False bad news about population growth, natural resources, and the environment

Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature

Be not a cancer on the earth -

Leave room for nature -

Leave room for nature

(Christian, 1981)

"Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature" and "Be not a cancer on the earth - Leave room for nature - Leave room for nature" are the first and last of ten inscriptions on The Georgia Guidestones (R) (Bridges, 1981). The construction cost of the over one hundred thousand kilogram (100 metric ton) granite structure (Bridges, 1981) has never been released, but its value has been estimated at about half a million -2009- dollars (Smith, 2009).

The sponsor(s) of the construction of The Georgia Guidestones (R), also known as the American Stonehedge, have not been disclosed. The person who contracted with the Elberton Granite Finishing Company to build the structure used the pseudonym Robert C. Christian (Bridges, 1981).

"The sponsors behind the The Georgia Guidestones (R) explained their reasons for the monument" (Bridges, 1981):

There are alternatives to Armageddon. But they will not happen without coordinated efforts by millions of dedicated people in all nations of the Earth.…

The monument has been named The Georgia Guidestones (R). It consists of four large upright blocks of granite, each measuring two meters wide and five meters high. They mark the extreme positon of the rising and setting of the sun in its cycle of 18.6 years. They surround a central stone which is oriented north and south. This stone contains ports aligned with the celestial pole and with the paths of the sun and moon as they cross the horizon. The central stone also marks the passing of the sun at noontime throughout the year. (Christian, 1981)

Robert C. Christian elaborated upon the precepts on the monument in a book. Smith (2010) comments:

Christian left behind a 1986 book, "Common Sense Renewed," that is still for sale at the Elberton Granite Museum. Many of the concerns he lists in it wouldn't be out of place at a modern Republican gathering: growing entitlement spending, stifling regulation, the breakdown of the traditional family.

But he also warned that the world's problems were symptoms of overpopulation, turning civilization as we knew into an "atomic tinderbox," and requiring some limited form of world government to save mankind from annihilation, he concluded.

Smith (2009) claims that the book calls for severe restrictions upon reproduction, since it states that "Reproduction is no longer explicitly a personal matter." He also claims that selective breeding would be imposed, since the book states, "Humanity has successfully applied practical genetic principles in developing domesticated plants and animals. It is now within our power to begin the domestication of our own species in a parallel fashion."

Smith (2009) concludes: "While circumstantial, the evidence is so persuasive that we believe that Robert Edward “Ted” Turner III played the role of Robert C. Christian in the Georgia Guidestones creation story." He also notes that Turner made a $1 billion donation to the United Nations. However, this was actually a pledge related to his founding of the United Nations Foundation in 1998. One of the Foundations first grants was almost $12.2 million to the United Nations Population Fund (DiscoverTheNetworks.org, Undated B).

From DiscoverTheNetworks.org (Undated A):

To “protect” the environment and limit population growth, Turner advocates a “one child per family” policy.

Turner also has promoted nuclear disarmament through Ted Turner Documentaries, whose eight-hour television series about weapons of mass destruction, Avoiding Armageddon, aired on PBS stations in April 2003 and was hosted by Walter Cronkite.

Also in 2006, Turner signed a statement that accompanied the documentary film The Great Warming, which maintained that not only did global warming pose a threat to the future of life on earth, but also that it was largely a result of human industrial activity.

In April 2008, Turner made the unsubstantiated claim that within a few decades, most of humanity would be extinct as a result of global warming.

Outspoken about his leftwing political views, Turner candidly calls himself “a socialist at heart.”

A recent interview:

Charlie Rose. (2008). A conversation with Ted Turner.

While the precepts inscribed on The Georgia Guidestones (R) have generated much discussion among conspiracy theorists about secret plans to decimate the World's population, a simpler explanation is that they were simply a reaction to the threats that dominated public thinking of the period. The 1980s began as a period of heightened tension in the Cold War between the USA and the USSR. There was discussion within the Reagan Administration of "winning" a nuclear war against the the USSR. The leadership of both the European allies of the USA and of the USSR regarded such views as dangerous, if not insane. The enormous increases in military spending by the USA, including the development of a "missile shield" to intercept Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles were seen as a move toward a first-strike capability.

