Has Civilization Peaked?

Is the Matrix correct that we peaked in the late '90s? We can certainly become more technically advanced, as long as society doesn't keep unraveling. But the driving point is, do we even know what human progress looks like anymore, beyond money? And though money and modernization have produced a more prosperous world, is there a cost by focusing so heavily on tech and finance that we're creating an imbalance that does not serve the greater good?

I remember how mature my parents were at a young age, way more than me, and I don't see the same intense focus on priorities in this generation. We're becoming confused with misinformation and emotional bias. Everyone is up in everyone else's business when they should be concerned about getting their own house in order.

We need to figure this out quickly before the problems get out of control and someone hits the reset button.

Do we need a better understanding of 'progress'?

A growing and influential intellectual movement aims to understand why human progress happens – and how to speed it up. Garrison Lovely investigates.

www.bbc.com

 

[psikeyhackr]

Could have been mandatory reading for 40 years. We could have created a culture where everyone was expected to understand accounting. Instead most people hide important information and talk bullshit.

The entire economics profession just forgot to talk about the depreciation of durable consumer goods since Sputnik.

 

[AConcernedCitizen]

I like CIV V better. Just conquered the world again.

Civ V was great, but I thought the addition of districts in Civ VI took it to another level.

 

[Goshin]

The solar system has abundant resources for all. We just need to get to them. SpaceX is trying to do this.

Asteroid mining would be far better than strip mining for car batteries and solar panels.

 

[psikeyhackr]

And since the 90s, hundreds of millions of humans have been lifted out of poverty. Get some perspective.

Thanks entirely to capitalism.

Funny how the capitalists do not advocate mandatory accounting in the schools and ignore the depreciation of durable consumer trash.

Get some perspective on landfills.

Use YouTube to do a search on videos about planned obsolescence. Ask a capitalist economist about the depreciation of durable consumer goods. Adam Smith never saw crap like this.

 

[aociswundumho]

Use YouTube to do a search on videos about planned obsolescence.

I already addressed the myth of "planned obsolescence" and you didn't respond to any of it:

A Question for Liberals: How many of you embrace Socialism?

I'm sure you did. TDS is a real thing. I'm sure you don't mean that, as we both know Trump would mop the floor with you in a debate. Even you? What's so remarkable about you? You think I would stoop to talking to someone who said, "Climate change is a Chinese Hoax!" I am sure I would lose a...

debatepolitics.com

 

[psikeyhackr]

I already addressed the myth of "planned obsolescence" and you didn't respond to any of it:

A Question for Liberals: How many of you embrace Socialism?

I'm sure you did. TDS is a real thing. I'm sure you don't mean that, as we both know Trump would mop the floor with you in a debate. Even you? What's so remarkable about you? You think I would stoop to talking to someone who said, "Climate change is a Chinese Hoax!" I am sure I would lose a...

debatepolitics.com

Some so called myths are too ridiculous to respond to. I have only been involved with electronics since the 70s. Of course cars have been boring since before the Moon landing. What is the annual depreciation on that garbage?

 

[American]

No.

And since the 90s, hundreds of millions of humans have been lifted out of poverty. Get some perspective.

How did that happen?

 

[grip]

[Part 2]

Speak Now or Forever Shut Ur Mouth

The next impending existential threat is big tech and mind control thru targeted and filtered information.

"Increasingly the purpose of technological innovations, whether in the online environment or using big data, artificial intelligence or neuroscience is, precisely, to access and control the inner workings of our minds. That is where the money is. Inferences drawn from huge pools of data about us are used to decide what we are susceptible to. Our minds are a valuable commodity in both the commercial and the political spheres.

When whole communities are deprived of independent thought, it undermines their individual rights to freedom of thought and opinion. But it is not only a threat to the rights of the people who are manipulated. As the world saw with Nazi Germany, it becomes a threat to all our rights.

When propaganda can be automated, curated and targeted to reach billions worldwide for profit, it is an existential threat to humanity and one that none of us can afford to ignore.

