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Is everything falling apart?

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Re: Is everything falling apart?

#61

Post by throwawayN0W »

Arainach wrote: post #41
aldarion wrote: post #21

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.

The last hundred years? So electrifying rural areas, civil rights, vaccines, space exploration, Medicare (US), public medicine (first world countries), and more are all the downturn?

I thnik he just wanted to throw "ancestros" somewhere in there without specifying what that former glory exectly is.

Re: Is everything falling apart?

#62

Post by SpicyLemonZest »

m0llusk wrote: post #34

This is a bit of an oversimplification of the argument. Technology is argued to be a wedge, but this is in the context of well documented social division. In recent memory we were significantly less divided and the most consumed media sources served as moderators. Brushing this off as just another prognostication and everything is always messed up is missing the seriousness of this. It is perhaps fortunate that the U…

There's a lot more political polarization, no doubt, but I'm actually not sure it's true that there's more social division. A few decades ago, basic questions like "is it OK for different races to get married" and "should women participate fully in society" remained unresolved, with a ton of people wielding substantial power sitting on the "no" side. (The Handmaid's Tale wasn't meant to be some crazy impossible premise; Margaret Atwood genuinely believed that she was describing a real trend that might happen if we're not careful.)

Re: Is everything falling apart?

#63

Post by nikanj »

trey-jones wrote: post #37

I feel generally that everything is falling apart. I also have an article still pulled up from earlier this week titled Why Pessimism Sounds Smart . It seems pessimists are sometimes wrong! But sometimes they are right too - especially in the last couple of years I have observed incompetence seemingly everywhere I go. But is this the changing world, or my changing perspective? It's really difficult to pin down. At th…

Unfortunately said someone has been made redundant, and the parts wouldn’t be available anyway because all of the planets microchip factories are building bitcoin rigs

Re: Is everything falling apart?

#65

Post by goatlover »

giraffe_lady wrote: post #38
taylodl wrote: post #8

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…

Every generation thinks the world is ending but eventually one will be correct.

Do you think there can't be any civilizations in the universe which exist indefinitely? For the past millions or even billions of years? If humans get past the next couple of centuries and start spreading out into the solar system and possibly beyond, what would cause us to have a last generation?

Re: Is everything falling apart?

#67

Post by leereeves »

techdragon wrote: post #35
leereeves wrote: post #26

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.

Unless you lived in the parts of the world that didn’t have that peace or that prosperity… it’s important to remember peace and prosperity are regional phenomena that are not shared around the globe equally.

Certainly there have been some parts of the world that didn’t have that peace or that prosperity, but it was widespread.

Former colonies threw off their colonial yokes. Most of the "developing world" developed. Marginalized groups gained new civil rights. China and India rose to become great powers even as their former colonial masters, though declining, still enjoyed peace and prosperity.

Recognizing that there is still a lot of injustice and inequality in the world doesn't require denying all the progress that has been made.

Re: Is everything falling apart?

#68

Post by rank0 »

TheOtherHobbes wrote: post #53
zozbot234 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

"Strong men" make fascism, not good times. It's pretty much the definition of fascism - a delusional paternalistic idiot infecting everyone around him with his own neuroses and narcissism, in the name of "patriotism" and "respect."

I can’t understand what you’re trying to convey.

The terms fascist and nazi seem to have lost all meaning nowadays…at least to the far left.

Re: Is everything falling apart?

#69

Post by watwut »

Shaddox wrote: post #46

I hope I am not being too inflammatory by saying this but it's ... quite amusing how sheltered Americans are in thinking that a little political tension is a danger to their own country. 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.

Contrapoint: it is actually good for Americans to worry about whether democracy will be destroyed in their country. Complacency and ignoring issues with "there are other countries that got it worst" may sounds smart or "worldwide-inclusive", but does not help neither Bosnians nor Americans. Possibly the most politically apathetic nation is Russia .. and where it got them. Political apathy is what you get in autocracies and dictatorships - and what simultaneously empowers them.

It is debatable whether Bosnia is fine or will be fine. It is in danger of new rounds of violence. For that matter, even if Ukraine wins, which I hope, it wont be fine. Wars do actually damage places where it all happens and price is paid for many years after.

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