Anybody else feel like the world is in decline?

[Lowlander]

One of the biggest collapses and financial crises has lead to six years of excitement for millions of people, however I wouldn't want to live through such a scenario. Maybe you should travel, instead of sitting in your room or just doing your daily routine or whatever it is you do. I agree to a certain extent that the world is going downhill - but it's rather some people that create that feeling, the earth, world, etc. itself can't do much about it eh?

You could also set something on fire during a hot summer day for some excitement, altough it is not recommended. Or, you could just masturbate once in a while.

 

[VeganAtheist]

The world is not collapsing. The world isn't in decline. Relax people...

 

[Lowlander]

The world is not collapsing. The world isn't in decline. Relax people...

I agree, nothing has fallen out of the sky in front of me yet. On an other note: Do you live under a rock?

 

[VeganAtheist]

I agree, nothing has fallen out of the sky in front of me yet. On an other note: Do you live under a rock?

No... but I invite you to go kick rocks.

 

[misfit4life]

I've got to agree. I feel humanity is de-evolving, learning, reading and gaining knowledge are disappearing and being replaced by Google where answers are a click away. Even though we are more connected then ever we are more distant, distracted in our own gadget filled little bubbles ignoring those around us and the real word problems around us.

If people witness a car accident now, more people are likely to pull out their phones and record a video for YouTube rather than help someone who is trapped and/or injured. We are just so self centered...some sort of disaster happens in the USA and it's a national tradgedy that hundreds or people died...an earthquake or tsunami hit a less developed country elsewhere killing tens of thousands and it's barely a blip on the news after a clip of Miley Cyrus twerking. As long as it's not in our backyard...that's the mindset. I'm not hoping for humanity to be wiped out, but we do need something big to open our eyes.

 

[TheSkaFish]

I have to oppose this train of thought. I mean, you don't know what people will invent to solve the problems we have today. There's a lot of smart people in the world who want to solve problems. Sometimes it's for base reasons like money, fame, or a place in the history books, or sometimes it's actually about altruism and a genuine interest in fixing things.

About the news, I just try to avoid it. I don't plan to go to the Middle East, so it doesn't really pertain to me. If you are not in a position to do anything about the stuff you hear on the news, then what good is it doing working yourself up into a panic over it? I've seen it all - germ threats, terrorism, war, politics, the economy, and it's like, what can I do about any of this, it's just making me mad and scared and I'm still exactly where i was before only now I have less time. There's nothing I can do about any of it, I can't really learn from it, I just leave it up to people whose job it is to solve it and I think back to when we were kids and didn't know about any of this and were a lot happier for it.

Anyway, part of the reason my life is a mess is because of thinking this way. I stopped trying in school and in life because I thought screw it, the future is just going to suck anyway so I might as well smoke weed and not try because it's impossible to make money, everything is just going to be too expensive, society will collapse, and everything is messed so there's no point in trying. And it lead to me being miserable now when had I tried hard all along I would have been in a much better position to do even better. Now I have to work that much harder, not because of the economy or gas prices or any of that bullshit, but because I wasted a lot of time having given up on life. I can't advocate this mindset.

 

[VanillaCreme]

I think it is. Socially, it's horrendous. Can't say yay or nay without somebody getting offended. Political correctness is through the roof, and in all the worst ways. Can't disagree with anyone without someone crying about something. Too many panties get twisted simply because someone disagreed with them. And what gets me the most is that too many people think they can be offended for someone else.

 

[LonelySutton]

I think it is in decline

Technology: almost nothing works right anymore. I am shopping for a washer / dryer... and seriously... there isn't one I can find that doesn't have bad reviews. I truly think soon... very soon... things are going to start failing. Just because we won't have the ability to apply facts and science. The people who could... they are dying.

Medicine: We haven't cured anything in years. Most of the "cures" are just lies. Slides of statistics to make it appear progress was made. We are so dull and stupid that we continue to try to use old technology ... as if that technology made the magic. Vaccines for everything. And when they don't work... we scratch our heads and coo like apes and lie about the problems.

