[eXpat]

That is true pstarr, thing is, he was saying half of the story, the hardware part, how genes make up your phisical being, so to speak. Susan Blackmore in "The Meme Machine" goes to explain the second part, and i would say is the most important one.
There´s just one more think i want to say, though, a warning (and this is not a joke or playing chicken little, another people that read the book can give their impressions) people here in PO.com is used to shocks, from a civilization/society that taugh us that we were heirs to the stars we learnt that not only the current system is going down due to PO, but our planet/ecosystem is affected as well due to GW. However the meme theory has IMHO a bigger shock for you there. Is the shock that strikes at the core of what you believe you are.

[vision-master]

Life after death is real.
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'L')ightning actually does strike twice

Dannion Brinkley didn't get struck by lightning just once, but twice. Now that's just careless!.

After lying dead for 28 minutes on a hospital stretcher, Dannion had to navigate his way back to his stiffening body to tell the tale of the incredible events he was just shown on the other side. This is a story of Man's future and the earth's destiny - a story where every smile counts.

Dannion does huge amounts of Hospice work comforting veterans preparing to pass on. He comforts and guides them and helps them take on the next part of the journey more consciously.

He is a really amazing person to meet so please make a point of attending one of his lectures or presentations. You can check his schedule on his website.
Interview

[katkinkate]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Aaron', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'H')awking merely points out that this progressively deeper human knowledge, should be considered as part of Evolution Science because it is inevitable that this knowledge will eventually enable people to modify themselves at a fundamental level.

[katkinkate]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('vision-master', '
')1st - We didn't evolve from the apes.

[outcast]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')hen you will realize that some of the tech "solutions" to death (that i used to be were possible before reading this book) such as "uploading" consciousness into computers (ala SF series of the hechees) are not possible at all

[vision-master]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('katkinkate', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('vision-master', '
')1st - We didn't evolve from the apes.

[rangerone314]

A random mutation more than likely caused a few roses and raspberries to develop thorns where other plants didn't.

Natural selection was the deer that avoided messing with them along the edge of woods where both deer frequent and raspberries grow.

Frequently overlooked is "sexual selection", obviously a factor with animals than plants... like a female bird developing a preference for the color blue or such.

I wonder if Hawking realizes that "Extinction" is a stage of evolution. We are possibly in the stage that leads to the Extinction stage.

[vision-master]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'A') random mutation more than likely caused a few roses and raspberries to develop thorns where other plants didn't.

Natural selection was the deer that avoided messing with them along the edge of woods where both deer frequent and raspberries grow.

Frequently overlooked is "sexual selection", obviously a factor with animals than plants... like a female bird developing a preference for the color blue or such.

[eXpat]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('outcast', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')hen you will realize that some of the tech "solutions" to death (that i used to be were possible before reading this book) such as "uploading" consciousness into computers (ala SF series of the hechees) are not possible at all

[outcast]

Thanks, I'll have a look when I have the chance.

[rangerone314]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('vision-master', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'A') random mutation more than likely caused a few roses and raspberries to develop thorns where other plants didn't.
Natural selection was the deer that avoided messing with them along the edge of woods where both deer frequent and raspberries grow.
Frequently overlooked is "sexual selection", obviously a factor with animals than plants... like a female bird developing a preference for the color blue or such.

[vision-master]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'K')ind of irrelevant almost... if God is truly omnipotent and all knowing, he would know how to roll the dice at the beginning of the universe to make everything evolve the way He/She wanted.

[Narz]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('rangerone314', '
')Yep, there is a difference between knowledge and wisdom. It is better to have wisdom, and that is what we had before.

[Carlhole]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Narz', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('rangerone314', 'Y')ep, there is a difference between knowledge and wisdom. It is better to have wisdom, and that is what we had before.

[rangerone314]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Narz', 'I')f "we" had it before we wouldn't have gotten to this point in the first place. Stupid. Like women saying "oh, I knew better before I did this" (men say this too but women more it seems). Wrong. If you really, truly knew better you wouldn't have done it. Experience yields wisdom.

[rangerone314]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('GASMON', 'O')h I am quite sure he / she did not roll dice. Nobody quite gets it. Its sod all to do with religion. (WE invented that, for power and control - before we invented money). The universe is (one) of Gods experiments. He / She set the conditions, The mathematics. God is the ultimate mathematician.
The rest is history. Natural application of his mathematics. Human development and achievement though doesn't follow mathematical theory. That is why it is of interest to God. That is WHY. (full stop).

[bodigami]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('rangerone314', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('GASMON', 'O')h I am quite sure he / she did not roll dice. Nobody quite gets it. Its sod all to do with religion. (WE invented that, for power and control - before we invented money). The universe is (one) of Gods experiments. He / She set the conditions, The mathematics. God is the ultimate mathematician.
The rest is history. Natural application of his mathematics. Human development and achievement though doesn't follow mathematical theory. That is why it is of interest to God. That is WHY. (full stop).

[Keith_McClary]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')url=http://bigthink.com/ideas/21570]Stephen Hawking's Warning: Abandon Earth—Or Face Extinction[/url] by Andrew Dermont
Hawking:"Our population and our use of the finite resources of planet Earth are growing exponentially along with our technical ability to change the environment for good or ill,"
... “Our only chance of long-term survival is not to remain inward looking on planet Earth, but to spread out into space. We have made remarkable progress in the last hundred years. But if we want to continue beyond the next hundred years, our future is in space.”