The Encyclopedia of the New American Nation (Undated) notes:

Reagan … deliberately strove to upset the balance of terror by focusing on defense rather than deterrence. The shift had important ramifications for the Cold War. Reagan reauthorized the development of the B-1 bomber and the next generation of highly accurate and MIRV [Multiple Independent Reentry Vehicle]-equipped Peacekeeper missiles....

Reagan's supporters included a religious right faction which viewed a nuclear war as necessary to bring Biblical prophesy to fulfillment, thereby ushering in the "End Times" and the return of Jesus Christ. The combination of changes in the nuclear force posture and the dominant ideology, of public statements by Reagan about the "Evil Empire", and of threatening military maneuvers in Europe created a real fear that a full scale nuclear exchange was imminent, both in the USA and USSR. In fact, at one point the Soviet Leadership was convinced that an attack was imminent. Assurances from their operatives in London that everything was normal at the Ministry of Defense were necessary to calm them. So, The Georgia Guidestones (R) could well have been intended as a message to the survivors of a full-scale nuclear exchange.

Another major concern of the period was overpopulation. It was popularized by the mass media and books, such as the Population Bomb, a best-selling book written by Paul R. Ehrlich in 1968. Julian Simon rejected this view in The Ultimate Resource (Princeton University Press, 1981), arguing that the most valuable resource of all was people. In an article in Science, he stated (Regis, 1997):

"False bad news about population growth, natural resources, and the environment is published widely in the face of contrary evidence. For example, the world supply of arable land has actually been increasing, the scarcity of natural resources including food and energy has been decreasing, and basic measures of U.S. environmental quality show positive trends. The aggregate data show no long-run negative effect of population growth upon standard of living. Models that embody forces omitted in the past, especially the influence of population size upon productivity increase, suggest a long-run positive effect of additional people."

In the pages of Social Science Quarterly, … Simon challenged Ehrlich to put his money where his mouth was.... Ehrlich and his colleagues picked five metals that they thought would undergo big price rises: chromium, copper, nickel, tin, and tungsten.…

Between 1980 and 1990, the world's population grew by more than 800 million, the largest increase in one decade in all of history. But by September 1990, without a single exception, the price of each of Ehrlich's selected metals had fallen, and in some cases had dropped through the floor.…

Which is how it came to pass that in October 1990, Paul Ehrlich mailed Julian Simon a check for $576.07.

It seems clear that Turner's knowledge of the Earth's population limits was not drawn from the scientific literature, since even with the technology of the 1970s the Planet could support a population of 60 billion people (Revelle, 1976).

References:

Bridges, B. (Ed.), The Georgia Guidestone Guidebook (pp. 17-21). Elberton, GA: Elberton Granite Finishing Co., Inc. (URL , Downloaded October 8, 2011)

Christian, R. C. (1981). The purpose.… In Bridges, B. (Ed.), The Georgia Guidestone Guidebook (pp. 17-21). Elberton, GA: Elberton Granite Finishing Co., Inc. (URL )

DiscoverTheNetworks.org. (Undated A). Ted Turner. (URL , Downloaded May 26, 2010)

DiscoverTheNetworks.org. (Undated B). United Nations Foundation. (URL , May 26, 2010)

Encyclopedia of the New American Nation. (Undated). Deterrence - Mutual assured destruction (mad). (URL )

Regis, E. (1997, February). "The Doomslayer". Wired (Issue 5.02). Archived from the original on 2008-05-18. (URL , Downloaded May 27, 2010)

Revelle, R. The Resources Available for Agriculture. Sci. Amer. 235(3) Sept 76, p 165-178.

