Apropos of little importance

Years ago, around the time of our first grandchildren, I remember feeling a bit jealous. They would have the things I imagined the future would hold for them like no wars, no starvation, disease conquered, the climate finally controlled, the realization that people of a different color weren’t really that different.

All in all a utopia if you will, I actually thought that mankind’s native intelligence would prevail.

I was so wrong!

Events of the last twenty years or so have led me to the conclusion that we are in a downward spiral with civilization, as we have known it since Neanderthal times, doomed to collapse.

As I look upon the world’s journey through time I just don’t see our present course as sustainable.

Why did this happen? How did this happen?

Mankind’s greed won out over its intelligence.

Oh well, maybe we’ll do better next time

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ferraridriver

As I look upon the world’s journey through time I just don’t see our present course as sustainable.

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It's never been sustainable, Dave...The only thing that never changes is change, and not always for the good...:run:...Ben

Dave, it sounds as though we have been having the same thoughts and disappointments.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ferraridriver

Years ago, around the time of our first grandchildren, I remember feeling a bit jealous. They would have the things I imagined the future would hold for them like no wars, no starvation, disease conquered, the climate finally controlled, the realization that people of a different color weren’t really that different.

All in all a utopia if you will, I actually thought that mankind’s native intelligence would prevail.

I was so wrong!

Events of the last twenty years or so have led me to the conclusion that we are in a downward spiral with the end of civilization, as we have known it since Neanderthal times, doomed to collapse.

As I look upon the world’s journey through time I just don’t see our present course as sustainable.

Why did this happen? How did this happen?

Mankind’s greed won out over its intelligence.

Oh well, maybe we’ll do better next time

---

I hear ya man.

With respect, I think you may just need some perspective.

In the Middle Ages, a man was usually dead by age 50. Women, due to childbirth and uncontrolled pregnancies, got used up quicker - 40 was old for them. Wars were constant. Lives were nasty, brutish and short. People lived in filth. Mortality among children was about 50%. People often did not even name their children before age 2 because they were waiting to see if they would live. Girls began childbearing at age 15 and were often used through marriage to bring some sort of order to a chaotic society without strong central government. If you were the wrong religion, you were likely killed. Famine was common - a hailstorm at the wrong time could mean an entire village died. The water was unsafe, so everyone drank fermented beverages. It is estimated that just about everyone went around half in the bag. Murder was so common it often went unremarked. Simple things like a bladder infection meant death. Peter the Great died of treatment for bladder infection - a tapered device called a gorget was inserted into his urinary tract from tip of his penis, then rotated to clear blockage. Four pounds of urine were removed but the bladder became gangrenous and he died. Such was the medical profession at the time. Life ran at 5 MPH - the normal pace of a horse and cart. People often never left 5 miles from where they were born. Letters took months to reach a recipient. You might not know someone had died until a year after they were gone.

In contrast, we treat at home wounds that might have killed our ancestors. We communicate instantly. We drive ourselves on good roads, distances only imagined by most in early times, taking much less time in transit. We eat good food, we sleep on good beds, we are clean, even the least educated among us would be looked on with admiration back then. Literacy is almost universal. Women no longer commonly die in childbirth. Children are expected to grow up straight and healthy. There are vaccines for diseases such as small pox, which killed millions and is now almost eradicated. Bubonic plague killed nearly half the world in the Middle Ages, with bodies putrefying in the street. Now, you get a shot and you live. We choose who will lead us instead of leaving that to heredity and chance, and we expect them to listen and respond to our needs, and vote them out when they don't. More people have equal rights in our society - justice is more even.

You get the picture.

These are good times. We have problems but I am confident that the youth of today will be up to the task, as we were in our turn.

God bless all.

https://www.britannica.com/list/7-sc...al-instruments

Second one down is a gorget. It was shoved up your schwanstucke, then rotated, the sharp edges cleaning off the interior of the urinary tract.

I'm with Kevin, I think we are in a down turn now but people will increasing reject what is happening and eventually pull out of this. Tomorrow--no, but at some point in the future---precisely because this downward spiral isn't sustainable.

Also, as Kevin points out everything in our lives is not going the wrong way. My Grandchildren have educational opportunities never afforded to me. Think of all the things that seem to be threatening our way of life and in most cases we know how to cure them---we only are missing the will.

Yes, I agree we have made tremendous strides in all fields. There is a name for the rate of advancement in the digital world, can’t recall it.
It begs the question Do all fields advance at an exponential rate? I suspect most do but in any case they are certainly advancing.

Where does it all lead to?

Inequality: Inequality of wealth, access to health services, access to good nutrition, education, all of it.

Where does inequality historically lead to?

Chaos, Revolution, Warfare

I remember reading about a paper someone had written about a new weapon of such effectiveness that it surly would put an end to warfare as they knew it.

It was the crossbow!

With worldwide social networking, you notice in the news about riots in the most underdeveloped third world countries everyone seems to have a cell phone, a worldwide revolution is not that farfetched.

The next revolution, war, whatever is not going to be what we’re used to.

I know it sounds grim but all things come to an end, isn’t that how our universe came into being, a great collapse then a great expansion?

I figure I have about 30 more years on the big blue marble and I plan to enjoy it to the fullest.... if revolutions break out I'll buy/commandeer a sailboat and disappear.

Well I certainly don't have 30 years but I'm not ready to give it up just yet.

I just don't feel good about what's going to happen in the next short term.

I'm just kinda sad because I believe we, as a race, could have done better.

Hopefully Kevin's right and the next several generations will figure it out.