I have always spent an inordinate amount of time thinking about the world we are creating and how it will look in the future. I don't mean I spend time daydreaming about that future though, it is more trying to observe our behaviours across various points and guestimating where they could lead us.
I am far from qualified for this job but then, who really is? Scientists, futurists, politicians? For the most part, many of the predictions have been significantly wrong or at least, how it has materialised has been significantly different. It is hard to predict these things but many feel quite comfortable to do so.
Now that I have a small daughter , I worry more about the world we are creating than ever and I think it shows in a lot of the topics I talk about as many are centered selfishly around creating a better, more evenly distributed world. Again, I don't think equality of resource is necessarily are good thing but, large inequalities are bad.
Yet, this is the world we are creating, this is it right here. A world that has large inequalities by design, timing or opportunity based on relatively arbitrary conditions. A world where we pollute and oppress to squeeze a tiny little more profit out of the system. Is this the best we can do?
Perhaps that is what we are meant to work out here and that is the test of our worth. Can we create a model that is able to add learning and value to a decentralized, self-directed, voluntary world that still functions as a community without the bane of authority and greed to upset the apple cart? At the rate we are going, I doubt it, though I do not think it is impossible.
I wonder what this place would look like if for a few months all people put community above profits and just attempted to cooperate to build the foundations necessary to support a broader and more diverse range of people. How quickly could it turn around and how adaptable could it become to the environment and the challenges within?
Humanity's strength has always been its ability to cooperate but for the most part and especially in the early days, it was based on small groups of people who were able to trust each other based on face value. Face value being actually knowing each other.
The challenge now is that we don't know each other but the problems we need to solve require many people to cooperate. they are global problems from climate change and pollution to food, housing and energy issues. Btw, for those who are arguing over whether climate change is a man made or natural process, it doesn't really matter, it is still going to have an effect on us.
Solving these large scale problems requiring many minds and bodies is continually being slowed and hamstrung by small minds who are undermining the processes by hijacking conversations and turning the focus onto the irrelevant and insignificant. Perhaps it is an added challenge of the time.
Everyone has a voice now and multiple platforms to share their minds and what do they share? People don't even read the articles before they spread it across their social feeds and they take no responsibility for it. They seem to have not realized that we are all journalists now, we are all writing for the media for we are all publishers.
For those of us that believe in fake news and want the MSM to be held accountable for its spread of information, are you willing to be held accountable for what you spread? It is called social MEDIA after all so shouldn't we be held somewhat responsible for the glut of nonsense that fills the feeds?
When you share content do you hold yourself accountable for its accuracy? Do you think about how it may affect other readers or, is that the point? Do you share false information on purpose or, information that supports your position without consideration of counter-positions? Are you part of the problem?
This is one of the challenges we face now as we are all relatively empowered to spread the information we come across but do no have to hold ourselves to any of the checks and balances most professionals must. And the power we yield through social proof can be immense and far outstrip the actual reach of the newspapers. Don't you see that we have become their tools? We are both consumer and disseminator of their drivel and we think they are the ones raising the FUD.
No, it is us as we are now the supply and demand function, a closed economy with a monopolized ruler called society and we wield our power with impunity and without remorse. With each stroke, we say we are making the world better but, have you ever taken a step back to look if that is true? Perhaps you are buying into your own fake news.
Where is it leading us, what are we building, what are we creating, what problems are we solving? Shouldn't we all have a pretty good idea?
Taraz
[ a Steemit original ]
A few days ago I was reading and researching about the possibility that we live in a simulation. One of the authors posed three questions, and one of them said: "If we assume that our advanced technological society isn't self-destructive,...."
That was the first time I really started thinking about that idea. Is humanity really self-destructive if it gets enough time? Is that why we will never find extraterrestrial life? Do all societies that might've ever been, ultimately self-destruct? If you look at how we're behaving and how the world has changed over the last hundred years, the thought of that doesn't even sound crazy to me anymore sometimes.
I think that it is a prtty fair bet that we are self-destructive at least from a society level as we tend to keep collecting and creating inequalities until we eat ourselves. Capitalism does it and needs to be reset often but, as technology increases, it gets to a point where the advancement requires massive revolution faster than it can be invented and the system collapses under the pressure. Tie that to the natural and human degradation for profit and it is a recipe for implosion.
As I see it, the only way out is a fundamental shift in thinking yet, we are nearly all too stupid to either see it or, make the changes necessary.
Not necessarily stupid, mostly too greedy. We think the earth is permanent. We feel that because we are the most populous animal on the planet, we will endure. We believe that science will save us and yet, if we look at this assumptions critically, they are all lies.
We see the problem but we do not react because it is not happening in our neighborhood. We see what fossil fuel is doing to the earth's water bodies, what gas emissions is causing the weather and seasons, what the hunt for more land space to do whatever is causing to the trees and forests but it does not concern us as long as it is not in our community.
I feel that to change the way we think, in the process of saving the world, the economic system operating presently has to be abolished. The profit oriented business model has no conscience or love for the earth.
I do not know what alternatives there are that can replace the free market economy but I believe it is something that should make competition and the pursuit of wealth and profit over all else seem redundant. That is how I see it.
Those who share anything they see on the internet on social media platforms have failed their society. It is their duty to confirm what they have read to be the truth before disseminating it as truth. Wars have been fought over false news, families destroyed and the lives of people wasted. One has to be careful what one puts on his or her feed.
This was quite a thought provoking piece. Thank you @tarazkp for making me think.
.....Perhaps you are buying into your own fake news?lololol
Banking systems, not capitalism.
