Strange intro:
There is now and there is energy.
Without energy, the now wouldn't change shape, and things would not even be. But there is energy.
Without memory, there's only now. With memory able to recall patterns that have been, the illusion of time is born. Past-time to begin with, soon followed by the idea of future-time.
One can recognize something after having it seen before plus having a memory of it. One can try predicting the future when a memory of a chain of events is recognized and the complete pattern of events going on, is not yet past. And as energy will never stop moving (for it is motion) the universal chain of of events will never stop, action reaction, cause and effect, until the end (if there is one).
The human-mind is naturally limited, but able to: remember, recognize and predict. Especially prediction is hard or impossible, because the amount of motions going on is way too much for one tiny brain to handle. Also are people lazy, not willing to worry about what could happen in the future.
Two types of prevention
1) First be hit by a disaster, then try to prevent it. This is the most common type of "prevention" (although it's not worth the word)
2) First think about what all could go wrong, next; take actions to build a strong defense against the most urgent & likely threads.
Loop of disasters
When disaster strikes, the people who survived often say "this was terrible, we will never forget, and do anything to prevent it from happening again". So, AFTER a disaster people start prevention. But pretty soon after, people start to forget it happened and the new generation doesn't really care about it. As the chain of events continues, at some point a similar disaster strikes again and the loop continues.
Of course "one first has to learn", but in most cases, that's really just a poor excuse for not having done the right thing; prevention.
End of a loop
Progress can be made by ending loops. For that, some memories need to be preserved and shared, and people should work together scanning history for patterns that have led to disasters (and also for patterns that led to success!).
Actions should be taken to prevent all kinds of possible disasters, BEFORE they happen.
How to prevent
There will always come new disasters, so we should always be really busy with prevention, prepare for the worst. Before the year 2000, the global information communication infrastructure was not fit to support a serious preventive system, but today (2005) it's fit enough. On the internet, communication can go really fast and world wide. Computers can help us scanning history for patterns that may predict the future's possible disasters more precise. The biggest obstacles for improvements are leaders/politicians who don't care / don't want to care, or can only see short term.
People often protect themselves by not worrying about what all could go wrong, wisely because thinking like that can drive you crazy. Preventing big disasters should be a professional job, funded by the gouvernement. Ordinary people should just vote for it, and have a survival kit at home.
Most important (I'm not an expert):
- Easy to carry, durable, water repelling bag
- Water (drinkable), or water purification tablets.
- Shelter & clothes
- Food
- First aid items
- Some tools
Although every emergency is unique, if it's only a matter of some days without the ordinary luxury, it's similar to camping.
I'm of course not the first person to see many disasters can be prevented. It's just that politicians seem so dumb and it bugs me that people don't work together as well as they could.
Some threads are listed on the "bad things" page.
Funny last note is the fact I live in Nederland (the Netherlands) and don't flee from it, a country that's partly under sea level (about 1/4), our dikes are old, sea level is rising (many thanks to the US army & politrics for burning oil), and the level of land is descending, making it hard to lead the rivers to sea.
We did build pretty impressive dikes (of which many need serious attention), but we didn't and still don't build houses that can float. We spent a lot of time watching crap on TV, willingly blind, waiting for the day we'll drown or be swallowed by some other disaster that could have been prevented.
Aargh, dark clouds block my vision!
|
Giesbert Nijhuis
 |
