Blogpost #10: Computers Take Over

It may sound a lot like the plot of “The Terminator,” but computer technology is advancing daily and some believe that self-aware machines could take over the world. After all, there are few areas of life where computers don’t intrude; they run banks, hospitals, stock markets and airports. Previously, computers were only as good as the humans using them, but what if independently acting machines would be capable of outsmarting or destroying their creators.

I found in a recent article about "11 ways the world could end" in (www.mnn.com/ earth-matters/11-ways-the-world-as-we-know-it-could-end/computers-take) where "Renowned scientist Stephen Hawking thinks computers could be a threat and argues that humans should be genetically engineered in order to compete with the phenomenal growth of artificial intelligence. In a recent interview he even said, “The danger is real that they could develop intelligence and take over the world.” The idea of a computer takeover may sound absurd, but you never know, we could be in the Matrix right now."

Robots can do a lot for us: they can explore space or they can cut our toenails. But do advances in robotics and artificial intelligence hold hidden threats? 

I've come to a site which was entitled  "When Science Meets Sci-Fi. Could Robots Really Take Over The World?" in (http://www.bluebadgestyle.com/2013/11 /science meets-sci-fi-robots-really-take-world/) that talks about: "The theoretical moment when artificial intelligence surpasses humankind is known as ‘the singularity’ and according to some people – and these people aren’t all odd eccentrics standing on street corners, without any shoes on, ranting – the singularity is not far away from taking place. In 2011, Ray Kurzweil, Director of Engineering at Google, argued that it appeared increasingly likely that the singularity will occur around 2045. He told Time magazine: “We will successfully reverse-engineer the human brain by the mid-2020s. By the end of that decade, computers will be capable of human-level intelligence.”

During our series on the Generation of Disability, we’ve been ringing the praises of the advancement towards autonomous human robots of the sci-fi ilk, which could really benefit the less able. Robots with incredible levels of dexterity and function already exist, and can aid and assist the less able and even provide a level of companionship. These robots aren’t available to buy yet but the technology is basically all there. Research into cognitive, autonomous ‘brains’ is progressing all the time too, but we have to pause to consider the potential problems that it could bring.

"By the end of the century, the entire solar system -- planets, moons and asteroids -- will be explored and mapped by flotillas of tiny robotic craft" - Martin Reese

Blogpost 9: Man’s Denial will cause his Own Extinction (Global Warming)

We have already known that global warming has been evidently occurring in the past years. Tons of researches were made to justify it. Thousands of documentaries in the TV show its adverse effects in animals, sea-life, plantation, and even on us humans. The degree to which it’s intensifying is seen in the recorded history of the whole world. But the sad truth about this is people are denying of its reality.

 Why would such people say this? In my research, I found out that the issue is seen more politically than it is catastrophically. In an article I've found entitled “Global Warming Conspiracy Theory” stated that “the science behind global warming has been invented or distorted for financial or ideological reasons.” It also identified the following motives of why global warming was formed to be the following:“·  "A desire on the part of the United Nations and its supporters to promote a system of world government or global governance. ·  A desire on the part of climate science researchers to attract financial support^.·  What Melanie Phillips described as "yet another variation of left-wing, anti-American, anti-west ideology which goes hand in hand with anti-globalisation." ·  A desire on the part of conservative political leaders including Margaret Thatcher, and Helmut Kohl to promote nuclear power while attracting the political support of Green groups
·  A desire on the part of leftwing political leaders to promote socialism.” 

In my reaction, even if these motives have a hint of reality, the global catastrophe is still unfolding each year we don’t do anything about it. In my quest to find out the truth, I manage to find some factual information regarding why people would even accuse the scientists and politicians proving climate change.

I’ve found out that on reading an article entitled “The Truth About Denial” by Sharon Begley which was released by Newsweek. The article talks about the issues regarding the whole denial of global warming and its impact to the global public. The arguments where all connected to the largest oil distributor in the world called ‘ExxonMobil’ which is stated that:“A conservative think tank long funded by ExxonMobil, she told Boxer, had offered scientists $10,000 to write articles undercutting the new report and the computer-based climate models it is based on.”
On top of these issues, lots of arguments against global warming were raised. Reading just a few of them already broke my heart. I don’t understand why powerful companies or people would even choose to deny the calamity and even influence people that it is all a hoax just for their own selfish reasons.