The rise of “neuropolitics” and the use of political behavioral psychography in electoral processes around the world is problematic because it undermines the foundations of democracy, no matter who is paying for it or which way you vote.

It’s not just about social media. Technologists have ambitions beyond the screens we stare at and the enthralling devices we have glued to our palms. Elon Musk’s Neuralink has its sights set on nothing less than direct access to our brains.

While freedom of speech can be limited in certain circumstances, the right to freedom of thought is absolute in international human rights law. It means that we have the right to keep our thoughts private, not to be penalized for our thoughts alone, and to keep our inner lives free from manipulation. We can no longer rely on the Supreme Court’s outdated assumption that no one can control the inward workings of our minds. Whether or not the claims are overblown, technology is already trading on its potential to do just that.

It’s not about Elon Musk, it’s about anyone having that kind of access to your mind. Our future should not be built on the best way to monetize the global population and obtain world domination for the few. It must be grounded in what it means to be human, and for that, we must have the freedom to think."

We're Dangerously Close to Giving Big Tech Control Of Our Thoughts

Elon Musk's attempt to acquire Twitter is another step in Big Tech's efforts to control our thoughts, writes Susie Alegre

time.com

 

[Bok Tuklo]

How did that happen?

The removal of regulatory abatis at borders that restricted the free flow of capital, goods, and services. The next explosion in human productivity and the mitigation of overall material human suffering will occur once we do the same for labor.

 

[Exquisitor]

Is the Matrix correct that we peaked in the late '90s? We can certainly become more technically advanced, as long as society doesn't keep unraveling. But the driving point is, do we even know what human progress looks like anymore, beyond money? And though money and modernization have produced a more prosperous world, is there a cost by focusing so heavily on tech and finance that we're creating an imbalance that does not serve the greater good?

I remember how mature my parents were at a young age, way more than me, and I don't see the same intense focus on priorities in this generation. We're becoming confused with misinformation and emotional bias. Everyone is up in everyone else's business when they should be concerned about getting their own house in order.

We need to figure this out quickly before the problems get out of control and someone hits the reset button.

Do we need a better understanding of 'progress'?

A growing and influential intellectual movement aims to understand why human progress happens – and how to speed it up. Garrison Lovely investigates.

www.bbc.com

Yes, the last good year was 1997 and the biggest Kumbh Mela was shortly thereafter, the White Horse began in 2020-2026, 2030.5, it keeps going, that's the thing about the White Horse, it keeps going, not like the red, black and pale horses that come and do their thing. The White represents the purity of the vegetarian cult, the red, the meat-eating cult, depending on where the planet goes.

But there's still lots going on. The second Teacher comes in the next five-hundred years and the Red Horse with the Prophet, one more and the Black Horse precedes the First Avatar, 2,500 Tulsi, 2500 Holy Name, Martyrs Convergence, Closing Avatar rules through several Convergences, the Trumpets described as meteor impacts.

So, in five-million years, the alignment, that's when Christ returns, Daniel 12:6,7 and 9:27. At the alignment, it is too late for any Teacher or Avatar to start any work and the race is left alone with the Antichrist for many millennium. Something else might evolve for that. Why waste five-million years?

 

[Checkerboard Strangler]

If education has peaked then yes.

 

[gboisjo]

We made a big boo-boo when we pinned our whole financial system to endless growth. Growth requires more and more people to be sustained but we have limited resources. Without financial expansion, we risk recession, depression, or even worse.

The system at a certain point should've started to manage away from continuous expansion and transitioned toward balance. But that doesn't allow for as much super wealth, as we see now, and grows the middle class. The uber-wealthy, who can leverage the economy to support their gouging, don't want balance, they want to be greedy without paying the destructive cost.

As the world population increases diseases will become more common IMHO ..nature simply trying to keep us at bay.

In so many ways humanity has become a disease, a plague, destroying everything around us, the air, the water, the land and other living things.

