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Post by juju on Aug 8, 2014 13:20:16 GMT
I was thinking about some comments on facebook recently (sorry Miisa ) about whether the world has become a scarier place recently. To me it feels that it is - the economic and political situation in so many countries is unstable, there seems to be more fighting than ever, the divide between rich and poor is growing ever wider (I seem to be reading that 'the pitchforks are out' a lot recently), we seem to be losing our freedoms and there's a rise in far right and other extremist groups. And that's before we even get to 'natural' threats like climate change, bees dying, antibiotic resistance and ebola. Or were this many threats always there but we are just getting more information about them than we ever did before?
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Post by tangent on Aug 8, 2014 13:35:48 GMT
In the 60s and 70s, there was only one big thing to be afraid of, nuclear annihilation but now there are many smaller worries. I think the fact that we many many different things makes us more afraid. There is something to feed every person's anxiety. We may conquer one fear only to realise there are plenty more just round the corner.
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Post by Miisa on Aug 8, 2014 14:36:49 GMT
The press here have just exploded over the Russia imposing trade sanctions on some stuff, it is a serious blow for several companies and industries. If the decide to no let planes fly over it is essentially the end of Finnair (a big part of its market is transporting people from Europe to the far East).
Generally Russia is the bogeyman right now here and it's like living next to an irritable bear, frankly.
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Post by ProdigalAlan on Aug 8, 2014 14:59:29 GMT
I would honestly say that it is no more scarier than it ever was.
I recall that 50 years ago in the UK there was no shortage of people screaming that "the end was nigh" for a variety of reasons.
The Roman Catholic Church was going to undermine the traditional way of life. The permissive society was going to undermine the traditional way of life. The influx of black migrants was going to undermine the traditional way of life. Equal rights for women was going to undermine the traditional way of life.
Western democracy was endangered from: Khrushchev Cannabis The Beatles The Rolling Stones The contraceptive pill The bomb The blacks The Pope Mods Rockers Hippies Germaine Greer Timothy Leary The trades unions Enoch Powell The Common Market Fascism Communism
And of course
The Jews
There has never been a famine when it comes to paranoia.
That is not to say that the world does not face real difficulties and dangers, nor should we be complacent, but 'twas ever thus and ever will be.
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Post by juju on Aug 8, 2014 15:57:37 GMT
That's funny - I've just come off the phone with my mum, who was telling me how much safer and better things were in the 50s and 60s!
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Yuki
Senior members
Posts: 632
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Post by Yuki on Aug 8, 2014 18:01:33 GMT
I think our problems will necessarily grow larger and larger as our technology gets better. Technology overall has both constructive and destructive potentials, and they go hand in hand most often. It's our pre-programmed survival instincts manifested in such things as love, bonding, curiosity, etc, that make us favor construction over destruction. Sometimes these survival instincts go awry and become destructive, usually through some form of cultural programming (ideology). As for your statement about war and fighting, I think it's the exact opposite. We are living in the most peaceful era in human History, according to many reports (here's an article about the subject). It's probably also the greatest era in terms of prosperity and scientific and technological progress. Of course that doesn't negate the fact that we are in danger of destroying ourselves in this century. A few nuclear bombs in the hands of some crazy terrorists (ISIS are more like strategic and clever terrorists though, despite their excessive cruelty), or a scientific experiment on some new virus or bacteria gone wrong, and we're all gone, or at least reduced to a more primitive state of civilization.
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Yuki
Senior members
Posts: 632
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Post by Yuki on Aug 8, 2014 18:41:01 GMT
the divide between rich and poor is growing ever wider Also global wealth itself is increasing. I think that that's a natural reaction to what Carl Sagan, Michio Kaku, and others considered as a the process of transition towards a type I civilization. Many ideologies that mostly felt secure under conditions of isolation, are now feeling threatened as the world is becoming more interconnected, and science and rationality are gaining ground. I think that's the case most often. Also, as Stephen J. Gould noted, there's an asymmetry of effect between bad and good occurrences. Here's a passage from his article " A thousand acts of kindness":
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Post by Moose on Aug 8, 2014 20:10:48 GMT
I think people always have a tendency to look back at the 'good old days' and see only the positive things about them. If you believed the commentators on the DM website you'd be forced to conclude that modern society was impossibly evil but that back in the forties there was no crime, no teenage pregnancy, no domestic violence and children were polite and respectful to their elders. That's bunk, frankly. I do not believe that PEOPLE are any better or worse now than they have ever been. I do, however, agree that the things that threaten us in this day and age are probably more frightening and potentially dangerous than in any other period of history (the Cold War years excepted)
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