41–50 of 970 posts
Nothing lasts forever, and we have been on the downturn of the civilization for the last hundred years or so. This is merely the time when we started running out of the reserves that our ancestors had secured us, and thus problems started becoming apparent.
Also I strongly recommend another Haidt book called "The Righteous Mind".
Nothing lasts forever, and we have been on the downturn of the civilization for the last hundred years or so. This is merely the time when we started running out of the reserves that our ancestors had secured us, and thus problems started becoming apparent.
I remember the old Police song having the line "there is no political solution for our troubled evolution." They say we live in the Anthropocene epoch, an epoch dominated by man. The problem is that's not the world we evolved in and for humans evolution isn't just a matter of physical adaptation but social adaptation as well. Our social structures we've built over the millennia no longer work the same in this new world we've built. We have to evolve, but social evolution typically involves violence and upheaval and would appear that everything is falling apart.
The constant theme since the dawn of civilization threaded through all of history is that everything is falling apart. Change is continual. History is more like the seasons. Nations rise. Nations fall. Sometimes there's revolt. Sometimes there's peace. There's a continual game of King of the Mountain being played at all levels. So what can we say? Situation Normal - all effed up! Enjoy this phenomenon called life. Yo…
It's very easy to forget that the revolutions of Britain, France, America, Russia; it happened just a few generations ago, and upended most of the political landscape (even in countries that didn't see actual revolutions). I think what is happening is most of our modern institutions are all of roughly the same age, and after initial idealism and momentum have roughly at the same time begun to ossify and show cracks as people have started taking them for granted.
This is the first time anyone has attempted democracy on this sort of scale. Looking back we've had republics with longevity, we've had autocratic dynasties with longevity. But democracy? Besides Athens, which had a very different shape of political system, this is really a first. It's a huge political experiment, the long-term viability of which is being determined here and now by our ability to keep our shit together.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Nations rise. ... Sometimes there's peace. In short: sometimes things aren't falling apart. For a few decades we enjoyed one of the great periods of peace and prosperity. That was surely doomed to end eventually, but I wish it could last a while longer.
It's an endless cycle. As the saying goes... Hard times make strong men Strong men make good times Good times make weak men And weak men make hard times.
Bosnia was about to be destroyed and more recently, attempted to be divided by neighbors and they're still fine.
Look at anywhere that's not Americas or Western Europe.
Yesterday I made the comment "everything is collapsing underneath" though there's context etc. I think the better way to say it. "Is everything falling apart for the USA?" Yes indeed. Most other countries have problems. Sure Sri Lanka has the same problems. Sure the middle east just went through the same problems and some states are still enduring civil war. Though from what I can tell it's mostly the USA in this 'fa…
> Blaming social media is not legitimate in my opinion; social media will be what fixes this. The fix to the USA falling apart is free and open discussions between the camps. This is what Elon is planning to do with twitter. I’m skeptical that he can fundamentally change the incentives that make social media amplify extremist views over moderate views. “The other side is terrible” will always get more engagement than…
I'm skeptical that someone who unironically uses the phrase "woke mindvirus" has any such intent. There's a reason right-wing accounts are flooding the platform now and everyone else is running for the hills, and it isn't because Elon makes both sides equally welcome or unwelcome. He's clearly picked a side.
> The framing begins with appreciating how closely intertwined the divisive and unifying effects of information technology can be. The author speaks as if "unifying", as opposed to dividing, is the redemptive quality of information technology. I don't see it as an unmitigated good and, somewhat ironically, the story of the tower of Babel is about how their single-purposedness (?) was the source of the problem altoget…
Yes this is problem when using analogy: it usually goes both ways.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Nations rise. ... Sometimes there's peace. In short: sometimes things aren't falling apart. For a few decades we enjoyed one of the great periods of peace and prosperity. That was surely doomed to end eventually, but I wish it could last a while longer.
It's an endless cycle. As the saying goes... Hard times make strong men Strong men make good times Good times make weak men And weak men make hard times.
Yesterday I made the comment "everything is collapsing underneath" though there's context etc. I think the better way to say it. "Is everything falling apart for the USA?" Yes indeed. Most other countries have problems. Sure Sri Lanka has the same problems. Sure the middle east just went through the same problems and some states are still enduring civil war. Though from what I can tell it's mostly the USA in this 'fa…
Then why is he Tweeting nonsense cartoons that only serve to divide people?
I mean, the right has stood still for the past 13 years? This perception is part of the problem. Notwithstanding actual studies (tweeted in reply to that comment) show the exact opposite has happened -- that the left has moved leftward slightly while the right has lurched further to the right 4x further, we know the right has moved far right since 2008 because of January 6 2021. That's proof positive that a problem exists with right-wing extremists, and to just pretend otherwise strikes me as dishonest on Musk's part.
The far right went from tea party curiosity in 2008 to full blown anti-democratic, paramilitary, conspiracy lunacy in 2022. We had an unbroken track record of 44 peaceful transfers of power until 2021, when the former president and his party plotted to overthrow the newly elected government by force. We are now learning as texts are being leaked, they spent the entirety of Nov-Dec 2020 texting each other illegal strategies to prevent Biden from assuming office on 1/20/21, and then tried very hard to implement those strategies, including going so far as having constructed bogus legal theories and a faux-constitutional process to attempt to legitimize their efforts. And of course, purposefully fomenting an insurrection and gleefully watching as it unfolded.
And you can't even say it's the fringe because that wing of the party has literally taken over the GOP. If you don't believe me, ask any of the conservatives who have left the GOP citing how far right it's moved. People will cite AOC as the most radical leftist they can think of, and even her Green New Deal is fundamentally grounded in the ideals of capitalism. Not very radical leftist if you ask me. Where are the actual radical leftists in Congress, espousing an end to American democracy, the monetary system, and capitalism? You can't find them because they're not there.
So given all that, for the new owner of Twitter to tweet that conservatives have moved absolutely nowhere in the past 13 years, shows just how completely out of touch he is with the political climate.
(for anyone looking to reply that the left has move left, I will not contest that, but the point of the cartoon is that the left has exclusively moved left while everyone else has stayed the same. This is objectively not true.)