Socally: first, disaster, discarding rules of etiquette -- there is no common set of expectations. second, disaster, womens lib or the version that came out. Sexual liberation just confused everyone and gave men very little reason to marry or if they do marry, stay monogamous. They encouraged women to go to work and all that did was double the workforce so now jobs are hard to get and pay less. Great. Now both people work and come home exhausted and stressed. Someplace around the 1960s it became in vogue to be tricky and a sneaky person and now you can't trust anyone and everyone is always trying to cheat you or use you.

School: they encouraged everyone to get educated... and now.. since everyone is educated, it means nothing. Degrees are worthless since everyone has a few. Getting educated was valuable before because not everyone was educated. The solution... getting rid of about 1/2 of the schools out there and reducing class size.

Law: is a garbled mess. Those in charge no longer have brilliant minds... but are chosen for political reasons... (or otherwise) precedent was a good idea but it doesn't mean that you follow blindly FOREVER. But no one has the guts to ever say "this is stupid". Frankly I am not sure there are any brilliant minds left to make good decisions.

 

[lonelydoc]

You have summed it up well lonelysutton.

See the point I'm making to people here is this: if it is true that population can't expand forever, if it is true that we live on a finite planet with finite resources, why can't we be hitting the limits now?

You see, many people will say, sure there are limits but they're far out into the future. Humans are very clever, and we will invent new technologies and get better at using things. We will dig underwater, we will build nuclear fusion plants and mine stuff from the moon. Only our great-great-grandchildren will have to concern themselves with a ruined planet, so the best course of action is to do as much as possible to make a billion dollars.

And what nobody admits is this: we are hitting the limits now! This is it folks, this is peak. Right now, you and me, in the year 2014 in the early part of the 21st century, are experiencing peak humanity on this third rock from the sun. It isn't getting any better than this; not now, not 20 years from now, not a 100, not a 1000, not a million. Your kids are not going to be quadrillionaires who live endlessly on magic pills on a peaceful planet.

This may be depressing but should it be? Regardless of what happens, you as an individual and I as an individual are going to die anyway, like all generations before us. Might as well be honest.

We are in decline already and face ongoing decline marching forward. Let us stoically and joyfully decline.

 

[Limlim]

Socally: first, disaster, discarding rules of etiquette -- there is no common set of expectations. second, disaster, womens lib or the version that came out. Sexual liberation just confused everyone and gave men very little reason to marry or if they do marry, stay monogamous. They encouraged women to go to work and all that did was double the workforce so now jobs are hard to get and pay less. Great. Now both people work and come home exhausted and stressed. Someplace around the 1960s it became in vogue to be tricky and a sneaky person and now you can't trust anyone and everyone is always trying to cheat you or use you.

In terms of employment, its more of a chicken and egg issue. Women initially started working en masse to make ammunition and mortar shells during the world wars because all of the men left to go fight. After that the biggest factor was to supplement household income because people were finding it was getting more and more difficult to support a single income household with the growing disparity between workers and management. So you could argue in this case that women going to work was the remedy or attempted fix to the problem rather than the cause.

Not to mention its great to look back at those times with rose tinted glasses, but was it really okay to only allow one type of job for half of the population? Yes one of the unintended side effects is that it now makes it more difficult for a family to have a dedicated homemaker, and it would be nice if you could still have that option without having to tighten the belt to the point of starvation. But lets not fool ourselves into thinking every woman out there was the happy housewife who wanted nothing more than to raise screaming brats all day.

When I was 25 years old, around the time when my parents retired, my mom confided in me that her entire life she had wished she was born a man. Not out of any transgenderal identity issues, but because she had wanted to live the life of one back during her time when there were no other options for women. I would never have thought this of her growing up, and it made me think that a lot of women just "sucked it up" when they were given their lot in life.

School: they encouraged everyone to get educated... and now.. since everyone is educated, it means nothing. Degrees are worthless since everyone has a few. Getting educated was valuable before because not everyone was educated. The solution... getting rid of about 1/2 of the schools out there and reducing class size.

Even though education doesn't have the same financial value as it did back in the day when only a few of the elite had access to it. I still think that having a highly educated society as a whole is a good thing. It's the first step in getting people out of the "Sheeple" mentality and using their knowledge for possible advancement of society. Even if it only happens in small subtle ways that we aren't able to see without having access to the bigger picture.

