Will religion ever disappear?

 

The lighting of a cross during the Christian Los Escobazos Festival in Spain, celebrating the conception of the Virgin Mary (Getty Images)

Atheism is on the rise around the world, so does that mean spirituality will soon be a thing of the past? Rachel Nuwer discovers that the answer is far from simple.
 

A growing number of people, millions worldwide, say they believe that life definitively ends at death – that there is no God, no afterlife and no divine plan. And it’s an outlook that could be gaining momentum – despite its lack of cheer. In some countries, openly acknowledged atheism has never been more popular.

“There’s absolutely more atheists around today than ever before, both in sheer numbers and as a percentage of humanity,” says Phil Zuckerman, a professor of sociology and secular studies at Pitzer College in Claremont, California, and author of Living the Secular Life. According to a Gallup International survey of more than 50,000 people in 57 countries, the number of individuals claiming to be religious fell from 77% to 68% between 2005 and 2011, while those who self-identified as atheist rose by 3% – bringing the world’s estimated proportion of adamant non-believers to 13%.

While atheists certainly are not the majority, could it be that these figures are a harbinger of things to come? Assuming global trends continue might religion someday disappear entirely?

It’s impossible to predict the future, but examining what we know about religion – including why it evolved in the first place, and why some people chose to believe in it and others abandon it – can hint at how our relationship with the divine might play out in decades or centuries to come.

For the rest of the story: http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20141219-will-religion-ever-disappear

Re-Entering Earth's Atmosphere Is a Brutal, Beautiful Ride

NASA's Orion spacecraft did not in fact burn up on re-entry during its Dec. 5 test-flight. Orion, the space agency's next-generation crew transport, was in orbit for around four hours and two complete orbits before splashing down in the Pacific. It did quite well, in fact, but the footage below of the craft's critical 10 minute return-trip gives new definition to the extremities involved in returning home.

It's weird how something so intense and violent can also be this eerie. 

For the rest of the story: http://motherboard.vice.com/read/what-it-means-to-burn-up-on-re-entry

Why cyber warfare is so attractive to small nations

Enabled by Internet connectivity, cyber war provides more bang for the buck than investment in conventional weapons.

Last week news broke that North Korea, which is believed to be responsible for a massive cyber attack against Sony SNE 0.97% , may have as many as 1,800 cyber warriors. That may seem like a large figure for the nation of 24.9 million people, especially considering that Pyongyang isn’t exactly known for its centers of higher learning. Yet many small nation-states—even those that are in regions that lack universities with notable computer science programs—are finding that cyber war provides more bang for the buck than investment in conventional weapons.

“Cyber warfare is a great alternative to conventional weapons,” says Amy Chang, a research associate in the technology and national security program at the Center for a New American Security. “It is cheaper for and far more accessible to these small nation-states. It allows these countries to pull off attacks without as much risk of getting caught and without the repercussions when they are [caught].”

There are many reasons why a nation-state or non-nation entity would pursue a cyber war program, and today many countries large and small invest in cyber warfare. According to recent intelligence studies more than 140 countries have some level of cyber weapon development programs. In 2012 the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the research arm of the Pentagon, invested $110 million in Plan X, a “foundational cyber warfare program” that aims to harness computing power to wage war more effectively. The program was only one part of DARPA’s reported $1.54 billion cyber budget for 2013 to 2017.

For the rest of the story: http://fortune.com/2014/12/21/why-cyber-warfare-is-so-attractive-to-small-nations/

Why the next world war will be fought over food

The world has a massive food crisis — so big that the World Bank and the United Nations say there won’t be enough food to feed the global population by 2050. But feeding the world is big business. 

The world has a massive food crisis on its hands. The crisis is so big that organizations like the World Bank and the United Nations say there won’t be enough food to feed the global population when it jumps from the current seven billion people to nine billion by 2050.

Some research even suggests a food scarcity crunch as early as 2030 – just 15 years from now.

The reasons? Severe weather events like droughts and floods, economic hardships, and political unrest in underdeveloped countries, as well as agribusiness expansion.

While many experts say that producing more food will make the crisis go away, others contend it’s not that simple.

“To address food security, we need a shift in the way we address poverty and inequality in the world,” Stephen Scanlan, a professor of sociology at Ohio University. “There should be a reframing of food as a fundamental human right in a way that governments actually stand by.”

But feeding the world is big business. Multinational food companies and retailers are heavily involved in food production. Corporations such as Kraft KRFT 0.98% , ConAgra CAG -0.43% , Cargill, and PepsiCo PEP 1.17% dominate global food distribution.

Companies like Monsanto MON 0.48% , the biggest maker of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) seeds, promote their high tech products as a way to increase food production.

 
For the rest of the story: http://fortune.com/2014/12/21/why-the-next-world-war-will-be-fought-over-food/

Mysterious Sleeping Sickness Affects Russian Village

Sleepy Hollow in Kazakhstan: Villagers suffer from unknown brain-affecting disease

Every tenth villager of Kazakhstan's Kalachi has unexpectedly fallen asleep in broad daylight – some unable to wake up for several days. Despite numerous attempts to find the cause of the inexplicable disorder, the Sleepy Hollow riddle remains unsolved.