I for one, being a Filipino, have seen the horrible loss and suffering that climate change has done. The internationally named typhoon Haiyan just recently showed our nation and hopefully the whole world, what abusing nature could do. We have suffered so much as a nation, losing thousands of lives and money.\

If this is what climate change can do even if it is just starting on its phase, nobody could imagine what devastation it would bring upon the earth if it would continue. All those catastrophes it would unleash just because men denied of its reality for selfish gain.

Blogpost 8 : End of the World Hidden in Art

Everything around us is art. A person who does not appreciate art is lifeless, because we were all made out of art. “Your mother’s vulva is the canvas and your dad’s phallus is the paintbrush.” A quote from a movie I’ve watched last weekend entitled “This is the End” You might think of this quote inappropriate and I do too at first, but that’s the only way I can make you appreciate art which is by inclining it to your life. Moreover that’s the thing about art, you’ll never learn to appreciate it unless you begin to put yourself into it and learn to break it down to smaller pieces and decode each little portion.

 I’ve come across an article entitled “Da Vinci ‘predicted world would end in 4006’” by anonymous in Worldwide Religious News which talks about the painting of Leonardo Da Vinci of “The Last Supper”. Researchers try to decode and break down the smallest details of the painting to try to unravel the hidden messages depicting the end of the world.

Slavisa Pesci, an information technologist, created an interesting visual effect by overlaying a semitransparent, mirrored version of the painting on top of the original. The result is that two figures that look like Templar knights appear at both ends of the table, while someone who is possibly holding an infant stands to Jesus' left. “Sabrina Sforza Galitzia said the clues were to be found in da Vinci’s Last Supper mural. The central half-moon window, or lunette, above his painting of Christ with his disciples before the Crucifixion contains a “mathematical and astrological” puzzle which she has deciphered, she said. She claimed to have worked out that da Vinci foresaw the end of the world in a “universal flood” which would begin on March 21, 4006 and end on November 1 the same year. Documents showed that he believed that this would mark “a new start for humanity”, Ms Sforza Galitzia said.”

Art and its elements can be seen in things that we see everyday. In every object we see, in our nature and even when we simply write a poem for someone there is art. And it’s amazing how we can interpret such things from everything we see around us; of how we see different shapes or animals just by looking at the clouds in the sky, how we interpret what people really mean through their poems or letters, or simply just by the paintings that we see in museums like how Sabrina Galitzia interpreted Da Vinci’s painting of “The Last Supper”.

On the contrary, I doubt Sabrina Galitzia’s opinion about the end of the world in Da Vinci’s painting because there are many things that you can interpret from overlaying a semitransparent, mirrored version of the painting and there are even hundreds of explanations that were published talking about their interpretations about painting.

In my research I found an article entitled “Leonardo Da Vinci’s last Supper” from (http://www.tickitaly.com/galleries/davinci-last-supper.php) states that: “A large part of the blame lies with Leonardo da Vinci himself of course. Quixotically he chose to complete his masterpiece with oil paint (a far less reliable medium in Renaissance times than today) rather than with the fast-drying and stable watercolour fresco technique. Within five years the painting was crumbling. “ which resulted the masterpiece to produce different kinds of images when overlayed. 

But all in all, I believe that people are entitled to their own opinion. And we can never question anyone's interpretation of anything because each one of us has a different way of looking into the things that surrounds us, it is still up to us if we'll consider their interpretation as the truth.

Blogpost 7: The Economic Time-bomb

Economists and most professionals believed that the most possible way that the world could end is through the economic downfall of the U.S., different studies and research shows that this was possible because of how vast its economy can affect almost all of the countries in the world, especially those countries that rely too much on the trade of the U.S.

My dad often lectures me about how the economy works and how money plays its role in the economy which made me interested more about doing this research on how economic collapse can end the world.

