‘Human sacrifice’ staged at CERN's Shiva Statue

[brainpanhandler]

Same developer as Pokémon Go.

Ingress

Ingress is a location-based, augmented-reality, massively multiplayer online game (MMOG) developed by Niantic, originally part of Google.

Setting

The game makers' framing device for the game is as follows: Alongside the discovery of the Higgs Boson by the physicists at CERN in 2012,[9] it has also been discovered that the Earth has been seeded with "Exotic Matter," or XM. This substance has been associated with the Shapers, a mysterious phenomenon or alien race.[10]

Portals

Portals are typically associated with buildings and landmarks of historic or architectural significance— such as sculptures, murals, and other public art, libraries, post offices, memorials, places of worship, public transit hubs, parks and other recreational or tourist spaces, or with business locations.[22][23] Players may submit requests for the creation of new portals.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ingress_(video_game)

Hard to believe there is not a portal at the Shiva statue.

[Elihu]

I guess it comes down to whether we believe individual scientists are in charge or the State is

Taking NASA as a model, we can speculate that many of the ways that the research at CERN will result in making the world a better place will be spinoffs and not directly intended results.

demonstrably awful and harmful:

1) US "defense" department.
2) Massive too-big-to-fail bank bailouts.
3) Fossil fuel subsidies.
4) Tax evasion via offshoring profits.
5) Radically upside down tax codes.

the state

[OP ED]

We appear to be entering another thread derailment.

A few thoughts occurring. I'm not seeing any particular evidence that science, or even in particular medical sciences are having a negative impact on lifespan or quality of life. Quite the opposite. UN statistics show a drop of almost 2/3 in the overall infant mortality rate for member nations over the sixty years they've been recording global numbers. That's just one example but the total statistical effect is to have almost doubled the average lifespan in developed and developing nations over the last century. There are many and varied causes of this, some sociopolitical (less wars, less severe wars) but some are a direct result of applied sciences, often at taxpayer expense.

both my super wicky base layer of clothing that helps to cut down on my swamp ass and the flame resistance of the outer layer which keeps me from, you know, catching on fire and stuff, were originally designed for military applications by, um, scientists.

So, yeah, hail satan for that.

[Elihu]

We appear to be entering another thread derailment.

i disagree. whatever this was is official state policy. the guards stood down, are standing down. you can like it and defend it, it's your right

[OP ED]

Very rarely do I understand what you're about.

[dada]

There's something to be said for curiosity though, isn't there?

Is wanting to know how the universe works simply driven by the desire to manipulate it? 'Master' it, gain power over it, case closed, the end?

I want to know what's at the bottom of the oceans, and in the farthest reaches of space. I personally would like to understand how the subatomic world does its thing. Chances are knowing these things won't get me anything but satisfied curiosity. Probably raise more questions. But I'd still like to know. I like to learn.

I'm learning how to run a seventy year old printing press, and everything that goes with that. I'm not doing it to have power over it. Or to put it on my resume. It doesn't win me cool points to be used as capital, it's not a turn on for the ladies (generally). Maybe I'll have an opportunity to apply this knowledge some other way in the future. And maybe not. Just figuring it out is enough for me.

And who really knows. Maybe in spite of all our pessimism, there will be some mind-blowing discoveries that turn the world that we take for granted upside down. Benefit the human species someday far in the future, provided we make it there.

My question is, are we ready for big positive changes. I don't think we are. Say someone figures out how to turn water from polluted to pure. So big industry can turn up the sludge dial. I don't know how I feel about that.

Or the singularity happens, but the disembodied AI in the sky is friendly, actually helpful. Be weird, right?

Maybe something even crazier, beyond science fiction. The scientists open a portal to the best of all possible worlds, do some sort of synchro-entaglement shit, and collapse all the other dimensions. Suddenly we're in the best of all possible worlds. Damn. What would we do? We'd probably figure out a way to fuck it up. I have faith in us.

[DrEvil]

Very rarely do I understand what you're about.

Welcome to the club.

(No offense meant Elihu, but your postings really are very cryptic and hard to understand).

About messing with reality at CERN: They're not doing anything that doesn't already happen in the sun every day. As far as I know it hasn't been swallowed by a black hole yet.

