S M I I L E

What is "S M I I L E"?

Space Migration, Intelligence Increase, Life Extension

This is the direction the human race needs to be taking. Not the path of continual exploitation, warfare and misery.

Space Migration: This planet is small and the more humans born, the smaller it gets. We are rapidly reaching a point where the planet will be unable to sustain the number of human beings being born. The answer lies out there. The universe is H U G E. Granted, we can barely make it to the moon at this point, but that's because our leaders would much rather waste money developing newer and more efficient ways to slaughter mass numbers of human beings. Well, besides shoveling it into the bank accounts of their selves, their families, their political and economic peers, etc.

The current war in Afghanistan isn't about terrorism at all. It is about a large amount of rare earth minerals found there. The war in Iraq was all about oil. Don't believe me? Google "New American Century" and find the document authored by Dick Cheney, et. al. back in 1997 where he outlined the need for the US government to gain control of Iraq's oil reserves to maintain American hegemony.

The point is, there is an untold amount of mineral wealth floating around in the solar system. There are other planets which could be utilized. If we don't push towards the necessary technology now, while we still can, we will be doomed to remain on this one planet until we destroy ourselves, or the sun dies.

Intelligence Increase: That is exactly as it sounds. We need to work towards increasing our overall intelligence. The human race is plagued with complex problems which will require complex solutions. Poverty. Hunger. Disease. Just to name a few. These problems have not sorted themselves out by ignoring them. We need to approach them from a logical perspective, which requires intelligence. If we are to learn to get along, to see each other as human beings regardless of which borders we live within; if we are to survive and thrive as a species; if we are to ever have a chance to leave this cradle we call earth, we must become more intelligent.

The human race can no longer continue to live in denial. In ignorance. In superstition and darkness. We have the ability to choose to do what is right, what is reasonable. We have the ability to control our baser instincts - fear, mistrust, hate. Do we have the will power and self control?

Life Extension: Again, this is a no brainer. No one wants to die, yet we all must. Why is that? Our cells reproduce and cause us to grow from child to adult. Why do they suddenly decide it's time to stop? If we put as much effort into curing as we do killing, there is no telling how many diseases would have been cured by now. The number one problem is ignorance. As long as the people are coddled into believing in an eternal life after death, they will not be motivated towards a program of life extension (which would also necessitate a new understanding of controlled population growth.

We will never be able to achieve immortality - even the universe must end - but there is no reason we can't be counting our lives in centuries, rather than decades.