As I key greedy capitalist are staking out claims in the arctic regions for oil and resources ..as our planet grows hotter they care for nothing but profit.

I have zero confidence humanity will prosper in the future, we will self destruct.

 

[gboisjo]

The solar system has abundant resources for all. We just need to get to them. SpaceX is trying to do this.

Asteroid mining would be far better than strip mining for car batteries and solar panels.

Yea, great idea, so we can ruin the rest of the solar system with our relentless appetite for expansion.

 

[grip]

As the world population increases diseases will become more common IMHO ..nature simply trying to keep us at bay.

In so many ways humanity has become a disease, a plague, destroying everything around us, the air, the water, the land and other living things.

As I key greedy capitalist are staking out claims in the arctic regions for oil and resources ..as our planet grows hotter they care for nothing but profit.

I have zero confidence humanity will prosper in the future, we will self destruct.

I sure hope we don't self destruct in my lifetime. Because things certainly seem to be already unraveling. As of late, social disorder is becoming a catalyst for anarchy.

 

[Goshin]

Yea, great idea, so we can ruin the rest of the solar system with our relentless appetite for expansion.

To our current knowledge there is NO life anywhere else in the system.

No natives to exploit. No existing biospheres to pollute.

Just rocks, chemicals and resources that can be exploited.

It is the height of irrationality to compare this to colonialism or say we're going to "ruin" the solar system.

 

[JacksinPA]

Is the Matrix correct that we peaked in the late '90s? We can certainly become more technically advanced, as long as society doesn't keep unraveling. But the driving point is, do we even know what human progress looks like anymore, beyond money? And though money and modernization have produced a more prosperous world, is there a cost by focusing so heavily on tech and finance that we're creating an imbalance that does not serve the greater good?

I remember how mature my parents were at a young age, way more than me, and I don't see the same intense focus on priorities in this generation. We're becoming confused with misinformation and emotional bias. Everyone is up in everyone else's business when they should be concerned about getting their own house in order.

We need to figure this out quickly before the problems get out of control and someone hits the reset button.

Do we need a better understanding of 'progress'?

A growing and influential intellectual movement aims to understand why human progress happens – and how to speed it up. Garrison Lovely investigates.

www.bbc.com

The dinosaurs & other reptiles peaked 65M years ago. Now we see them in museums & the movies.

 

[ataraxia]

Thanks entirely to capitalism.

There are no pure capitalist countries anywhere in the world today- or, for that matter, at any point in history. It's not because they are all too stupid to appreciate the power of pure unregulated and unmitigated capitalism.

 

[ataraxia]

western civilization peaked in the year 1912. Every year after that has seen some kind of degradation. Especially with two devastating world wars, and the social revolutions of the 60's and 70's

Maybe. And Roman civilization peaked around 100 AD. What about it?

 

[gboisjo]

It is the height of irrationality to compare this to colonialism or say we're going to "ruin" the solar system.

That's not true, some of the moons around Jupiter and Saturn are thought have huge oceans where life might very well exist.

At the end of its mission, Galileo lacked the fuel to escape the Jovian system so scientists decided to crash it into Jupiter to avoid contaminating any potential life on Europa.

Scientist are already thinking about the negative effects we could have in our Solar System.

"Just rocks, chemicals and resources", You don't know whats out there, to pretend to is the height of arrogance.

 

[grip]

The dinosaurs & other reptiles peaked 65M years ago. Now we see them in museums & the movies.

Humans have evolved faster, or changed more, in the last 100K years than any other species ever has, as far as I know. But we appear to be at a major pivot point with population expansion and environmental impact.

 

[Exquisitor]

To our current knowledge there is NO life anywhere else in the system.

Not currently, but scientists know Venus had life, because meteors carried bacteria to Earth that scientist can detect.

No natives to exploit. No existing biospheres to pollute.

Just rocks, chemicals and resources that can be exploited.

It is the height of irrationality to compare this to colonialism or say we're going to "ruin" the solar system.

