Scientio

Still speaking of Canadians, what exactly is that odd little interjection they begin their sentences with?

The Canadians end their sentences with 'eh' in the same way Americans end sentences with 'okay' or the British end sentences with 'right,'  It's use is limited to informal spoken language and is not (usually) found in the written word.  I was surprised to find a Wikipedia page devoted to 'eh' but this type of interjection is found in many spoken languages of today.  I recall that many of the folks in northern Wisconsin frequently ended sentences with 'yah' but it is definitely context sensitive.

I found a fun site that explains the usage of 'eh' if you wish to follow up: http://dexteroustongue.com/talk-like-a-canadian-1-hardcore-eh/   It looks like a fine site if you decide to jump down the rabbit hole of linguistics.

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Yes, the leaders originate with the people, but there is something that happens to them as they rise through the ranks.  Priorities shift and concerns of re-election can overcome the will of the people.  I'm reminded of "he who pays the piper calls the tune," and if that means some kind of election reform, I'm all for it.  As the poet once said, "Money doesn't talk, it swears."

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The many scenarios Uncle Ken mentions are too much for me to chew on at this time.  Maybe they are all possible, in their own way, with various degrees of overlap.  Some social and political changes occur quickly, others take much more time.  We've seen a lot of change in our lifetimes, and more is yet to come.  I've heard that planet-wise, life has never been better; less poverty and disease, fewer global conflicts, more human rights, and overall, a better standard of living for everyone.  I'll let my idle thoughts continue to simmer, but at least we're not all running around and beating each other with rocks and sticks, eh?

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I don't have a problem with science, it's a method of determining fact based knowledge, and is good.  Any problems with the application of scientific knowledge can be traced to the hand of man.  One aspect of the human condition is curiosity; we want to know how things work but often fail to consider ethical or moral consequence, and we act in haste.  It's often been said that just because we can do something doesn't mean we should.  Not all of our ideas are good ones but knowledge can't be undiscovered, not any more, if it's been posted online.  It can be lost or forgotten, though.  There is so much info available that we can't get through it all, unless the highly touted AI can sort it out.  I won't hold my breath on that one.