Trepidations

Oh boy.
Now that the GRE has been taken, I have the daunting task of applying for various fellowships, grants, and graduate schools. It's not so much the task of filling out forms or writing personal statements that I find arduous; it's more the fact that, little by little, I find my childhood slipping away as I head down the road to adulthood and responsibility.
With the combination of the end of some of my childhood favorites (Harry Potter, Smallville, etc.) and the inauspicious addition of impending graduate school, it seems that my future is hitting me at full force without allowing me to gently ease into it. I suppose though that anything inevitable always comes at full force; the only difference between how it hits us is our perception of it, I suppose.
Who am I to complain though? I am simply going through the same process that every human being has ever gone through and will go through until either the end of time or our species evolves into incorporeal forms of matter. Like many of my brethren, I feel like I'm not ready.
I feel like my childhood was not a childhood, but rather a shove into adulthood. My undergraduate college years feel as if every day has passed and little has been achieved. I'm not ready. I'm afraid.
I suppose that's why I related so well to Harry Potter. He never had the typical childhood, and neither did I. Unlike me, however, he shouldered the burden put on him to defeat Lord Voldemort.
I guess that makes the struggles before me my own personal Dark Lord. And just like in Harry, my struggles are too a part of my soul. Perhaps it's time to batten down the hatches and charge full-force at this malevolent apparition before me. I can overcome it. I am stronger than the struggles of my own creation.

Here's to hoping it doesn't take the destruction of Hogwarts for me to move forward.

Best,
DF

My Ideal World

Some would say that conditions in the world right now are worse than they have ever been, and that may be true for some things: climate change, modern war, public political scandals, etc. Those, however, did not prompt me to think about my ideal world; playing Pandemic 2 did.

The game involves you creating a disease that is supposed to eradicate the human population while the human population eventually attempts to fight back by creating a vaccine to your virus/bacteria/parasite. The disease starts in a randomly assigned country, whether it is the United States or Madagascar. At a certain level, the disease becomes noticed (though the game is flawed in that it takes a long time for a country to notice an outbreak, whereas in real life 200,000 people exhibiting unique symptoms with the same disease would be very public) and countries begin to close their borders, their ports, and their air travel. While it is a game that takes a scenario to an extreme, it is worth thinking about.

For example, would countries cut off all communication with each other upon discovery of the disease within the affected country, or would medical aid flow into the affected country? Most likely, the latter would happen. The game makes no mention of this contingency. (Eventually, everyone in all affected countries become infected unless a vaccine is developed.)

How does this lead into my grandiose portrait of an ideal world? Two simple words: International cooperation, my friend.

In my ideal world (and political conservatives will likely vilify me for this), the world has a unified government. This unified government is all-encompassing, including all countries under one united Earth umbrella. Countries reserve a degree of autonomy, much like states do within the United States. The united world government, however, remains predominant in all cases dealing with law. Having all countries under one government would improve the world by:
-Expediting international cooperation in times of duress, such as during natural disasters.
-Ensuring universal human rights for all people.
-Bolstering the economies of traditionally weaker countries.
Before I begin talking about this world's economic system, it is necessary to state that countries dedicate more money towards education and scientific research than military spending, religious spending, etc. Health is paramount, so proven carcinogens such as tobacco are gone, as well as manufactured food additives, such as high fructose corn syrup and partially-hydrogenated oils.
At first, the economy would be based on traditional trade between countries, i.e. food, transportation, etc. Eventually, as technology develops, food and products will be commonly synthesized by advanced technology, thus rendering the trade of items for profit superfluous. (Research into this is being carried out in Japan already, though not as directly as I would hope.)


Thus, the economy would no longer be based in money due to an abundance of necessary goods.

This would entail a new fundamental philosophy of all human existence: Instead of each individual doggedly pursuing an accumulation of material capital in order to live well, the value of education and pursuit of knowledge would have to replace money as the driving force of mankind.

Knowledge can be progressed by the exploration of space. Humans have yet to break the seal on the vast scores of knowledge the galaxy, let alone the universe, holds. We reside as a veritable dust particle in a mansion. There is so much to explore and learn that only generations from now will humans truly understand their place in the universe. (That is, if this future comes to fruition.)

Being an Atheist, I can only hope that my imagined future is full of Atheists; however, that's unlikely, so tolerance for all beliefs will be a key concept in this overly idealistic future. Even more fundamental concepts that should be taught are logic, rationality, and empathy. A combination of the three, with each assuming an equal role in human relations and interaction, can assure equal understanding both between humans and the world in which we live.

You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one.

That's all for now,
Das Flüg

P.S. I may have neglected to mention some things, so just leave any concerns/questions in the comments section and I'll respond forthwith.