Monday 27 June 2011

Actual babbling without thought

Considering this blog is called "random babbling of a slightly odd student", I haven't actually done much 'babbling' here as of yet. In fact most of my posts have been pretty well planned out as for what I wanted to write.

So, now that I've just downloaded some blogging app for my shiny new iPad and I want to test out exactly how good this app is, I have the perfect excuse to just write. (golly, that italic-isation was easy! Just tapped a button and it did all for me.)

I actually kind of used to do this kind of stuff, just writing down what went on in my head, not necessarily to do with any kind of coherence or topic before. Kind of just writing stuff here and there on the vast ocean of the interwebs, basically.

So anyways, at this point I've actually kind of come to a writers block - I'm not entirely sure what to say. So let's type about that.

I sometimes find it strange that, while other people have imaginations vast enough to make amazing inventions that either come to great benefit to mankind or obliterate us yet again in some strange way (more often the latter than the former if you believe everything the news tells you...), while others, like myself, couldn't have thought of the wheel if it was placed right in front of me.

Overall though, whatever your opinions of stuff you've got to admit that humans are damnably creative creatures. It's what defines us; while all other life on this planet is generally limited in their skill set, and adaptable only in evolution or very basic tools in the case of fellows, man is the most adaptable species on the planet; and this has allowed us to thrive in almost every environment on the planet.

And the thing is, despite everyone saying that our species is doomed and that we'll come to some gruesome end or another at one point in the near future, we always forget how damnably adaptable we are. Yes, we're a young species. Really, REALLY young. A mere few tens of thousands of years old. Yes, we may be destroying the natural cycle at an alarming rate. Yes, it really really looks like our technology and our arrogance will spell our complete doom.

But the thing is, while there have been many other creatures who have dominated the earths surface for many tens of millions of years longer than us, none of them have been as adaptable as we have; their survival completely relied on the unchanging nature of the environment they were in, and once that natural balance was disturbed, whether it be a comet, lack of comparable food, etc, they would relatively swiftly die out, to be replaced by animals more suited to the new situation.

Humans, on the other hand, are incredibly adaptable, as already mentioned; if need be, we can be made to survive in extremely inhospitable places. And so, even if we do destroy this little ball of green and blue, even if many thousands of species go extinct, and catastrophic climate change happens, I think that, unless something really dramatic such as the sudden and complete removal of oxygen in our atmosphere happens, I think that, as a species, we do have the potential to survive what we predict nature will throw at us in the next few years. Yes, many people will probably die, yes, society as we know it will probably be obliterated, yes, it's not exactly a happy scenario and I really do think it's in our best interest to avoid such a, er, 'hick up' if at all possible, but I think that, when alls said and done, there will still be humans somewhere on this planet, surviving in one form or another for many more years to come.

...I've just realised I've gone from talking about writers block to discussing the survival of our species incredibly rapidly.

So! Er, overall review of this app that I've used to write this thingy then. Really? Not perfect. Sure, it's useful and does a lot of things very well, but there's one thing that irks me about it - I can't add captions to images! (hence the lack of many pictures in this particular blog post.) I think I'll stick to my good old laptop till that particular problem. Other than that, though, it's relatively ok. Any other bloggers watching this who have iPads, I'd recommend this, so long as you don't make regular use of captioned images!

Am I going to tell you what this app actually is?

You've been reading The Random Babbling of a Sightly Odd Student. Thanks!