The arguments posed in this thread are amusing at best, confused at worst. Perhaps the thing we need to learn collectively might be that our culture's perceptions on ourselves, the world and the universe are flawed. Only in the culture that has emerged in the past one hundred years do we consider 'civilized' society one where it's acceptable to manufacture consent, to use the science of psychology against each other in marketing and media, that war and violence are acceptable ways of conflict resolution. Only in this culture do we think that 'it's someone else's problem, they can deal with it' is acceptable. This separation of selves may have been necessary, but it's up to each one of us to do the internal defragmentation and recoding of our own 'programs'.

2220? Seriously, anyone who has watched the fast pace of evolution in computer technology should be able to step back and see the parallel ratcheting up in pace in other fields, like pharmaceuticals, finance, space exploration and environmental studies. Everything is on a schedule. Anyone who can't see this is likely in denial. There's certainly a lot of fear spread about the Long Count date.

I don't know, but it seems to me that the selfishness, greed and lack of regard for the environment we inhabit is something that cannot be sustained by the planet, and even society in general. The manipulation and disenfranchisement of the Other has reached epic proportions that have never been seen before in all of history. We are literally tearing each other apart. And people have come to believe that Nature is flawed, forgetting that humans are an intrinsic part of nature. Ridiculous ideas like putting mirrors in space to reflect light from the sun away from earth only serve to illuminate the collective darkness some seem to want to sustain. The tipping point we stand at today is one of responsibility. What will we chose to not stand for? Fate is something we each hold in our own hands.

The Mayans weren't counting days. They were counting something different. That idea is going to be foreign to anyone who thinks days are nothing but a linear sequence. I think anyone will agree that today's Gregorian calendar is more of a financial calendar. I see the Mayan's tzol'kin as more of a space-weather prediction system. Just because we're only now discovering the evidential existence of space weather doesn't mean that ancient civilizations didn't have their own unique ways and frames of understanding these concepts.

One of the best introductions I've found to the Mayan Calendars is Ian Xel Lungold's presentation called The Mayan Calendar Comes North.
http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=-8689261981090121097

The most important thing any seeker can remember, whether they be a mystic or informational, is that too many journalists screw up the story. The only way to cut through the chaff is to feel one's way forwards.

This sort of thing really blows my mind. When necessary skills are taught by a machine, there's an over-reliance on the machines. I write short-stories and the like, and I prefer to hand-write the first draft and the second draft is when it goes into the computer. It slows me down and keeps the stories coherent. If I'm typing, my fingers start moving faster than my mind and I tend to start rambling.

My point is, all knowledge is communicated through language. If we can't educate each other on spelling, word structure and punctuation, relying on the computer to do it for us, there are basic literacy fundamentals that are not being met. Sure, computer literacy is important, but language literacy isn't just knowing how to read, but also how to write. The brain needs to know how to form words, and just pushing buttons to make a computer assemble the words is not teaching knowledge. It's teaching laziness. I might argue that while computer literacy may be on the increase, its at the expense of basic language literacy.

What makes you think that the adult perspective on science and the world has any grounding in reality? You're dreaming. I'm dreaming. All most adults do is build selfish egos, play games and lie to children in the name of controlling an illusion that is starting to fall apart. And parents wonder why their kids won't listen when they lie to them.

It amazes and sickens me how adults like to think they're right about everything and that children need to be fixed. It's symptomatic of the society we live in; address symptoms and try to fix things instead of looking at the actual causes and rooting them out.

I may be an adult, but the degree of adulthood cynicism and outright lying is something that has bothered me since I was a kid. Ender's Game summed it up quite nicely for me: 'sometimes lies were more dependable than the truth'

Maybe I'm overreacting to your statement that the study seems to be pushing the idea that there's literally a functional difference in their brain. The fact that you then ask 'Can we do anything about it?' and think that it might be useful seems very naive. Of course there's a functional difference, and that's important. WHY DO YOU THINK WE ARE WHERE WE ARE TODAY? Ethics, my dear. Just because you *can* do something doesn't mean you *should*. But what should be done that isn't being done? Adults like forseeable futures with retirement plans, reliable savings, investments and loans. Most adults are afraid of thinking for themselves and require dependencies like jobs, oil and money to function. Thing is, they're all just systems designed to sustain the so-called American Dream, which is really just another way of saying American Illusion. Today they're in the process of breaking down, but in the name of preserving this status quo we supposedly have change we can believe in. Instead of 'investing in our future' perhaps we should be divesting our current of the temples that channel our economic waters.

Yikes, I'm starting to ramble. Time to wrap this up.

Respect your child and learn how to learn from them, and they will teach you of the Mysteries. Try to label and classify 'disorders' in children and all you'll ever be doing is ignoring the societal issues that they are reflecting.

Interesting. So is human behavior different than human nature? And is human behavior influenced by the global environment of a century of wartime? Could all studies on human behavior in the past hundred years be wrong because of not accommodating for broadcast images of war?

How can we really think we know anything about human nature?

Who's to say that 'god' experiences days as twenty four hours?

What exactly does 'perceive a threat to our species' and 'eliminate that threat' mean? In your context, it means asteroids. However, the greatest threat to our species isn't from space, it's the way we treat each other. So why the hell are we more worried about random rocks from space, when it's exactly that mentality that leads to all the wars and conflict on earth? Perhaps instead of trying to dominate, crush and otherwise cause further separation, we need to be figuring out how to live co-operatively on earth.

True elimination is digging out the seeds that grow ideas of conflict. Otherwise the weedwhacker of war is just spreading more.

I for one welcome our squirrel overlords.