What the hell has happened?

[The_root_of_all_evil]

"The Earth is degenerating today. Bribery and corruption aboud. Children no longer obey their parents, every man wants to write a book, and it is evident that the end of the world is fast approaching."

 

[RufusMcLaser]

"The Earth is degenerating today. Bribery and corruption aboud. Children no longer obey their parents, every man wants to write a book, and it is evident that the end of the world is fast approaching."

Been reading Assyrian tablets, have you? Or so the meme goes. But there's something to it- survey history and for every era there's someone saying "our ancestors had it better."

Which they didn't, by most metrics. How many of us know someone who had polio? How many of us don't have potable water on tap? How many of us have an adult family member who is illiterate? How many of us are unable to go to school, or to a library, because it isn't allowed? How many of us have to work more than 40 hours a week? Are any of us forced to sit at the back of the bus, or indentured servants, or denied political franchise ab initio?
I know there are many counter-arguments. I know we've given up some things and taken on some things (like fast food and television) which we would have been better off without. But on the balance, for every step back we've taken two steps forward.

Returning to the central point of this thread, every advance in science and technology simply fuels our imagination. I would say that every time our knowledge doubles, our imaginations quadruple.

 

[mshcherbatskaya]

mshcherbatskaya:
And welcome to the revolution to you too.
I really hate anti-globalist sentiments, certainly on the internet. That's like arguing against Bush after paying 10.000$ to get into his fundraiser party.

I assume this is a jibe at anti-globalists who sit around in coffee-shops serving Kenyan coffee, clothes designed in Europe and made in Cambodia, typing on computers that were made in China. Yes, this is what hypocrisy looks like. Which is why I cited actual local examples of people who are trying to disengage in whatever practical format they can. I'm not talking about protesting the G8 summit or throwing pies at CEOs. I'm talking about what werepossum was talking about, which is looking around you, finding out what you really can do for yourself, and then doing it.

You work with what you are born into, trying to get to where you want to be. Some people, their goal is to make more. My goal is to need less, and when I do need something, pay attention to where it comes from and how it gets to me.

You may hate anti-globalist sentiments. You are certainly entitled. Personally, I'm not fond of acrid cynicism. To each their own.

 

[Vortigar]

I realise I made a leap of logic without fully explaining it.

My remark was an extension of the following you typed:

The main thing that the past never figured on was the fact that their future would not, in the end, be mechanical, it would be informational.

The revolution, you are typing on it.

It's inspirational to hear a story about people creating a self-sufficient society of their own. Making a life livable without depending on overarching structures that can press down or collapse upon you. I was aiming for that with my statement that the debate on the previous page was enlightening.

The remark you quoted wasn't aimed at them at all, merely linked to what I quoted above.

This informational revolution is slowly connecting the world and its people. By the time the internet generation grows up we'll have people who've been interacting with others around the globe all their lives moving into positions of power. The internet IS globalisation at work, right here, right now. But it won't be a structure like the G8, some kind of aristocratic group deciding for the rest, it will be all of us, the people, who've become citizens of the world. TV changed the world once as people could see what was going on. The 'net will change it again and I have faith it will be for the better.

And yes, I'm a dreamer. And a little more naive than I care to be.

 

[neoman10]

With humanity, there is war, with war there is advancement. an example is the nuclear bomb, with its development we started with the ultimate weapon of destruction in the modern world but from it arised a clean form of power that rarely fails.

 

[Rankao]

I'm disappointed in not getting my post-apocalyptic future like all of the movies promised.

Such a shame.

 

[Knight Templar]

War happened.

Our inability to not try and destroy each other is indirectly the cause of our greatest achievements.

The human race tries it's hardest when fighting for a cause, regardless if it's justified or right. Look at Nazi Germany for example, their army generally was more advanced than the British/Americans, I remember reading a statistic saying it took 4 Sherman Tanks to take out 1 Tiger. The first rocket weaponry, and they were working on an ICBM apparently. Though the British and Americans certainly had their moments.

A large portion of all technology you use in your daily life has origins in warfare.

Do not mistake war and the passion behind it. If all the energy directed into war was directed into better things we would have all that we do now and more. If we hadn't started the first and second Iraq wars we would have been able to build s space teather to the moon.

My keybord is going crazy so I'm out for the night.