Is the World Getting Better or Worse? I think the Future is Bright
Is the world getting better or getting worse?
There seems to be a general feeling that it's getting worse. We all read the news and see how politics has divided us more than ever, how it's all become tribal and isn't even about any actual policies but is just about beating the other side. All our officials seem to be corrupt and serve the wealthy, creating policy that takes money from us and gives it to them, making them obscenely rich, and that wealth puts them above the law so they can basically do anything they want with no consequence. And, well, I could go on and on.
All of this has given us the feeling of walking on eggshells, like anything we do could set off the people around us, and we are all afraid to even look at the news anymore for fear of what we will see. I'd wager the number of people doing "news-fasts" has increased dramatically over the past few years.
Absolutely it feels like things are getting worse. But are they? But is it really getting worse?
I think the idea that the past was better is not only common but has always been common. Most traditional folklore speaks of a Golden Age that occurred many lifetimes ago and how society has been falling since. In Europe the Middle Ages emphasized this feeling, due to the perception that technology was lost when Rome fell. Never mind that many medievalists scholars tell us that the middle ages weren't nearly as backwards as Hollywood shows us and were actually a time of great progress, the common feeling is still that it was a time of darkness when we had fallen from the Golden Age of Rome and Greece. A lot of people feel like we still haven't recovered from that perceived fall, which is just ridiculous, but that shows you the power of this narrative.
It's not just in the West. In Buddhism we say that we are living in the fourth kalpa, kalpas being huge spans of time (4.32 billion years). The first kalpa was a Golden Age and things go downhill with each kalpa until the universe ends in destruction and is restarted at the end of the fourth kalpa. The fourth one which we are in is said to me a time of moral decay when war, crime, and plague all spread and increase.
This idea that the past was better is even infused into modern popular literature. Lord of the Rings may be the most popular of these. In the LotR cosmology, the first age was a Golden Age and our current 3rd age is a far decline from the greatness of that period. Men are not as tall, their span of years is less, the world is more marred and less beautiful, things are gradually fading and will continue to do so until a massive Ragnarök (or Armageddon) event called Dagor Dagorath that destroys the world.
Many other stories in media contain this same theme, this idea that the past was better and that we are falling towards the end times. There are some stories that buck this trend and paint an optimistic future such as Star Trek, but this is far from most.
Was the past really better? There is reason to be doubtful. Just a few generations ago there was much more child death. Smallpox, polio. Even diabetes, which we now take as at most an inconvenience, was a death sentence before the discovery of insulin. One of my favorite poets, Shiki, died of tuberculosis (TB) when he was 35. TB also was a death sentence only one hundred years ago. Today it is easily cured.
In other ways as well. The excesses of capitalism today may cause a lot of pain and suffering, but they pale in comparison to the misery of life under feudalism. There are many articles floating around today about how back in the medieval Europe they had more days off than we do today. That may be true, but they needed those days off because the days they worked were so backbreakingly awful. The people in power weren't stupid, and the system was built to give so many days off to avoid a revolt or revolution. Even with those days off, peoples' bodies just couldn't deal with all the stress and they gave out far sooner than ours do today. The average life span we see of 30 years during the middle ages isn't exactly accurate as the average was pulled down by the incredible number of child deaths, but even so, people who did survive childhood didn't make it much past 50.
The further you go back the worse health becomes and the worse treatment of the lower classes (which were the vast majority of the people; so if you were around then you would have been in this group) becomes.
No, I think that as bad as things seem today, they are much much better than at any previous point in history. And they are getting better, as hard as that may be to believe.
We were talking about this in The Mancave the other day and I was glad to see @raymondspeaks agreed with me about it.
Things seem so bad today because we have the internet and social media. Now social media does have a whole lot of problems, don't get me wrong, but overall these two things have made us much more aware of what is going on in the world. Whereas before the corruption of our leaders was hidden from us, today we can see it all and know every detail. The fact that we still seem powerless to prevent the corruption and bad behavior is disheartening, but the fact that we can now know about it is an amazing development. In the past this behavior was hidden. It might have been whispered about, but the truth wasn't clear. Now it is.
