INTEGRAL WORLD MAILING LIST http://www.integralworld.net Newsletter Nr. 609 Amsterdam, March 19th, 2016 THE BIG KAHUNA'S DILEMMA - How to Live in a Darwinian Universe - ANDREA DIEM-LANE WITH ASSISTANCE BY DAVID LANE These thoughts got me thinking about religion and why most of us, if not all, tend to believe in all sorts of nonsense that on closer inspection appears (at least to those not involved in our own personal cult) utterly bizarre or useless. Yet, if any one of these systems, regardless of how fantastical they may be, provide us with a buffer from the onslaughts of a cruel and mindless nature, then they have survival value. We evolved to believe nonsense, since such beliefs provide us with a way to avoid looking at the ultimate abyss—death and meaninglessness. More to the point, it makes perfectly good sense to believe in nonsense provided that such allows us to get on with our lives and not succumb to premature implosion. Our brains evolved to lie to us, primarily because too much unmediated reality would overwhelm our ability to navigate the probability matrix that surrounds our day-to-day activities. This is why there are literally thousands of religions and millions of different beliefs systems—ranging from rabid sports fans to political zealots to automobile fanatics. Read more: http://www.integralworld.net/diem-lane24.html INVASION OF THE SUPERINTELLIGENT A.I. - The Digital Aliens Are Among Us - ANDREA DIEM-LANE The fear of invaders from Mars or other planetary systems has been a staple of science fiction movies from the 1950s onwards, including War of the Worlds, based on a novel by H.G. Wells, where manta ray like spaceships attack humans across the globe only to be destroyed not by sophisticated military weaponry but earth generated viruses and bacteria. Another movie of this genre, but with a different and more uplifting message, was The Day the Earth Stood Still, where a space being alien named Klaatu comes to Earth, accompanied by a powerful eight-foot tall robot, Gort, to give humankind an absolute ultimatum, "They can join the other planets in peace, but should they threaten to extend their violence into space, "this Earth of yours will be reduced to a burned-out cinder. [...] We shall be waiting for your answer" Read more: http://www.integralworld.net/diem-lane22.html