41–50 of 278 posts
And although all the world’s major faiths teach love That's not what I see when I look into the holy books. Let's be frank here, faith and religion are still the tools to turn ordinary people into genocidal maniacs.
I have asked almost everyone I know if they have a subscription to: nytimes.com wsj.com forbes.com Guess what? I don't even have any minor acquaintances with subscriptions to these sites. So how come every single aggregator that I visit has articles from these sites commonly among the top and featured positions?
It's odd, the world is the safest and most stable that it has ever been. There has never been a better time to be a human being, and yet, the media and certain politicians would have you believe that there is disaster after disaster, terrorist plots afoot around every corner, feeding your fear day after day. If ever there was an example of the devil at work, then that's it(and I'm not even religious). Uncertainty abo…
If you are rich and already in the top class, then maybe. But it's not terribly good for the middle class.
How many have instant access right this second?
Life is far easier and more convenient than it used to be. Most of the middle-class live as better than kings of past centuries.
It's odd, the world is the safest and most stable that it has ever been. There has never been a better time to be a human being, and yet, the media and certain politicians would have you believe that there is disaster after disaster, terrorist plots afoot around every corner, feeding your fear day after day. If ever there was an example of the devil at work, then that's it(and I'm not even religious). Uncertainty abo…
If you are rich and already in the top class, then maybe. But it's not terribly good for the middle class.
I was taught that work is one of only two uses for a man. That other being a good father. It must be wrong but it is an unshakable thought. I can't imagine how I would hate myself if I couldn't provide. This fear, even though I have no dependents, is far greater than my fear of being unneeded.
Maybe it's different for other people.
For as prolific as he is, the Dalai Lama doesn't pop up on my radar much. But here he is in the NY Times opinion pages sharing monism. This speaks to a broader human truth: We all need to be needed. There's an old but relevant perspective on life. We value ourselves by how much we can contribute to the lives of others. Still though, I'm left wondering, what combination of forces summed up to this particular writing c…
You could interpret this line in different ways. One is your interpretation.
Another one would be: Currently, people need work to feed themselves. Why not make thier job meaningful(and good for the human spirit), instead of, say the work at the factory(meaningless and negative for the human spirit), which there are many like it ? In fact , this could be an interesting use of automation.
Or another way: many people do benefit from a good structure in their lives, not everybody is a self motivated entrepreneur or software developer like found here . Why not, together, think of such structures ?
It's odd, the world is the safest and most stable that it has ever been. There has never been a better time to be a human being, and yet, the media and certain politicians would have you believe that there is disaster after disaster, terrorist plots afoot around every corner, feeding your fear day after day. If ever there was an example of the devil at work, then that's it(and I'm not even religious). Uncertainty abo…
Never before has there been a point in time where:
-A determined individual with the right equipment could shut down the information network our society almost exclusively relies upon.
-Weapons created for war could destroy the conditions for human civilization across the entire planet.
-Everyday consumption keeps people complacent while the artificially low costs contribute to and accelerate the pace of climate change, which could be almost as bad as nuclear Armageddon.
-The speed and scale of travel is such that a disease could reach every corner of the earth and kill millions if not billions of human beings (or our food!) no matter where they live or where the disease came from.
I'm not a pessismist about humanity's future but if you ignore these things you are only fooling yourself.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you're referring to safety from physical harm you're correct. But I'd argue that the erosion of many social safety nets has left a lot of people less economically secure.
In a comment thread on a forum I am offering a non-nuanced binary view. How economically secure does a hunter gatherer or subsistence farmer feel, with no medicine, lots of superstitious practices and complete dependence on the crops/weather... etc.
A hunter/gatherer with no medicine and loads of superstitions doesn't feel anxious when everybody else is a hunter/gatherer with no medicine and loads of superstitions too. They feel anxious when they are that way, but they can look over a fence and see other people living in nice houses and living forty years longer than they do.
Progress is not uniformly distributed, and even in "advanced" societies there are wide and growing gaps between a small, privileged few and the rest who have to make do with much less. It's completely understandable why that would make people anxious, even if they have access to Netflix.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It may not be as good as it was 50 years ago, but there's a case to be made that it's nearly as good as it ever was prior to 1900.
> It may not be as good as it was 50 years ago If you're a white male.
For as prolific as he is, the Dalai Lama doesn't pop up on my radar much. But here he is in the NY Times opinion pages sharing monism. This speaks to a broader human truth: We all need to be needed. There's an old but relevant perspective on life. We value ourselves by how much we can contribute to the lives of others. Still though, I'm left wondering, what combination of forces summed up to this particular writing c…