Oh, to have a Moon that was never stepped on, or Mars without contaminated dust, but oh well, the offenders will get their feet cut off and there's no penalty for going to Mars, except that you do that to the dust, and go below it.

To our current knowledge there is NO life anywhere else in the system.

No natives to exploit. No existing biospheres to pollute.

Just rocks, chemicals and resources that can be exploited.

It is the height of irrationality to compare this to colonialism or say we're going to "ruin" the solar system.

No, go ahead, it could all just as well be a dyson sphere.

Trod, trod on them all and then what, convert the stars? Go, as Spaniards with their cross.

As Nagas. To become a Naga you had to go to your Moon. Then when your feet don't fit, if you went more than once and landed in different places, and you always have to swim and tire and call out for the solution and are escorted from the bottom of the Lake of Fire to have your feet cut off over the edge of Creation and bleed to death, presumably to take birth as a snake. The Nagas were a race of cobras. They aimed high, for the celestial headwaters, where somebody blew them up.

 

[aociswundumho]

There are no pure capitalist countries anywhere in the world today- or, for that matter, at any point in history.

True, but whenever capitalism was most "unfettered" living standards rose the fastest - both in America and England. Conversely, the countries which are the most socialist always end up being the poorest.

It's not because they are all too stupid to appreciate the power of pure unregulated and unmitigated capitalism.

You're right, it's not because of they're stupid. It's because government intervention has all kinds of benefits for the state - but little to no benefit for consumers.

 

[Goshin]

That's not true, some of the moons around Jupiter and Saturn are thought have huge oceans where life might very well exist.

At the end of its mission, Galileo lacked the fuel to escape the Jovian system so scientists decided to crash it into Jupiter to avoid contaminating any potential life on Europa.

Scientist are already thinking about the negative effects we could have in our Solar System.

"Just rocks, chemicals and resources", You don't know whats out there, to pretend to is the height of arrogance.

There is no current evidence of life in the solar system. Life somewhere deep under Europa or Ganymede is thought to be possible, but many scientists are skeptical... it would probably be bacteria or simple prokaryotes if there is.

In any case there are damn sure no intelligent natives in the solar system to be exploited, and no biospheres known to exist.

SOME scientists are obsessed with keeping the Moon Mars etc "pristine" for purposes of SCIENCE, but many consider the resources available to be vastly more important to humanity as a whole.

Comparing it to 18th-19th century colonialism, as some do, is simply idiotic. THERE ARE NO NATIVES TO EXPLOIT. There are no pristine forests or snail darters or spotted owls to ruin.

And if we fail to exploit those resources another nation will, while we fall into obscurity.

 

[Goshin]

Not currently, but scientists know Venus had life, because meteors carried bacteria to Earth that scientist can detect.

Oh, to have a Moon that was never stepped on, or Mars without contaminated dust, but oh well, the offenders will get their feet cut off and there's no penalty for going to Mars, except that you do that to the dust, and go below it.

No, go ahead, it could all just as well be a dyson sphere.

Trod, trod on them all and then what, convert the stars? Go, as Spaniards with their cross.

As Nagas. To become a Naga you had to go to your Moon. Then when your feet don't fit, if you went more than once and landed in different places, and you always have to swim and tire and call out for the solution and are escorted from the bottom of the Lake of Fire to have your feet cut off over the edge of Creation and bleed to death, presumably to take birth as a snake. The Nagas were a race of cobras. They aimed high, for the celestial headwaters, where somebody blew them up.

Would you like to make sense or do you prefer to sound like Edgar Allen Poe trying to write on a heavy-opium day?

 

[iguanaman]

Thanks entirely to capitalism.

Yes the Capitalism in China... They have has the fastest growing middle class for decades and GM sell more cars there than in the U.S.

In China today, poverty refers mainly to the rural poor, decades of economic development has reduced urban extreme poverty.[1][2][3] According to the World Bank, more than 850 million Chinese people have been lifted out of extreme poverty

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty_in_China#:~:text=According to the World Bank,purchasing price parity terms,which