(by banking systems I refer to socialism/central governmnet as well - all the same thing.
Banks want socialism/communism, and it is these same banks that have been pushing for it for the last 200 years...)
my last weeks posts have been about this.....the big picture is an eye opener...
https://steemit.com/blog/@lucylin/russian-revolution-s-and-the-rothchilds-part-1
https://steemit.com/blog/@lucylin/the-american-revolution-what-revolution
To be entirely honest, this is totally natural behavior and if a species doesn't self-correct itself then nature will interfere.
One of the things we tend to forget/dismiss/refuse to even notice is that for the past few decades (around) nature has been looking for the disease which could correct our ever growing population levels and thus also stabilize the planet. Nature often came close, diseases like HIV (unnoticed incubation period) and Ebola (speed of contagion) were almost perfect when observing their lethal nature and most definitely their virality.
But our medical and scientific prowess has so far been able to adapt and win even.
Those diseases weren't accidental, they are the similar to the Black Pest in Middle Age which when looked at neutrally happened mostly in large cities, overpopulated and overcrowded unsafe and massively polluting locations. In other words... a correction.
And so far, the only surviving killer nature still has on its hands... slowly but surely we are winning the fight against. The mere question right now is who is fastest: our science or can the Big C. go more viral and affect ever more as predicted.
TL;DR: the animal species that is humans is self-destructive just like most other species and if it fails at doing such, nature will intervene and correct the situation to maintain the stability of the planet. We all deem ourselves that smart a species that the majority even doesn't recognize we are killing ourselves as a species. Whether that happens with or without technology and progress is pretty much irrelevant.
I think about the future of my grandchildren often. I hope they can find happiness in whatever environment they must occupy. Most of the choices made by society do not consider the impact on the future.
My grandfather once said that those who borrowed from future generations should be put to death. Of course he was correct, but he lived on a much less crowded planet.
And that is what it is isn't it, borrowing time and resources from future generations. Condemning them to a host of issues before they have a chance to have a chance.
The problem is we want a better world, but what we need are better people. We can't have a healthy world with sick people in it.
I agree yet, people spend their time entertaining the mind and avoiding responsibility. That is a sickness in itself.
We are a herd species.
Good thinking (and writing)!
I also wonder what the world would look like if everyone tried to cooperate for the common good for just a while. How do we get there? When there are opposing ideas on what is (common) good... And, as you point out, with small minds hijacking/sabotaging the discourse. Would it be more likely to get everyone onboard if we were facing extinction in the very near future? What would it take for the homo sapiens to give up personal unnecessary luxury for more expedient allocation of resources? Is a common goal possible? And even beneficial? Your questions got me thinking and I liked your post a lot.
So I resteemed it and hope many steemians do so more minds can focus on this and get motivated by the optimism you put between the lines here!
Thanks, it is appreciated.
Yes, Aliens or something would likely reset the process but at some point after, we would be here again. I think that there is a way though and i would be through either awareness or an expansion of our intelligence. With very little exception, the highest thinkers and actors among us all call for community. What would happen if everyone on earth was suddenly awakened with a 200 - 300 IQ? I think that for the most part, people would act much much better and those that didn't, the rest could deal with well. Maybe that pill will be discovered soon, doubt it but, maybe.
When and if I become the president of the United States, I will take care of all these issues..gif)
For real?
we are not guilty we are collaborators of this whole society that we are creating, an uncertain future for our children, that we have been creating little by little and without realizing it, the tide takes us, we are a supporter of values and an improvement and a change to our mentality, we have already realized all this damage that humanity has caused our own home that is our planet earth only to enrich us ... at the end of everything we are simple molds but all united can, improving our conscience taking the message and not tire the road is hard rocky, get up ... for the future of our children, I always say in a tree give life, but with unity ...
You have made so many great points. The world is moving so fast with greater disadvantages, which has not been seriously taken into consideration. I have once upon a time think about the future and what life would become, because we re actually destroying so many important natures just to satisfy our self. Though it wouldn't be so easy to attain equality in life, which i think its going to be far fetch. We just have to keep contributing our best to the society and hope for the best in the future. Thanks for this great article
One of the greatest evils is the foolishness of a good man. For the giving man to withhold helping someone in order to first assure personal fortification is not selfish, but to elude needless self-destruction; martyrdom is only practical when the thought is to die, else a good man faces the consequence of digging a hole fromwhich he cannot escape, and truly helps no one in the long run.
Alas the new paradigm is worse than the old one. All you can do is teach your children the truth, how to think for themselves, and live simply and fairly.
Your article made me think about this video :
You should have a look !Relevant:
This is sad. Especially for the next generation, for they will reap the consequences of today's generation, how not much care is given to nature. We often forget that we, people, cant exist without nature, but nature can exist without us.
I hope there are more things to be optimistic about where life on earth is heading towards to.
That's some dreams and hope which honestly doesn't look possible as long as the human trait of greed and selfishness still exist. These cannot be removed by any algorithm - well, nothing is impossible for I know not what the future holds.
It’s sad to see how easily misinformation is spread. The more sensational news is the more people will believe it. Life being good and people being kind doesn’t make the news so instead people are inundated with violence and fear.
We live in a golden age of dreamers and artists. Yet so many amoung the masses fail to see how politics and bullshit party lines hide truth. Mexico isn’t unsafe, Columbia isn’t coated in cocaine, and Spaniards aren’t lazy! If we look past the headlines we’d learn of compassion in the face of adversity, a beautiful story of a country redeeming itself and a society that is more about happiness than a bank account balance.
Nice photo