I've watched a documentary film in National Geographic just last weekend called “Doomsday Preppers” which was entitled “Economic Collapse and how it could End the World.” From the documentary, it was described that the collapse of the dollar will throw the world into a global depression because if the United State’s economy collapses, the tendency is for them to abruptly shut down all their market trades with all of their joint ventures [different countries] which will make countries furious and was even believed that such scenario can lead to another world war.

I’ve researched an article entitled “What The Dollar's Collapse Will Mean To The World” in rense by Bruce Porteous. An article which talks about what nations will be affected in the collapse of the dollar and how it will affect the entire world. And that Predictions about the potential effects on the global economy of a U.S. default have verged on the apocalyptic:

“The collapse of the dollar will throw the world into a global depression. Those nations with large external debts will not be able to trade sufficiently to earn the income to service their debts, and will slide into bankruptcy. The economies of New Zealand, Australia, Canada and the UK will also totally collapse, as a result of their indebtedness and not being able to service their borrowings. It will result in the Anglo-Saxon nations facing abject poverty, our people facing starvation, and a total break-down in society. Crime will become rampant. Law and order will cease to exist. Disease will become widespread.

The Asian economies, which have depended upon American trade, will also be severely affected. Riots will rapidly spread around the world.”

I grew more enthusiastic about having to research on this topic because of this article for the reason that I develop a sense of awareness and was open to new things and I didn’t think that it was ever possible that the fall of just a single economy can immensely affect so many countries.

And as I continue my research I found an article that discuss about “The Coming Economic Crash Caused by World Debt” From propheticyears.com by Don Koenig which may supports my first article that talks about the possibility of the economy downfall of US ending the world, it was stated in that:

“Almost every nation of the world has such severe debt that just making the interest payments takes a large amount of their financial resources. Much of this world debt is owed to world bankers that then dictate their own economic policy to these countries. These policies do not favor the poor. 

The largest economy in the world is the United States. The US government is currently 17 trillion dollars in debt and I project that to go to at least 25 trillion by 2020. Paying the interest on that huge debt in future years will cost as much as what is now spent on national defense (using modern historical interest rates and the cost of defense under normal peace time conditions).”

We are living in a world that we have to continuously remind ourselves each day when we wake up that the world we are living at is becoming increasingly unstable, and the potential for an event that could cause the economy downfall or sudden change to the U.S. economy is greater than ever. We have to learn to be aware of these phenomenons because one may not foretell when these events would already be a default verged on the apocalyptic.

Blogpost 6: The Eruption that will End it All

Men have always been terrified of volcano eruptions. From the very first recorded volcano eruption that desecrated a city, up to the latest activities these volcanoes emit, people have been afraid to what catastrophe these volcanoes bring about. One of the biggest recorded eruptions was caused by Mount St. Helens in 1980 in which its eruption was equivalent to 1,600 times the atomic bomb that was dropped in Hiroshima. 

I remember I was alarmed and concerned for my relatives when I heard a news that the Taal Volcano warning level was raised. I heard in the news that it had the potential to erupt and that people were being evacuated in the said area. But I have learned that there is this eruption that could wipe out all humanity as we know it. Even if we some up all the past recorded events that these volcanoes all over the world have done, it wouldn't compare to what a super volcano can do.

According to an article that I have read in dailygalaxy.com about "Super Volcanic Eruptions with the Potential to End Civilizations - Disturbing New Discovery" The Yellowstone National Park is one of the well featured tourist spots in America. However, this natural wonder has a terrifying past. It was said that it formed 640,000 years ago by a so-called super eruption. It was a product of a major eruption which was a thousand times more powerful than the Mount St. Helens explosion. In this article it was also stated that:

"Some 600,000 years ago there was a colossal cauldron of magma, a supervolcano, that exploded with such violence that it left an ash layer almost ten feet deep a thousand miles away in eastern Nebraska killing all plant life and covering almost all of the United States west of the Mississippi. Modern geological surveys have shown that this supervolcano erupts catastrophically every 600,000 years, and the land that supervolcano is trapped in was called by Blackfoot Indians 'the land of evil spirits' -what we call today, Yellowstone National Park."

