What do you think about the world today?
- Thread starter ar1605
- Start date
It's very popular to declare society is in decline; that people aren't as honest/kind/*insert positive attribute here* as they used to be; and so on.
There's a lot of romanticized wishing about being born in an earlier age.
It's easy to blame things on 'society'.
People are what they always have been. As study of history will show you that.
If you have regular access to the internet, chances are very good you have more food, more material comforts, more safety, and more choices than the vast majority of people that have ever lived.
There's a lot of romanticized wishing about being born in an earlier age.
It's easy to blame things on 'society'.
People are what they always have been. As study of history will show you that.
If you have regular access to the internet, chances are very good you have more food, more material comforts, more safety, and more choices than the vast majority of people that have ever lived.
Odo
Banned
We're happier in the same way animals in the zoo are happier than those in the wild. We get everything we need and it's easy to see it as a pretty good deal... but if we were released, we wouldn't know what to do and would probably end up crawling back to our cages.
The world in general is becoming more egalitarian... a lot of wealth is currently moving out of the developed world and into the poorer countries. This isn't good for the poor in the developed nations, but it's good for the poor countries... well, not really good, but it's definitely making things better for them.
But there is no denying that industrialization destroys ecosystems, which in turn drives the wildlife into other ecosystems, which creates imbalances in those ecosystems, which in turn creates other problems... and then just when those ecosystems are balanced out by dying/hunting/etc... there's more development and the whole process starts all over again. I'm really not sure if what the human race gains is worth what is being destroyed.
I would agree with those who say that the coming decades are going to be a major turning point, and I really hope we stop trading the future of our species and other species for fleeting, immediate gains. There is no way of telling what will happen or how things will be, but I think it's pretty certain that everything is going to collapse if we keep going in the direction we're going.
Really, I don't think there has ever been progress and it has been more about making tradeoffs... and if the point of life is to make sure that we survive as long as possible, I think we're doing a lousy job. The dinosaurs were on this planets for hundreds of millions of years... we'll be lucky to get to 250,000.
The world in general is becoming more egalitarian... a lot of wealth is currently moving out of the developed world and into the poorer countries. This isn't good for the poor in the developed nations, but it's good for the poor countries... well, not really good, but it's definitely making things better for them.
But there is no denying that industrialization destroys ecosystems, which in turn drives the wildlife into other ecosystems, which creates imbalances in those ecosystems, which in turn creates other problems... and then just when those ecosystems are balanced out by dying/hunting/etc... there's more development and the whole process starts all over again. I'm really not sure if what the human race gains is worth what is being destroyed.
I would agree with those who say that the coming decades are going to be a major turning point, and I really hope we stop trading the future of our species and other species for fleeting, immediate gains. There is no way of telling what will happen or how things will be, but I think it's pretty certain that everything is going to collapse if we keep going in the direction we're going.
Really, I don't think there has ever been progress and it has been more about making tradeoffs... and if the point of life is to make sure that we survive as long as possible, I think we're doing a lousy job. The dinosaurs were on this planets for hundreds of millions of years... we'll be lucky to get to 250,000.
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Well we certainly aren't living the lives we evolved for.
xylo
Banned
I'd rather be alive today than any other time in history.
Things have escalated rapidly over the last 100 years with the population explosion and technological advances, and this can bring its dangers; Finite resources, more power-more responsibility. Small things can make a big difference, making it easier to wreck the world today.
But I see more reasons for hope than fear. Overall people live healthier, happier, more fulfilled lives today than any other time in history. Things are improving all the time at a very fast pace. There are far more opportunities available to us. I also think the moral health of people today overall is better than ever before.
So I feel really lucky to be alive today and even though there are still big problems to be solved, I see more reason to be optimistic about the future, than pessimistic.
Things have escalated rapidly over the last 100 years with the population explosion and technological advances, and this can bring its dangers; Finite resources, more power-more responsibility. Small things can make a big difference, making it easier to wreck the world today.
But I see more reasons for hope than fear. Overall people live healthier, happier, more fulfilled lives today than any other time in history. Things are improving all the time at a very fast pace. There are far more opportunities available to us. I also think the moral health of people today overall is better than ever before.
So I feel really lucky to be alive today and even though there are still big problems to be solved, I see more reason to be optimistic about the future, than pessimistic.
