The scariest theory known to man - by Hoang Nghiem

The one that says that at some point in the future, something is going to kill us all.

We don’t know how it will happen. We don’t know when it will happen. We don’t know why it will happen.

The worst part? We don’t even know if it will happen, which is a scary part by itself.

The theory? The “Great Filter” of civilizations.

But I’m getting too ahead of myself here. Let me give you a more formal introduction…

Disclaimer to the Quora Moderators:

All images are sourced from Google Images unless clearly stated otherwise, there is no good reason to collapse my answer unless one has overwhelming evidence that it should be. My entire answer is also original work unless clearly stated (accompanied with extracts and numerical evidence) otherwise with full links to original sources provided.

Author’s comment to the audience:

By the way, here is a good time to warn you that my answer will be long.

Actually, all my answers are much longer than your average quora answer. This particular one is 3,500 words for example.

I don’t answer a question (or a request) unless I can write a lot. If it’s annoying to you, then I probably shouldn’t be a writer that you’re following. ^_^

Here are the table of contents (for ease of navigation throughout my answer):

Chapter 1: “If the Universe is so huge, then where is everybody?”Chapter 2: “The Great Filter- the scariest theory known to man” (the part that answers the question)Chapter 3: “Identifying the Great Filter of Civilizations”

What’s wrong with Islam in the 21st century by Salman Khan

This is what’s wrong with Islam in the 21st century:

Yes! That’s the picture of a couple taking a ride in their horse carriage. That’s the analogy I wish to present here. There’s a very good reason for me picking this analogy. Let us begin.

Throughout the Islamic world, there is this mass marketing of this idea that the perfect way of life is to be found back in time. Meaning that if you wish to prosper, instead of progressing, try to live the way they lived in 7th century Arabia. Throughout the Muslim world, there are countless books, videos, TV channels, preachers and even ordinary people who mass market this nostalgic romantic view of how perfect the world was some thousand and a half year ago. As a result, instead of progressing, Muslims are encouraged to try and regress to those “glory days”. So what’s the relevance of that to a horse carriage?

Well, let’s imagine that we live in a world where a large number of us are religiously convinced that the ideal way for us to live is by using horse carriages. Do horse carriages work? YES! They do work. Will they get some work done? Of course! However, it’d be a very bad idea to bring them back and make them the norm. The people who have been brainwashed to romanticize those good old days of horse carriages must understand that the world has changed a lot. There are many problems with that old mode of transportation, for example:

They may not be structurally fit for the roadsThey may be too slow and slow down others as you bask in the “glory” of your horse carriageThe amount of horse-poop that will result from it simply might be unacceptableIt will lead to lower overall productivity for the nation’s peopleA lot of animal welfare/abuse issues might cause some serious concerns.

So you see, it’s not that horse carriages don’t work. It’s just that it doesn’t make much sense to regress back to that mode of transportation from what we currently have access to. That is the problem with Islam in the 21st century. Given that Islam, like any other religion, is more or less what a Muslim makes it to be, I guess it’s a problem with Muslims. There are progressive brands of Islam which are 21st century compatible. However, the fact remains that 99.99% of Muslims don’t belong to that group.

Merchants cant charge 2% extra on Debit Card Payments – Says RBI

Have you ever faced this situation, when you were making payment through your debit card or credit card?

“Sir How are you making payment ?

Debit Card or Cash ?”

“Card”

“Sir, There will be 2% extra charges if you pay by Debit Card ? ”

“Why extra charges ? I use it at every place and no one charges any thing extra ? ”

“Sorry Sir, this is our Policy. You can take out the CASH from the nearby ATM if you want to save that extra charges”

“Huh ! .. &^#$^&*J#^&&#%$&*N”

You often face the above situation, when you buy things like jewelry, Laptops, Mobile phones etc. I faced this 2-3 times myself, but could argue well with the shopkeeper, because I knew this is just a tactic used by shopkeepers to save on the charges they need to pay from their own pocket. Hence I never paid that extra 2% or just left the shop.

Merchants cant charge any extra charges on Debit Card Payment – say RBI

Now yesterday, RBI has openly cracked down on this unfair trade practice and issued a notification saying that Shop Merchants can not charge any extra charges from customers, if payment is done through Debit Card. Below is the exact wordings from RBI Notification

4. Levying fees on debit card transactions by merchants – There are instances where merchant establishments levy fee as a percentage of the transaction value as charges on customers who are making payments for purchase of goods and services through debit cards. Such fee are not justifiable and are not permissible as per the bilateral agreement between the acquiring bank and the merchants and therefore calls for termination of the relationship of the bank with such establishments.

Why Shopkeepers Charge extra 2% on Debit Card payments ?

When you swipe your debit/credit card  for purchasing some item, the merchant has to pay some fees (1%-2%) to the Bank or the rental fees for the swipe machine. The charges goes out of their own pocket, as the cost of running the business and convenience of taking the payments (more customers will come, if card payment is there). If its a small payment like Rs 500 or Rs 1000, then its a charge of Rs 10 or Rs 20, which is fine. But when it becomes a payment of lets say Rs 30,000 (imagine buying laptop or iPad), then its around Rs 300-600 and to save that big charges, they discourage debit/credit card payment.

They often ask customers to pay by CASH and point them to nearby ATM. Almost always, customers could not refuse, because they have already made the buying decision, and dont want to argue for the small charge, and a lot of times, they finally believe that may be its not illegal, and finally give the CASH even if they do not want, or just allow the merchants to charge additional 2% charges.

But, as per RBI, its not a fair practice, because merchants already have agreed in the agreement with the card swiping machine bank that they will not charge anything extra from the customers. Here is one example of asking for 2% extra fees by some Geeta Ramani on rediff website

My worst experience was when I intended to purchase a Tata Sky card worth Rs 1000. The shopkeeper said 2.5% = 25 rupees extra. I told him — you give 10, I will give 15 rupees. He spoke quite roughly — hum kyon den? I told him it was because he was supposed to pay the bank, not I, and that I was doing him a favour and not the other way round. He said he did not earn anything from the transaction. Anyway, I did not give in. I didn’t purchase from him and purchased the same from Indiaplaza instead online without any transaction fee

What you should do, if Shopkeeper does not agree ?

RBI has clearly asked all the banks to break their relationship with those merchants who are practicing this. So, when any merchant asks you for extra 2% charges and even after the debate they do not agree, you can complain to the RBI about this and also complain to the bank. Each Bank has a “Merchant Services” section on their website and when you mail them or complain in personal to their branch, mention that you want to complain about Merchant Services. Example for ICICI bank is hereand Axis Bank is here. But

When you take this step, at-least some merchants might fear the consequences and oblige!, but now the problem is how many people will go to this extra mile . It would require some time and effort from your end.

So next time you are asked to pay extra 2% on debit card payment, you can clearly tell them about this RBI notification. If required better take the print out of the notification and keep it with you in your wallet or as an image in your smartphone.

Have you ever faced a situation where you were asked to pay extra 2% charges on debit card payments and were pointed to a near by ATM, and what did you do in that situation, please share !

Source: http://www.jagoinvestor.com/2013/09/merchants-cant-charge-2-extra-on-debit-card-payments-says-rbi.html