature to just start over, hence a certain propensity for post-apocalyptic survivalist sci-fi. Probably my favorite variations on that theme are Planet Of The Apes and Terminator. A little more recently, I found Transcendence a welcome departure from zombie apocalypse culture. Then again, I've been known to make an exception for Milla Jovovich.
 
It's also a bit of a false debate - even if human activity isn't the primary cause for climate change (which it is), we would still benefit in any case from dealing with it.

Whether it's volcanoes or the sun or the beings of love and light from Pleiades causing the Earth to heat up, reducing our emissions that contribute to climate change and sea level rise is a good idea.

Logic is often in short supply when your paycheque depends on facts being debatable.
Bingo.
 
Sometimes I get this sort of cynical detached feeling and think maybe it's just time for nature to just start over, hence a certain propensity for post-apocalyptic survivalist sci-fi. Probably my favorite variations on that theme are Planet Of The Apes and Terminator. A little more recently, I found Transcendence a welcome departure from zombie apocalypse culture. Then again, I've been known to make an exception for Milla Jovovich.
Transcendence is one of those movies I watch over and over, especially on a plane or while chilling on a Sunday. It's not that it's especially brilliant, but it is intelligent and well executed.

Ninth gate is another Depp movie I rewatch every year or so. There's something about how it's executed and paced that I really like. It got the feel of occultism right to me.

Annihilation is a recent addition to that frequently rewatched list, as is Arrival. Both Blade Runners. Ghost in the Shell (original) and Akira are up there, too.

As for the perfect being, Fifth Element tops it off for me. I couldn't get into the Resident Evil stuff. Never even really liked the video games as a kid.
 
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