That said as well, when someone says "wouldn't it be nice if only a few people were educated" is usually said with the clause or assumption "And of course I would be one of them!" That doesn't really work out that great for everyone else who also would like a valued skillset does it? I mean, of course it would be great if you were one of the lucky few who had access to the money that would allow one to get educated, and simultaneously being part of a group of elite that were the only ones allowed to be admitted to the university. While we're at it, I'd also like to be one of the few that was born with millions of dollars in a trust fund so I could spend my days drinking mojitos on a yacht.

 

[LonelySutton]

And what nobody admits is this: we are hitting the limits now! This is it folks, this is peak. Right now, you and me, in the year 2014 in the early part of the 21st century, are experiencing peak humanity on this third rock from the sun. It isn't getting any better than this; not now, not 20 years from now, not a 100, not a 1000, not a million. Your kids are not going to be quadrillionaires who live endlessly on magic pills on a peaceful planet.

Agreed. One of the worst parts it that people refuse to accept it and take action. As I have mentioned I think the sad fact is that some bad things are required to keep population control in effect. World wars, sickness... etc.. and make life liveable for most people. And we haven't had those in a long time. That doesn't mean that we institute concentration camps but we may have to start instituting policies to deal with the situation.

but was it really okay to only allow one type of job for half of the population?

It was never illegal for women to work but it became encouraged for women to work. And this was a major boon for tax revenue. It should be encouraged that parents stay home if they can. This would assist in stabilizing the job market. Because of the inflation that happened a lot of couples now can't afford not to work. The government should help them for the good of us all.

I still think that having a highly educated society as a whole is a good thing.

There is something wrong there though.. people aren't smart, they aren't able to even do what they are supposed to... good managers; smart lawyers; so it seems to me like the are a TON of diploma factories that are signing people up to get "degrees" and getting federal funding for it, and they get a "degree" but are just as dull as the day they went in, but now, can apply for a job that they probably shouldn't have. There is a middle ground between only the elite go to school, and making reasonable cut offs to keep the profession strong.

There are these law blogs now called "scam" blogs. Where they make the obvious case that in 2000 to 2010 like 35 schools opened and allowed anyone in. Now there are too many lawyers out there for job and we are all suffering. Many people who shouldn't be allowed into the profession are now there taking jobs.

The powers that be continue to say, oh these schools are needed, living in a fantasy world. When all the evidence is that jobs are going away.

If you could get into law school easy, wouldn't you? Then you drop 150K on the school and you can't just say 'oh this profession doesn't work for me' - your trapped. If you should have been a plumber it is unlikely you will fix the mistake. So we have bad plumbers and too many lawyers.

 

[Limlim]

I'm all for encouraging people to stay home to take care of their children. But the other side of that coin was that you were also outright shunned if you didn't abide by this encouragement. A happy middle ground would be to just tell people to do what it is they wanted to do one way or another, then not make judgement at all on those choices.

If after that everyone still chooses to go to work instead of staying at home? What else is there to do aside from going to shunning territory?

As far as your concerns on education go, I do agree that there are a lot of "degree" mills out there. It's probably why its such an important thing to a lot of people these days that they not only have a degree, but have one from a reputable school that isn't known to be a degree mill. Why do you think people who graduate from MIT get the good jobs while those from Bobs community tech college do not?

 

[johnny196775]

Carbon monoxide must stop being produced or we are screwed. We are screwed.

 

[LonelySutton]

Why do you think people who graduate from MIT get the good jobs while those from Bobs community tech college do not?

At a certain point though they all start to run together. There are tons of mid-level degrees that no one can make an sense out of. The proliferation makes it so every applicant in the pool has what the job needs -- so how to you distinguish among 300 applicants all with degrees from mid-level schools. It is impossible to really choose.

I have an advanced degree and it used to be considered something of value. But now everyone has that same degree... so it is almost useless. It is from a top school. I would say that just 10 years ago it used to give me like a 25 point advantage on the field. Now just like a 2 point advantage. When you see a lot of something... it becomes not as great a value, even if from a top school.

Not to mention that there are schools that allow people to get degrees that allow them to open up their own business and that allows them to take business away from more legitimate people in the same field.

What else is there to do aside from going to shunning territory?

Shunning is just never going to go away. As if I am not shunned at work for choosing to remain single. Human beings are judgmental.