Being able to know this I didn't expect it was ever possible that an eruption from a super volcano can affect such a really large area that an explosion almost amounts to 1,600,000 atomic bombs. And that from the article that the Yellowstone erupts every 600,000 years and the last eruption was over 640,000 years ago which means that it is already 40,000 years overdue. Furthermore scientist revealed that the ground underneath Yellowstone National Park is rising at a record rate of 3 inches per year. 

From another article in infowars.com entitled "Yellowstone Supervolcano Alert: The Most Dangerous Volcano In America Is Roaring To Life" I have learned that what is going on at the Yellowstone is so important that everyone should know about it because a full-scale eruption of Yellowstone would cover virtually the entire midwest United States with volcanic ash.  Food production in America and half of the world would be almost totally wiped out. And the most alarming part that I have read in this article is that: 

"There will be a  “volcanic winter” that would happen after a massive Yellowstone eruption that would cause radically cool the whole planet.  Some scientists believe that global temperatures would decline by up to 20 degrees." 

And it was even believed that the so-called "volcanic winter" can cover the whole planet and wouldn't let any light from the sun enter the earth for up to 300 years. And that America and the whole world would never be the same again after a massive Yellowstone eruption.  Some scientists even believed that a full eruption by Yellowstone would render two-thirds of the United States completely uninhabitable.

The eruption of super volcano will bring about another ice age that will end the world's entire civilization. And no life would exist for another hundreds or maybe even thousands of years. Now should be the time that we prepare for the worse.

Blogpost 5: Alien Invasion in Movies

We have all dreamed one point in our lives that we would see an alien someday. A creature that comes from somewhere other than the planet Earth, whose out to discover new things and perhaps observes earth looking for the right time to invade it.

Growing up as a child, I have watched a lot of sci-fi horror movies. One of which about aliens invading the world and because of these movies it made me have this belief that aliens are those beings that are out there to attack earth and steal our resources for the benefit of themselves. 

In the movie War of the Worlds they portray aliens as those three-legged beings or giant tripod fighting machines that gives off a loud blaring sound before opening fire with heat-rays, vaporizing bystanders and destroying everything in its path.

I have read an article in science.howstuffworks.com entitled “Possibilities of Aliens Existing and Destroying Planet Earth” that aliens are beings who uses everything in its resources [their planet] and go in search for more planets to harvest materials in improving their spaceships. One of the statements that made me interested in their article is this:

“Aliens are beings who live in massive ships that used up all their resources from their home planet, such advanced aliens looking to conquer and colonize whatever planets they can reach [including earth]. If so it makes sense to them to exploit each new planet and materials to build more spaceships so they could move on and having to.”

Coming to know about this, I was truly aware of the possibilities of aliens finding the earth and having to invade human race, exploit our resources, and perhaps give the world an end.

From another Article from the weeklyworldnews.com entitled “Aliens to Attack Earth in 2013” that may support my first article talks about scientists’ prediction of alien spaceships to attack earth because of the continuous increase UFO encounters – as documented on WWN.  And today scientists at SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence), an independent non-commercial organization,  made a major announcement that:

“Three giant spaceships are heading toward Earth. The largest one of them is 200 miles wide. Two others are slightly smaller. At present, the objects are just moving past Jupiter.  Judging by their speed, they should be on Earth by the October,” said John Malley, the lead extraterrestrial expert at SETI.

It was also mentioned in the article that three similar giant ships landed in China and the Indonesia Sea in November, 2011.  

The possibility of an alien existing and invading earth is possible if you come to think of how vast the galaxy and of it containing billions of stars, and if a fraction of those stars have Earth-like planets, then hundreds or maybe even thousands -- of alien civilizations must exist across the cosmos. A good friend once shared to me a documentary film that was given to them by their professor about the possibilities of Aliens existing and decoding it from the documentary film entitled “Ancient Aliens – The Da Vinci Conspiracy.”  Made me wonder more of a creature that comes from somewhere other than the planet Earth, out to discover new things and perhaps observes earth just looking for the right time to invade it.