[stickdog99]

The Garden of Eden myth is a defining parable for Western Man. In this case, sexist language is appropriate.

The history of Western MAN is the history of men's use of knowledge in their quest to become God on Earth.

Once upon a time, only God could create disasters and catastrophes. Once upon a time, only God could commit genocide or make species go extinct. Once upon a time, only God could make a technology so advanced that he could not lift it.

The first use of any new technology discovered by Western man is always to kill, destroy, or/and profit. If a new technology ends up benefiting society, that is merely a side effect of the profit it generates.

Most non-western cultures do not seem to have the same sort of God penis envy that Western European cultures have, at least not historically.

[Burnt Hill]

^ And then there is Galileo et al.

[Elihu]

Very rarely do I understand what you're about.

Welcome to the club.

(No offense meant Elihu, but your postings really are very cryptic and hard to understand).

About messing with reality at CERN: They're not doing anything that doesn't already happen in the sun every day. As far as I know it hasn't been swallowed by a black hole yet.

well thank you dr evil. of course i've mis-stated the case as always. the light bulb was supposed to go off when i appended nasa to the first list of nasties and cern also being unmentionable in a negative connection. honestly, reading pro-people's own typed descriptions of supposed accomplishments and benefits, how big are they really? the cost has been huge and continues to be so. hundreds of billions for decades? a trillion? that would have bought a lot of food and housing. i like science too but not while there is a tax-funded war going on. i just apologize that it took a satanic human sacrifice ritual to motivate me to make the case they ought to be shut down. from pro-peoples' own mouths': it's just a drop in the big budget bucket. so then?

There's something to be said for curiosity though, isn't there?

Is wanting to know how the universe works simply driven by the desire to manipulate it? 'Master' it, gain power over it, case closed, the end?

I want to know what's at the bottom of the oceans, and in the farthest reaches of space. I personally would like to understand how the subatomic world does its thing. Chances are knowing these things won't get me anything but satisfied curiosity. Probably raise more questions. But I'd still like to know. I like to learn.

I'm learning how to run a seventy year old printing press, and everything that goes with that. I'm not doing it to have power over it. Or to put it on my resume. It doesn't win me cool points to be used as capital, it's not a turn on for the ladies (generally). Maybe I'll have an opportunity to apply this knowledge some other way in the future. And maybe not. Just figuring it out is enough for me.

And who really knows. Maybe in spite of all our pessimism, there will be some mind-blowing discoveries that turn the world that we take for granted upside down. Benefit the human species someday far in the future, provided we make it there.

My question is, are we ready for big positive changes. I don't think we are. Say someone figures out how to turn water from polluted to pure. So big industry can turn up the sludge dial. I don't know how I feel about that.

Or the singularity happens, but the disembodied AI in the sky is friendly, actually helpful. Be weird, right?

Maybe something even crazier, beyond science fiction. The scientists open a portal to the best of all possible worlds, do some sort of synchro-entaglement shit, and collapse all the other dimensions. Suddenly we're in the best of all possible worlds. Damn. What would we do? We'd probably figure out a way to fuck it up. I have faith in us.

that was fun to read thx, bittersweet conclusion of course,

[Elihu]

Once upon a time, only God could create disasters and catastrophes. Once upon a time, only God could commit genocide or make species go extinct. Once upon a time, only God could make a technology so advanced that he could not lift it.

it might be anthropocentric to believe God originated any of these

[Elihu]

to make the case they ought to be shut down.

to add to this point there is plenty of rich people patrimony in the world, they would quickly pay for any science they wanted, let them risk their own capital, why millions of poor people should pay their scientists to get a lasso around the god particle for them? time to wake up.

[OP ED]

Actually it would be hundreds of billions of imaginary dollars for decades of real living for billions of real people. I don't think that's anything to sneeze at.

[OP ED]

to make the case they ought to be shut down.

to add to this point there is plenty of rich people patrimony in the world, they would quickly pay for any science they wanted, let them risk their own capital, why millions of poor people should pay their scientists to get a lasso around the god particle for them? time to wake up.

Poor people can appreciate knowledge for its own sake too.

[Elihu]

Poor people can appreciate knowledge for its own sake too.

if it was the difference in them making a rent payment? that's not an independent variable. for real, you're not gettin it?