Personal Top Lists & Rankings

Are you freaking kidding me right now!?😁
Alright, come on then—tell me which chords we can actually swap out for the dominant without stepping outside the diatonic scale. Feel free to stick to scale degrees if that’s easier for you.

I’m guessing since you claim to love music and listen to it constantly, you’ll have an answer for this one.😛

Rick Lee said:you're comparing apples to oranges... in nature, everything has its own niche and purpose—it’s just how things stay balanced. sheep are domestic animals, bred specifically for meat, wool, and stuff like that...

you aren't comparing apples to oranges—more like apples to your own triple-layered interpretations.😁
i'm not really sure what that has to do with anything... you mentioned lions not killing fifty antelopes when they only need to eat four, implying that humans are the ones who act differently... but I guess even a wolf would kill more than it eats sometimes. a wolf is an animal, not a person. a sheep isn't raised for a wolf to hunt, and then the wolf decides to be merciful because a human already did the work of raising it. i don't see how that works.

from a civilized perspective, it's impossible to truly grasp the brilliance of how nature functions since we've drifted so far away from it.

i don't really agree with that... i mean, humans are part of nature, so everything we create is basically a product of our own nature... plus, we're still very much living by those Darwinian laws...

hm, gentlepuma20, what’s your take—how many human cultures actually exist out there besides the "civilized" ones?
"our way of life" has basically zero connection to the wilderness anymore, whereas there are plenty of cultures out there living in total sync with the wild.
around 10,000 years ago—right when civilization kicked off—we started separating ourselves from our surroundings. We turned Earth into this ultimate adversary that needs to be conquered and subdued just because it’s wild and dangerous.
look, if you check the evidence, we’re talking about 3 million years of human evolution, and yet only one single culture has started acting completely malignant toward its environment (starting to create massive surpluses and essentially opting out of the wilderness)—and the crazy part is, our culture celebrates that very act as the glorious beginning of our rise.

other cultures are still evolving at the rhythm of evolution, staying perfectly aligned with Earth, while we—like some damn cancer—just metastasize into every corner of the planet until we finally destroy it.

...why haven't you dropped some wisdom on us yet? 🤔

The latest data suggests evolution might be a bit of a question mark 😉

Look, I'm not even arguing with you about how destructive people can be—that’s all fair. No need to go over it a dozen times. I just think civilization isn't purely evil, just like the animal kingdom isn't some perfect paradise. Animals tear each other apart just to survive, after all. So, what's the big win there? I don't think life would be particularly great if you were some gazelle out in the wilderness, terrified every single time you tried to grab a drink of water because a lion or a crocodile might be waiting. I wouldn't call that a win.

Daniel Bailey7 said:...why didn't you just say "knowledge is power" from the jump? 🤔

but gentlepuma20 isn't having any of it😁

gentlepuma20 said:the latest evidence suggests evolution is pretty questionable😉

Look, I’m not even trying to argue with you about people being destructive—that’s a given. You don't need to lecture me on that a thousand times. My point is just that civilization isn't inherently "evil," just like the animal kingdom isn't some beautiful utopia. Animals kill each other constantly just to stay alive. So what's so great about that? Do you honestly think life would be "pleasant" if you were some gazelle out on the plains, terrified every single time you tried to grab a drink of water because a crocodile or a lion might snatch you up? I wouldn't say so.

please, direct me to these "evidences" please🙂

And for the record, you could easily argue that a crocodile dies from fear when there aren't any antelope in sight to eat! Death is the most normal thing in nature... we are the only species that lives in a constant state of gut-wrenching terror, anxiety, and insecurity.

Just look at the Inuit or any tribe in the Amazon. They sing, they dance, they drink, they play, they have sex for pleasure, and they actually work way less than any modern civilized human—well, except maybe for the slackers living off welfare back in the States.😁
The Nunamiut tribes or the unknown groups in the Amazon—they don't even carry the memory of a murder within their communities; they don't suffer from cancer or mental illnesses (which is incredibly rare considering the inbreeding issues found in certain unknown groups). Now, obviously, no culture is perfect; every group is its own thing, and there are still thousands of tribes across the globe today evolving right along with nature. But we suppress them and destroy them. The truth is, humans can live perfectly fine as part of the natural world and thrive. Countless cultures have proven this—some died out, sure, while others emerged. When we die—and we will—it all goes to hell anyway.😢

And who's to say the world was made exclusively for us? Maybe we should just step back and let other species develop undisturbed; who knows, maybe they'll eventually evolve a higher consciousness too.

-😉
What if that’s our actual role as the first ones?😲 🙂

Timothy Jones85 said:but nature simply won't allow it😁

gentlepuma20 seems to enjoy making a person loop through the same arguments over and over again... 😁 It’s some sort of psychological tactic from the Department of Psychology, I suppose—a little trick to keep us spinning. Honestly, you both have a point. Humans can be quite cowardly, yet we are also animals—though, if we're being honest, far less "animalistic" than we claim to be. That bit about the lion? Spot on. But that part about the wolf? Not quite... because a wolf from the deep woods of Montana is just plain feral and will tear through anything in its path. Humans, on the other hand... we tend to overbreed, overslaughter, overconsume, and ultimately, overdestroy. An animal eats until it is full. A human? Well, a human wants to show off a custom-made hunting rifle to his buddy, so he shoots an animal just to mount it on the wall... because there is something in us that finds satisfaction in watching the light fade from its eyes. And so it goes...