Charlie Rose. (2008, April 1). A conversation with Ted Turner. (URL , Downloaded May 26, 2010)

Smith, V. (2009, Dec. 28). Decoding the Georgia Guidestones. Van's Hardware Journal. (URL , Downloaded May 22, 2010)

Smith, M. (2010). Waiting for the end of the world: Georgia's 30-year stone mystery. CNN International. (URL , Downloaded May 23, 2010)

Human Biopreservation Institute launches social networking site

(This beta test has been suspended. Persons wishing to participate should contact the Secretary, the author of this Blog.)

The social networking site Human Biopreservation is now accepting users. The Site facilitates mutual support among cryonauts in case of a life threatening emergency. The smartphone application Vital Signs connects to the Site in order to provide real-time alerts. The Human Biopreservation Institute will accept 150 users for beta testing at this time.

The Site is unmoderated. However, you can permanently block information from any User. You will see more information from someone you indicate is a "friend" than from others, if you restrict access. Privacy controls allow you to accept or reject different types of information. You can also approve comments on your blog, profile, photos, or videos

Since emergency response requires real-world data, Users must provide access to their contact information. Provided information can be made visible to Users or only to Administrators. Different information can be provided in the public and private data entry fields. For example, a business telephone number could be provided in a publicly visible field and a home telephone number could be provided in a private field visible only to Administrators. You can also restrict access to your public information just to your friends. So, you have almost complete control over distribution of your information, since you can restrict sharing to any degree.

Users must have finalized their arrangements for biopreservation or be willing to assist in an emergency. Assistance could be as simple as noticing that an alert has been transmitted to the Site and then attempting to call the alerting telephone in order to determine whether the alert was a false alarm.

Testing of real-time support requires an Android cellphone with accelerometers. However, the Site doesn't require a cellphone for social networking functions. It is advisable to start using the Site immediately, even if you don't have a suitable cellphone. You will then be familiar with the Site and be able to start using the real-time capabilities immediately when you do obtain a cellphone. You will also be able to assist other cryonauts.

Blog posts featured on the social networking site Human Biopreservation as of September 14, 2011:

:Cryonics catacomb

:Majority would like their body frozen after death

:Photographic insight into the practice of cryonics

:The Social Climate at the Cryonics Institute

Information Security

During a beta test, there is a risk of inappropriate release of information. However, the most common source of problems is a weak password. Do not use a password that has been previously used, a name, a telephone number, etc. Compromise of your password could result in you being banned from the Site. We will be testing passwords with penetration tools. Users with weak passwords will be suspended. These pages explain how to choose a strong password:

How to Create a Password You Can Remember

Generate strong yet memorable passwords

Information transmitted to and from the Site is unencrypted. Therefore, it could be captured in transit. This is a minor risk, since sensitive information is only accessible during transmission. It is much more likely that information stored on the Site is compromised. If you are not comfortable entering sensitive information, even in the private fields available only to the Administrators, you should enter, "Contact the Secretary." However, such a restriction could delay an emergency response. Even restricting data access to Administrators could cause a delay, since that reduces the number of persons that could potentially respond to an alert. Additional security information is provided in the Terms of Service on the Site. Please review that information before deciding what information you will provide. If you do not wish to enter information in a required field, just type "Withheld" instead.

About the Human Biopreservation Institute

The Human Biopreservation Institute (HBI) is the proposed Cryonics Industry trade association. The Steering Committee includes:

:Dr. Robert R. Newport, M.D., Chairman

:Prof. David S. Stodolsky, PhD, Acting Secretary and Site Administrator

:Dennis T. Nut, Software Developer and Site Administrator

:Ronald G. Havelock, PhD, OD

:Eugene Leitl

:Danila Medvedev

:Michael Perry

:David Pizer

:Alexei Potapov

:Shannon Vyff

Please use this link to register.

