Lately I've been thinking about and researching this topic, and I found it relates to all kinds of things like politics, economy, environment etc. and basically all of the world's problems. I think everyone should take a look at this (http://www.futureofhumanity.org/We%20are%20not%20Stupid.htm), as it tries to identify the bigger picture instead of a bunch of the smaller issues. It's a fairly long read, and there's still so much more to it here (http://www.futureofhumanity.org/).

I know most of you could really care less, as I've been watching this site for quite some time now, but it is still very interesting and if you care about your future and/or your children's future, I suggest looking into it.

basically all of the world's problems


Why not look at the future of humanity by researching the things that are going really well?

CHEER THE FUCK UP :mad:

:)

Why not look at the future of humanity by researching the things that are going really well?

CHEER THE FUCK UP :mad:

:)

Murder, rape, war, torture, religion and government are going really well.

Murder, rape, war, torture, religion and government are going really well.

Yeah, you gotta love 'em.

So we are not stupid—just misinformed, poorly led, and caught up in a materialism-worshiping culture of consumerism and shallowness.
http://www.futureofhumanity.org/We%20are%20not%20Stupid.htm

39 years after the moon landing economists with PhDs can't figure out planned obsolescence is going on in the automobile industry. That is rich! There have been 200,000,000+ cars in the US since 1995. That means at least $300,000,000,000 in depreciation every year which economists say nothing about. That's FOUR TRILLION DOLLARS since 1995. How much for all of the other cars in the world?

But it isn't really the money that matters that just happens to be what most people think in. How much pollution was created in the process of manufacturing all of the cars that have been thrown on the junk heap since 1995? When do the climatologists mention such things.

DT

Why not look at the future of humanity by researching the things that are going really well?

CHEER THE FUCK UP :mad:

:)

I am not depressed or pissed off in anyway, believe me, I do enjoy many things presently in my life. This is just something I think we should take into consideration because those things that "are going really well" or things that we enjoy could eventually not exist and/or be irrelevant because all of these problems may significantly effect our lives and become extremely overwhelming.

Murder, rape, war, torture, religion and government are going really well.

But! On the positive side of things, you can still get your daily lulz by reading about the Adventures of Brittany Spears and Paris Hilton.

We all know how this story ends, we will all die.

Sometimes I like to think it's my responsibility to carry some of the weight of the heavy, sad and pathetic world. The rest of the time I'm busy enough constructing my own future. +Evens out well-

I can't find it but there is aTOTSE textfile that takes an optimist viewpoint towards space exploration

I found
http://futurefoundation.org/programs/nty_overview.htm

and

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2000/dec/29/sciencefictionfantasyandhorror.arthurcclarke

though.

Sometimes I like to think it's my responsibility to carry some of the weight of the heavy, sad and pathetic world. The rest of the time I'm busy enough constructing my own future. +Evens out well-

QFT, seriously.

OP, I saw the Oil Peak stuff for a few years now....


We certainly haven’t been told that our serious problems with overpopulation, resource losses, pollution, soil depletion, loss of fresh water, and global warming are parts of one large and serious long-term global trend, the industrial world’s (inadvertent) assault on the biosphere.

I'm learning that in environmental science in college now.

Read 1984 and Brave New World. It will be a combination of that and you can already start to see some examples in today's world of people behaving like the citizens of those books.

Read 1984 and Brave New World. It will be a combination of that and you can already start to see some examples in today's world of people behaving like the citizens of those books.

Meh. While I think BNW sucked a lot harder both of those books were exercises in paranoia and dramatic oversimplification. In 1984, people were either entirely oblivious to how things worked, actively promoting restricted thought and conformity and letting patriotism override their empathy for fellow human beings, angry but too ignorant and naive to do really do anything about it, or a 'lol ima crush ur soul' one dimensional caricature. In Brave New World, everyone was either a ditzy drugged up retard, another 'crush ur soul' caricature, or really keen on being a martyr for the ideals of close relationships and thinking about shit.

In the real world, most people consider themselves victims of a hostile society, whether it's religious fundamentalists complaining about permissiveness in society or the old people complaining about the decline of books as a popular media (ie. authors of 1984 and BNW). People like to think the world is in crisis and they're the ones who know how to fix it. They form groups of like minded people and reinforce their opinions, or just sit around thinking they're the only ones who know what's up. They take it for granted that the change bearing down on us is hostile, and that the world would be a better place if only their theories are put into practice.

The whole world isn't really something you can sum up in a series of concise and well structured concepts. The people who think their concepts accurately describe it are delusional, and given any effort it would be possible to find many historical examples where their structures fail to accurately describe the forces at work. Obviously there are some ideas that fit better than others, and I tend to think that the ones that make less generous claims and allow for detail and external factors that don't fit into a neat package are more effective. To say that, for instance, the industrial revolution was entirely the product of available capital, or that every conflict in human history boils down to a narrow class conflict, is just naive. The problem is that when they see these ideas and accept them, people get a feeling of understanding and identity. They feel like they have to know, that they have to have an opinion, because the focus isn't on the quality of their opinion. What matters is that it constructs an aspect of their identity.

For the most part, people just focus on living their lives and bring that stuff up when it's convenient to do so. It's been shown that, when the population at large is allowed to vote without physically appearing at the polls, the percentage of people who actually end up voting drops dramatically. What people care about isn't improving their understanding of the world, but finding their place socially. It matters more in their day to day lives, and so there's inevitably a stronger motivation.

None of that is a real problem though. People still know what they like and what a shitty situation feels like. If our ideas and habit of thinking too much but not enough get us into trouble, our instincts should be able to correct and modify it, like they usually do.