Man...

I don't check this forum all that often, and what do I stumble into? Debates about the state of civilization, for Christ's sake... Is this the Music subforum or what? If you guys keep going down this path, I'm moving my activity over to the Spirituality section.

@Timothy Jones85/">@@Timothy Jones85: Just you don't start lecturing us on being civilized, because if you actually were, you would've stayed out on Friday night to grab a beer with us at the local pub. Even just as a courtesy. 🙂

Are you people done yet? Fucking tree-hugging hippie muthafuckers...

coastalpanther11 said:Man...

@Timothy Jones85: Look, don't you dare start lecturing anyone about "civilization"—if you were actually civilized, you would’ve stayed behind on Friday to grab a beer with us at the local pub. Even if it was just out of basic politeness. 🙂

What was that headline in the crime blotter? "Man beaten up after grabbing drinks with new friends." 😁 😁 😁

I was running around like crazy and totally wiped out from everything... there'll be a next time. 😉

By the way, the polite hollowseal33 introduced me to dzdzihad and coastalpanther11, while Mr. Wrong just introduced himself (he kept screaming "Branko, Branko, Branko!" right in my ear... and when it turns out his name is actually Mr. Wrong, I honestly don't know who the hell he was kidding with those ears😁).

Glad everyone finally met. 🙂

I'm currently grinding away at my thesis on animism—totally lost in tribal stuff right now—so apologies to any accidental victims of my rambling. 😳

gentlepuma20 = Department of Psychology 😱 😉

ontopic
my top musical discovery of the year

1. Devendar Banhart

it took me a minute to really get him. even though my buddy sent me all his albums on an MP3 player, it wasn't until I actually sat down and dove in...

Timothy Jones85 said:...

Man, just take five credits from Biology and Sociology—boom—done for the semester. You wouldn't even have to show up to class or sit through a single final exam anymore.

Are you seriously critiquing his old man? 😁

@Timothy Jones85/">@@Timothy Jones85 — kill me now, I can't remember the title, but there’s this one book where they gathered a bunch of those weird findings... I think it had "Secret History" in the name, but I might be wrong. There, I helped. 😬

You're probably better off you didn't stay for a beer—it was a total riot that Friday.

Timothy Jones85 said:It’s like some headline from a gritty crime tabloid: "Man beaten to death after grabbing drinks with new buddies."😁 😁 😁

Nah, you're buying into the hype. The loudest, most aggressive trolls on this board? They're usually total pushovers in real life. But those scrawny, whining types—the guys in pink t-shirts and baseball caps? Those are the ones you actually have to watch out for...

Long story short: the guys over at the local indie rock club are basically just unknown. They spend all their time picking fights for absolutely no reason.😁

Dana Anderson4 said:back to the topic
my top musical discovery of the year

1. Devendar Banhart

It took me a minute to actually get what he was doing. My buddy dumped his entire discography onto my iPod, but once I actually sat down and dug in...

Look, I heard it, and honestly? It's damn good. People need to listen to this stuff more often.

As far as evolution goes, let's not forget those weird little blowfish (since we're already acting like tapirs)

At this rate, we won't reach perfection for another few centuries, and we'll probably end up looking something like this 👋

coastalpanther11 said:Basically, the guys from Music are just a cheap imitation of unknown. They just pump out mindless noise all day.😁

Look, the music crew is actually cooler, better, and way more likable than those unknown guys.😍 🙂

Forget evolution and all that nonsense. I just have to tell Timothy Jones85 that he completely missed my point. I said nature created humans, so clearly it knew what it was doing. Besides, we’re all doomed anyway.

coastalpanther11 said:To sum everything up—basically—those guys from the band are just unknown... they just go on and on about absolutely nothing, constantly... 😁

😂

Susan Clark10 said:just kidding, I don't really care about that, just let me sleep!😉

Is it all bad news?🙂

Michael Newman50 said:The four best seasons:

1. Winter 🙂
2. Spring
3. Fall
4. Summer 🤮

🙏

As for people and animals, I guess I’m on Timothy Jones85's side here—I feel like I’d have the right to save a cat from a burning building before helping some random guy, since, you know, not everyone is the same.😬 😬 😬

Nicholas Perez33 said:Is it black? 🙂

Well, it really depends on the occasion. For a gala at the Met, I’d go with pink and glittery!😍

Nicholas Perez33 said:As far as people and animals go—well, I find myself siding with Timothy Jones85 on this one... I feel I’d have every right to grab the cat out of a burning building before even worrying about some random guy from Chicago—because, let's be honest, not everyone is cut from the same cloth... 😬 😬 😬

I am actually in the middle of arranging to have this tattooed right on my left bicep... 😬