Cheer up. We live in the future.

[finnegan]

Most of the population of the world lives as though we’re in a post apocalyptic dystopia.

Cheers to the future

Incorrect. There are now more people in the middle class than in poverty.
https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/middle-class-poverty-economics-business-a8567191.html

 

[Deleted member 220895]

TS forgot the OG

 

[ScarfaceJr]

 

[Dan O]

These so called technological advances are leading us to our demise. We need to preserve our natural resources and go back to our native roots. Colonizers will need to return native lands back to native people to achieve this, and we can all go back to a sustainable way of life and ensure a future for generations to come. But if we carry om with this greedy western way of life we might not even make it to the end of the century.

What is the statute of limitations on “colonizers” in comparison to “natives”?

For instance if one tribe of XX defeated another neighboring tribe through war or attrition and took their lands by force, but they’re of the same race, is that “colonization”?

Is the only real definition of “native” those peoples that were born and raised in the immediate area you’re arguing over?

And how long does a civilization need to inhabit an area to be considered “native”.

Not trying to be a twat. Just curious to know your opinion

 

[NZbetterthanOZ]

There is no statute of limitations. If you are a descendent of colonizers and still directly benefit from atrocities of your people then you will never be a native unless you go back to your country of origin.

 

[Aegon Spengler]

Incorrect. There are now more people in the middle class than in poverty.
https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/middle-class-poverty-economics-business-a8567191.html

This is a really broad definition. They are classifying “middle class” as anyone who spends 11 to 100 dollars per day. There is a extreme lifestyle difference between those numbers. Over half the people they classify as “middle class” don’t even have access to a toilet.

If you’re resorting to shitting on the street I’m not gonna count you in the middle class, personally.

 

[LockardTheGOAT]

I tend to think we live in the Matrix (or something similar.)

 

[phoenixikki]

Yet, nobody knows how a smartphone really works.

 

[Phlog]

Do you think china and africa would be fucking shit up with out western influence?

Yes.

The industrial revolution had to happen somewhere and sometime, just happened to happen in Scotland/England/western Europe first.

Success breeds advantage. Every powerful nation acts the same way it's a natural state of being.

Woe to the vanquished.

 

[GordoBarraBJJ]

Well wake me we have realistic hot robots.

 

[is normal]

I, for one, look forward to my job cleaning elite jizz from sexbots

 

[moreorless87]

Yes.

The industrial revolution had to happen somewhere and sometime, just happened to happen in Scotland/England/western Europe first.

Success breeds advantage. Every powerful nation acts the same way it's a natural state of being.

Woe to the vanquished.

Ask yourself as well would the removal of people of European backgrounds lead to a reversion away from industrial society? I mean theres never been a significant European population in China yet we see their position today, technology will naturally spread and a post industrial position really needs to be what it says, a society that's moved though industrialisation.

Even beyond that influence as well New Zealand is surely a case study in the damage less advanced civilisations can do to an environment, about half the deforestation their happened prior to European contact as did the extinction of most of the megafauna.

 

[GtehMVP]

Get this fine piece of plastic's proportions

to behave, and look, even remotely close to Joi in Blade Runner

and we have the true future

 

[ufcfan4]

Agreed.

There are certainly causes for concern like climate change, species extinction at an alarming rate, social media and internet bubbles tearing our societies apart, the ever present threat of nuclear weapons, the potential for AI to go horribly wrong, etc etc etc...

But ultimately, in terms of human society on average, there's never been a better time to be alive. Generally speaking, humans live longer, happier, healthier, easier, safer lives than ever before. You're less likely to be murdered or die in a war than in any other time in history. The life of the average citizen in a modern democracy is more luxurious than the lives of Kings from only a few hundred years ago.

Technology is improving at a mind boggling pace. There are things we take for granted today that would be indistinguishable from magic only a hundred years ago (the internet, smart phones, video games, bionic limbs... The list is almost endless).

I have no idea if humanity will save itself from the impending doom it's facing on many fronts, but I'm fairly optimistic that our technology will so radically change our societies in the next few decades that we'll be able to sort our shit out.

Hopefully the super intelligent AI we create will be benevolent, and take control of this mess, leaving us to focus on trying to expand our populations to multiple planets.

You basically highlight the themes that Steven Pinker, noted neuroscientist, emphasizes in his book Enlightenment Now. Haven't read it yet, but I've heard from many that it's good. His whole point basically is that you can see a lot of positive trends over the past few centuries- overall decreases in human violence, rise in standard of living across the board, lessening of poverty.

As you said, there's still many causes for concern and we can't take anything for granted, but Pinker's message seems to be that things are getting better in a way that seems to fail to get much attention.

 

[My2Cents]

Realistic fuckable ass sex toys

Whatever happens humanity is getting fucked in the ass one way or the other..

 

[all caps]

I appreciate your optimism and positivity @finnegan ! We definitely need some of that around here IMO

 

[INTERL0PER]

You basically highlight the themes that Steven Pinker, noted neuroscientist, emphasizes in his book Enlightenment Now. Haven't read it yet, but I've heard from many that it's good. His whole point basically is that you can see a lot of positive trends over the past few centuries- overall decreases in human violence, rise in standard of living across the board, lessening of poverty.

As you said, there's still many causes for concern and we can't take anything for granted, but Pinker's message seems to be that things are getting better in a way that seems to fail to get much attention.

I think this is partly due to the "if it bleeds, it leads" mentality of the news media. Positive news stories don't tend to drum up as much response as stories promoting fear, discord, etc. so the fact that the world is objectively better for most of humanity than it has ever been (and is improving insanely fast) doesn't really get a lot of play. It's easier to captivate audiences with stories of government scandal, war, poverty, disease, climate change etc. I don't even blame the news for this, btw. It's just a natural reaction. Our fear response is a lot stronger than our "everything is fine" response, for fairly obvious evolutionary reasons. We're quite rightly more worried about things going wrong, than going right.

And things most definitely are, on the whole, going right.

Basically, if you're reading this, then I assume you have a phone/pc with internet connection, which implies you have a house, electricity, running water, food in the fridge, a car or at least access to transportation, and all the other modern amenities we take for granted. If that is the case, you're already living a "better" life than most of human society ever dreamed. 150 years ago, your life would seem like some fantastical science fiction.

I'm a middle class white guy in an extraordinarily safe democracy, living on an island nation with a temperate climate with all the 21st century benefits that anyone could want. It basically has never been better than that. It's something I actively try to remind myself of all time. Perspective is important.

 

[HwoarangStyle]

These so called technological advances are leading us to our demise. We need to preserve our natural resources and go back to our native roots. Colonizers will need to return native lands back to native people to achieve this, and we can all go back to a sustainable way of life and ensure a future for generations to come. But if we carry om with this greedy western way of life we might not even make it to the end of the century.

or kill half the people thanos style