The
                      Ragged-Trousered Philosopher
 

Fiction?

History of Digital Telepathy

Conversation
with God


Resurrection

The Eagle Has Landed

All's Well That Ends Well

 
 


Live Free


The Ragged Trousered Philosopher or 'RTP' as we are affectionately known to our friends, is an exercise in Web authorship which has been going on since 1996 (the core 'book' was started in 1986), the title of which was inspired by Robert Tressell's classic 'The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists'. But that's about as far as the resemblance goes.

There is little doubt that life on Earth is headed in the general direction being painted here. Entropy, chaos and quantum mechanics have somehow turned primitive information first into energy, then matter, then self-motivating matter, intelligent matter and, with us, matter that can begin to create even more intelligent matter.

Now, what is somewhat less certain
is whether any remnants of the intelligent consciousness of our own species will survive 'coherently' into the future. Or will our dust simply be recycled like the atoms within our bodies - immortal, yet lifeless other than as a bit player on an infinite stage.

Whether we are destined to be dust or deity
will be determined by how well we learn to cope with the challenges of being intelligent. Intelligence is, ultimately, the most destructive force in the universe. It has the capacity, also, to be the most creative. That knife edge we now live on.

 


For the next several hundred years
(at least), we will uncover ever more dangerous secrets of the universe. It is necessary to master each in turn in order to continue our evolution. Yet each one will increasingly be capable of terminating our existence.

Our choices are:
to die slowly - we could, with planet-wide agreement, probably eke out a few million years on this planet. And some think that's good enough.

to die quickly - by proceeding with blind faith and failing to appreciate or deal with the problems that lie ahead. For instance, will we bite the bullet on greenhouse gases? Or will we watch half the world drown over the next hundred years?

Will we unravel the cure for aging and biological death, not just by decoding the human genome, but by reverse engineering it? Or will an insane terrorist modify a combination of ebola fever and the aids virus to produce a pandemic of incurable diseases that spreads more easily than the common cold and has a 99% mortality?


Or can we think ahead?






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T H E    B O O K
Why Bother?
So, What is It?
Do We Exist?
Meaning, Truth...
How Did We Get Here?
A Theory of Behaviour

Survival Ethics & Democracy

Part 1- From Neolithic to Neocon

Part 2 - Leadership

Abortion and Human Rights
Crime and Punishment
War-Part 1-Morality
War-Part 2-Reasons To Be Fearful
War - On Drugs
The 'Rule of Law'