[Osborn F Enready]

SteveA said:
I have to admit things can even be worse than this. This is only one such technology that has such a possible impact. There many others that possible things that can be done with technology that would appear close to magic to many people.

I say:
I have often pondered the concept of the establishments ability to create a "false" rapture through the use of holograms and special effects technology to influence peoples ability to operate. Imagine a holographic return of Christ, amid the crumpled towers of Jerusalem...... the psychological levels of exploitation that could be attained are unreasonably un-nerving. Imagine the religious segments of all societies believing the end of the world, or armageddon was upon us.... the reality would be unimaginable, and so far reaching as to effectively cripple the entire globe. It would disrupt order long enough, for the worlds superpowers to unite and effectively employ a new world of "fictional" order, serfdom, and lack of rationale.

Extreme? Yes. Totally impossible? No, actually somewhat achievable with current technology.

SteveA said:
Consider how the simple creation of the A-bomb impacted the ability for a small group of people to hold hostage almost any place in the world hostage and we've made exponential "gains" (or losses, depending on your view) since then.

I say:
I agree, and the exponential increases are becoming larger gaps every day.

SteveA said:
The way I see it though is that people are still rule by consent. We don't have mind control (yet). Everyone is still free to decide what they support or don't. As far as I know, we only have one life. Do the best you can with what you have and try to learn and teach people what impact their decisions have. Though sometimes it seems like sides, we're still all in this together and what goes around, comes around and though I don't truly subscribe to religion there's a lot we don't know about how the universe operates, even something as simple as where our consciousness originates hasn't been explained satisfactorily, in my opinion, and I have a feeling that though some things seem enormous from one viewpoint from another they are unimportant, while other things gain in significance.

I say:
While I fully understand you point, I think there is much credence to the lessons of history. Just as surely as we know that governments have never expanded liberty of their own doing, they also have never shown to resolve international conflict without blood-letting. Look at the increase of use of violence by governments against their own people, and the less and less intolerance is tolerated.

I agree that a grass roots movement of all levels of citizenry affects the outcome, but the timelime for this to happen gets shorter and shorter every day, and so far, the pace of citizen education is far behind the increase of governmental power. It doesn't take much to see that the outlook is grim at best for this movement to work, without more national recognition of the movement itself. I don't see national recognition coming from a corporate owned, government advocate national media anytime soon, nor do I see significant battles being fought in the house and senate. The stage show is losing much of its intensity, and is going from a A+ production to at best B-movie standard.

SteveA said:
If matter/energy can't be create or destroyed and we can even see it and work with it - why would something as intangible as a conscious mind be something that could be created or destroyed by physical actions? I know that's what people call a soul. Well, I guess the point is it's not impossible that there is a purpose or plan to things, or larger picture. I'm not trying to encourage resignation to it, I'm saying it could be important to assure you have a voice in how this larger picture is painted - I have a feeling it will be around for a while.

I say:
While I agree, I also understand that all I know is in relation to this thing we call life. I can't recall any other time, or other body from which I previously existed, nor can I recall another consciousness with which to relate to problems of this consciousness. I am a product of what I have seen, read, heard, and what has happened all around me, therfore I can only relate to these things in the ways I have been taught we relate to these things.

In this consciousness however, I have been blessed by some means to have a mind that is both creative, and analytical, compassionate yet cold. Our depth of thought our strength, so often left un-explored due to the constraints of this thing we call life, and its imposed bounds and limits.

All I know, is that I am bound by conscience to best protect my, and my fellow citizens and humans rights to live freely, as they see fit. Allowing a war machine of this magnatude to be created, is not in our, or anyones best intrest, regardless of who is building it.

The balance of power, while limited to smokeless powder, is controllable in all scenarios of people vs nation, or nation vs nation. Once that boundary is lifted, we are all exposed to a cruel new world the bounds of which we can't yet even fathom. I see this as the gravest threat to personal freedom we have ever seen, and when coupled with the progression toward more strong central government that this administration is pursuing, I can only see disaster as being a realistic possibility.