Market Stalinism

The phrase ‘anti-globalization movement’ is a coinage of the US media and activists have never felt comfortable with it. Insofar as this is a movement against anything, it’s against neoliberalism, which can be defined as a kind of market fundamentalism—or, better, market Stalinism—that holds there is only one possible direction for human historical development. The map is held by an elite of economists and corporate flacks, to whom must be ceded all power once held by institutions with any shred of democratic accountability; from now on it will be wielded largely through unelected treaty organizations like the IMF, WTO or NAFTA. In Argentina, or Estonia, or Taiwan, it would be possible to say this straight out: ‘We are a movement against neoliberalism’. But in the US, language is always a problem. The corporate media here is probably the most politically monolithic on the planet: neoliberalism is all there is to see—the background reality; as a result, the word itself cannot be used. The issues involved can only be addressed using propaganda terms like ‘free trade’ or ‘the free market’.

violence may be invisible, but it remains inscribed in the very logic of our economic common sense

However tawdry their origins, the creation of new media of exchange – coinage appeared almost simultaneously in Greece, India, and China – appears to have had profound intellectual effects. Some have even gone so far as to argue that Greek philosophy was itself made possible by conceptual innovations introduced by coinage. The most remarkable pattern, though, is the emergence, in almost the exact times and places where one also sees the early spread of coinage, of what were to become modern world religions: prophetic Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism, Jainism, Confucianism, Taoism, and eventually, Islam. While the precise links are yet to be fully explored, in certain ways, these religions appear to have arisen in direct reaction to the logic of the market. To put the matter somewhat crudely: if one relegates a certain social space simply to the selfish acquisition of material things, it is almost inevitable that soon someone else will come to set aside another domain in which to preach that, from the perspective of ultimate values, material things are unimportant, and selfishness – or even the self – illusory.

Impacts 'more likely' to have spread life from Earth

Asteroid impacts on the Earth may have scattered more life-bearing debris to Mars, Jupiter or beyond our Solar System than previously thought.

Marriage and divorce 'up weight'

To some extent, marriages for women promote weight gains that may be large enough to pose a health risk

States are, after all, ultimately forms of violence

There is another factor here that is even less remarked, but I think equally important. Everyone knows that faced with a broad and potentially revolutionary coalition, any governments’ first move will be to try to split in it. Making concessions to placate the moderates while selectively criminalizing the radicals — this is Art of Governance 101. The US government, though, is in possession of a global empire constantly mobilized for war, and this gives it another option that most governments do not. Those running it can, pretty much any time they like, decide to ratchet up the level of violence overseas. This has proved a remarkably effective way to defuse social movements founded around domestic concerns. It seems no coincidence that the civil rights movement was followed by major political concessions and a rapid escalation of the war in Vietnam; that the anti-nuclear movement was followed by the abandonment of nuclear power and a ramping up of the Cold War, with Star Wars programs and proxy wars in Afghanistan and Central America; that the Global Justice Movement was followed by the collapse the Washington consensus and the War on Terror. As a result early SDS had to put aside its early emphasis on participatory democracy to become a mere anti-war movement; the anti-nuclear movement morphed into a nuclear freeze movement; the horizontal structures of DAN and PGA gave way to top-down mass organizations like ANSWER and UFPJ. From the point of view of government the military solution does have its risks. The whole thing can blow up in one’s face, as it did in Vietnam (hence the obsession, at least since the first Gulf War to design a war that was effectively protest-proof.) There is also always a small risk some miscalculation will accidentally trigger a nuclear Armageddon and destroy the planet. But these are risks politicians faced with civil unrest appear to have normally been more than willing to take — if only because directly democratic movements genuinely scare them, while anti-war movements are their preferred adversary. States are, after all, ultimately forms of violence. For them, changing the argument to one about violence is taking things back to their home turf, what they really prefer to talk about. Organizations designed either to wage, or to oppose, wars will always tend to be more hierarchically organized than those designed with almost anything else in mind. This is certainly what happened in the case of the anti-nuclear movement. While the anti-war mobilizations of the ‘80s turned out far larger numbers than Clamshell or Abalone ever had, but it also marked a return to marching along with signs, permitted rallies, and abandoning experiments with new forms of direct democracy.