Over 600 residents of Kalachi village in Kazakhstan's north may have never read Washington Irving's 'Legend of Sleepy Hollow,' or watched the popular American TV series or film – but they refer to their homeland as "Sleepy Hollow," as everyone there is scared of an indiscriminate illness that has no cure.

Watch the full RT documentary here

People in Kalachi have been suffering from the "sleep epidemic" – as they call it – for the past couple of years. Everyone in the village has a family member or a friend who's fallen asleep for no apparent reason, with over 100 people having experienced it by now – some more than once – according to locals. 

For the rest of the story: http://rt.com/news/214379-sleepy-hollow-kazakhstan-disease/

Humanity’s Next Home May Be Underwater

 

Planets with high obliquity—an axis of rotation that’s extremely tilted relative to their star—are typically reckoned to be miserable places where temperatures flip-flop between freezing and boiling. Now, MIT researchers find that life aquatic may yet thrive on highly tilted planets. Aquaplanets, or worlds covered entirely by oceans, can actually be quite cozy, even those that are totally sideways, orbiting their star like a rotisserie chicken.

The findings, which hail from researchers at MIT’s Department of Physics and Earth and Planetary Science, were publishe​d today in the journal Icarus. The study may have far-reaching implications on the search for extraterrestrial life.

Conventional wisdom asserts that the more extreme a planet’s tilt, the less hospitable that planet would be. Tilted sideways, a planet’s north pole would experience incessant daylight for six months, followed by half a year of utter darkness.

“The expectation was that such a planet would not be habitable: It would basically boil, and freeze, which would be really tough for life,” study co-author David Ferreira said in ​a press release.

Planets with a global ocean experience peachy, spring-like weather year-round

Instead, Ferreira and his colleagues found that planets with a global ocean experience peachy, spring-like weather year-round. To reach that conclusion, the researchers developed a climate model that simulates a high-obliquity aquaplanet—Earth-sized, a similar distance from its star, and covered entirely with water. Their simulations included planets tilted to 23 degrees (an Earth-like tilt), 54, and 90 degrees, with ocean depths ranging from 10 to 3000 meters

For the rest of the story: http://motherboard.vice.com/read/humanitys-next-home-may-be-underwater

Sonia Barrett | Happiness Is an Inside Job

Click on the following link to listen: http://www.veritasradio.com/guests/2014/12dec/VS-141218-sbarrett-p.php

This is Segment 1 of 2. Segment 1 is being provided as a courtesy of VERITAS Radio.

To listen to Segment 2 of this exclusive interview, subscribe at http://www.veritasradio.com to listen to the rest.

Veritas is censorship-and commercial-free and survives on your voluntary subscriptions. Thank you for supporting our work. ~Mel Fabregas. 

S y n o p s i s 

Why do we fall victim of societal pressure in order to become better than our peers, drive a newer car, wear the newest trendy clothing, etc? Why does happiness have to come from external influences and material effects?

Why do so many give up on their goals? Fear of ridicule. Fear of failure. Fear of being alone? Fear is nothing but an illusion. It is the demon that must be slayed. How do you slay fear? By facing it!

Every success comes after many failures. The most important aspect to achieve your goals is to start and make small correctons along the way. Desire is the key to motivation, but it's determination and commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of your goal - a commitment to excellence - that will enable you to attain the success you seek. 

Why are we discussing this on Veritas and not Sanitas? This is an opportunity for Sonia and I to lift you during the holidays. We discuss many topics on this radio program. Many of them deal with the reality we live in. However, it is important to pause and make an inventory of our lives to find out and discover that happiness is an inside job. It happens within us and no external force should be responsible for controlling your life without your consent.

To enjoy life at its fullest, stop revisiting the past and worrying about the future. This is what causes depression and anxiety at pandemic levels. Instead, live in the present!

B i o 

Sonia Barrett is globally recognized for her unique, in-depth and humorous style of explaining the nature of reality as not only a virtual reality but ultimately a game. In 1992, a newly divorced single mother of two sons, Sonia Barrett set out to prove her own influence on physical reality amidst the difficulties and struggles. She was determined to triumph in consciously Fusing Mind and Matter. Against all odds, she proclaimed a movement upon herself without books or gurus to guide her, with only determination as her resource. Sonia Barrett would eventually “penetrate the matrix,” as had been her desire and ultimate goal. She became her own experiment and the results later became the books The Holographic Canvas: The Fusing of Mind and Matter published in 2008 and The Cosmic Game in 3D: Mastering Reality, Mastering the Matrix of the Mind, due for release in December 2010. With the publishing of The Holographic Canvas Sonia found herself at the other end of her many years of silent learning.

Sonia has written many articles exploring the idea of time travel as a natural component in the experiencing of reality. Sonia Barrett explores the possibility of immortality or physical existence beyond the common view of time, the potential for a natural ascension in consciousness and the computized (reality being much like a computer generated program) design of reality (www.spiritinform.com). She has been interviewed on radio programs and presents workshops and lectures internationally. The concept behind these workshops and lectures is to reawaken the memory of those attending—as noted on the back of her book, “The answers are all tied into the forgotten past and like the single cell of a plant our history is encoded in our cells, DNA and the air we breathe.” She aims to remind others that they need only desire to know, to remember what is already within, using the momentum of determination to pierce the veil which overshadows the endless unknown.