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Do you think that someday the world will improve for everyone?
- Thread starter Niatero
- Start date
Niatero
*banned*
Thank you. I'm interested in your ideas about how that might happen, if you have any. There's a thread for that here: For people who think the world will improve for everyone: How do you think that will happen?
Twilight Hue
Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
I think we are already in the process of realizing a Harrison Bergeron future.
I voted No, given that I can't see the things that separate us suddenly disappearing, or the mix that makes it easy for many to exploit us - the easily persuaded 'us' that is. We will probably just head into our extinction as so many other civilisations might have done elsewhere - on Earth and perhaps in other places. 
But then something (like AI perhaps) might eventually re-engineer us to be more sensible and appreciate what we have rather than simply being selfish, fighting over whatever, and in the process, destroying ourselves and much of other life.
But then something (like AI perhaps) might eventually re-engineer us to be more sensible and appreciate what we have rather than simply being selfish, fighting over whatever, and in the process, destroying ourselves and much of other life.
I voted 'no' because I think there are ebbs and flows, and change constantly. While it may improve for some pockets of people, others will lose ground, so to speak. There are also natural disasters, which aren't preventable. We're also looking at very long time spans here. This planet could be inhabitable for another 100 000 years. Given the changes that have occurred in the last 100, that is rather unfathomable.
"Some day" is a long time.
As Mr Murphy says, anything that
can happen will happen eventually.
As Mr Murphy says, anything that
can happen will happen eventually.
Wandering Monk
Well-Known Member
This.
Wandering Monk
Well-Known Member
Look at the major trends globally over the longer term. They are positive.
Let me recommend this site for data on nearly anything of interest: Our World in Data
I don't believe it will improve for everyone, although it largely depends on the Earth itself and whether current trends in industrial development, technological advancement, political enlightenment, and social progress can continue. Up until about 100 years ago, the world was far more predatory, malicious, and aggressive, at least in terms of how the nations of the world interacted with each other. After WW1, many world leaders wanted to change the nature of the world and make it nicer, more just, and into a law-abiding family of nations, as opposed the dog-eat-dog methods of nationalism and imperialism which had dominated world thought for the previous 3-4 centuries - back when aggressive warfare, exploitation/slavery, and wanton violations of human rights were considered the order of the day.
The main idea was that nations should refrain from expansionist ambitions and settle their issues through peaceful negotiation and diplomacy, not through aggressive warfare. This was a bit difficult to justify when called for by nations which had spent the previous century getting wealthy on theft, genocide, and aggressive expansionism (mainly Britain, France, and the U.S.). But hey, it sounded good, so why not do it? We wanted to reinvent ourselves as a bastion of niceness, goodness, and generosity.
That commitment was tested early by the rise of fascism in Europe and East Asia, particularly with Germany and Japan becoming aggressive, malignant powers which went against the West's idea that "from now on, we all play nice with each other." But the West held strong in the belief that they were going to make everyone in the world be nice to each other, even if they have to turn Germany into a bombed-out goat pasture and Japan into a radioactive wasteland. Our commitment to goodness and niceness was unparalleled. We wanted to make the world safe for democracy. As the self-proclaimed leader of the free world, we stood ready to fight against any and all evil forces marshaling against our very good and selfless intentions. The list of countries where US interventionism took place are examples of this process taking place.
Now, it seems that our high-minded ideals we once held are starting to fall by the wayside. We can't afford to be "nice" anymore. We're running out of resources. The consequences of industrialism and other means of improving transportation and food production have started to have serious consequences, such as global warming, deforestation, and other serious environmental concerns - things that were largely unknown back in Woodrow Wilson's and FDR's time.
The ideal was to make the world free and democratic, that everyone would be equal before the law, and that a rising tide would raise all boats and that everyone in the world would have an improved and better quality of life. An improved world would be for everyone everywhere to have a quality of life comparable to that of a middle class family in the West. But if we don't have the resources, or if the environmental impact is too severe, or if there are too many people, or if our NIMBY-infested world is unable to come to any real sense of cooperation and neighborliness, then that will have its own consequences.
joe1776
Well-Known Member
I do not know.
Hermit Philosopher
Selflessly here for you
I don’t know that the worldly circumstance of most people will “improve”. They’ll change, for sure - they are forever doing so.
I think that I hope that attitudes to our circumstances -whatever those may be- improve, though.
Humbly,
Hermit
Wandering Monk
Well-Known Member
The Human Development Index and related indices: what they are and what we can learn from them
Researchers have developed several indices that aim to capture human development. How do they work?
No, because:
- "Improve" depends very much on the needs of the beholder and these differ vastly between different persons.
- While matter and energy are neither created nor destroyed, all changes and transformations involve both gain and loss as a consequence. For something to come to be, something else must be destroyed.
- Following up on that, "improve" (or gain) as understood by various beholders necessarily involves death and destruction.
- Remember, "everyone" means everyone - the two-legs and four-legs and no-legs, the tall standing ones and leafy ones, the winged ones and carapaced ones, the finned and gilled ones, the furry and fanged ones, the land itself, the air and the stars, the stones and the rivers, and all other ones not named.
Sand Dancer
Crazy Cat Lady
I sadly voted no. While technology and things like it are making life better, it's not making humans better. We have gotten lazy, spoiled, greedy and judgemental.
I voted yes but I see life experiences as continually changing from bad to good and from good to bad so everybody in the world will see improvement at some point in their lives but there will never be a time when everyone at the same time sees the world improve. We are too diverse a species to all agree on what improvement is.
Was this supposed to be ironic?
I am guessing the world will remain a pretty f***ed up place, but there are lots of measures that would suggest it's improved over the last 5000 years, so incremental improvements with lots of noise and backsliding seems a reasonable guess.