We can't fix things when we don't know about them. As long as things are in shadow and hidden, we are powerless to do anything about them. But once they come to light, it is only a matter of time before we as a people correct the problem. This correction might not be painless and it probably won't come within our lifetimes, but it is inevitable.
We still have many challenges ahead. Deep Fake technology is going to soon make it so that even video will become untrustworthy. Within the next ten years political parties will start playing video where their opponents "say" horrible horrible things which will be complete lies, all thanks to deepfake technology. But I think we will figure out a way to overcome these challenges and we will continue to move in a positive direction.
What do you think? Am I off my rocker, blinded by optimism, completely wrong? Is the world really sinking into a cesspool of moral decay? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.
(title graphic made by me in Photoshop using this photo by Daniel Reche from Pixabay)
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David LaSpina is an American photographer and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku. |
I don't think you are off your rocker. I guess it depends what parameters you are using to decide 'better'. Things are certainly getting faster and hotter - in many ways, I can totally see how we are in that fourth kalpa! But we've always thought the world is ending, you are right - we are hard wired to the negative, so as to protect ourselves as best can. Now we just have more and more reason to focus on it because media is forcing our eyes that way.
We might have longer life spans, but whether or not that's a good thing is also up for debate. Sometimes I'd rather be dead at 50 than to endure the shit show that seems to be around us - but then, I go outside and into nature and the world is stunning and beautiful. How lucky are we to be alive? How lucky is it that all our ancestors survived war and pestilence and all the other things to befall each age, so that somehow we were born?
So true! Nature heals all. When I go out in it for awhile, everything is better.
The world is getting better and worst. Yes both because there were times in the past that improves today like technology that made the life more easy. But there were also things that made the world worst like the attitude of the people, how people aim for more money without thinking others, natural disasters and lifestyle diseases.
I think people have always aimed for money money without thinking of others. If anything, I'd say cheating and scamming is better today, not necessarily because people are better, but because we have more government protection against it.
But yeah, natural disasters may be getting worse due to climate change.
I think it's subjective...in some ways better and other ways not. Time will tell...we'll be dead when it pays out though I think.
Yeah, I think that's probably very true. You and I will be long gone before we see the results of the massive changes of this era, be them ultimately good or bad.
I'd like to, see them I mean, but I think the results of what humanity is doing will take a little longer to eventuate...it's beginning to show though.
I have the feeling that as humans lost the connection to the earth by moving to cities and NOT farming and being less one with the earth and the surroundings and life in general, that is that chasm that has grown. There is a pining for the simplicity that that life seems to present but to anyone who has lived it they know it is the farthest thing from easy. Surround yourself with the city and it is far to easy to forget about living life without amenities. This is a general theme throughout most of humanity and a key divide.
Yes, and your post makes me wonder if there's a direct correlation between the exponetial increasing reliance upon technology to the lessening of whatever ancestral knowledge / magic that ancient man is losing.
I do think that social media has a lot to do with it. Not that social media is pure evil, but just the fact that it makes every so front and center for everyone. I think a lot of this idea that the past was better has to do with who you are as well. I often think that the 60's and 70's would have been an awesome time to be alive. Perhaps even 80's with the advent of technology and computers. I wish I could have been a little older when all of that was taking place. However, would I feel the same if I were a woman? Or I were a black man? Times were definitely harder for them even today. I do feel this is a tougher world to bring kids into than it was in the past. I think there are more ambiguous threats to them. The hope is that parents can see that and equip them to face those challenges. Sadly, I think a lot of parents are failing in that respect.
I have your same thought. Economically it certainly would have been better. I mean there was Vietnam and the draft and then there was the gas embargo, but otherwise the Baby Boom generation was given a lot of opportunity that our generation doesn't have and has never had.
But yeah, women and minorities didn't have it so well. Blacks still don't have it well. Isn't it crazy that we still have towns in America (a few I can think of in Indiana too!) that are unashamed to say they are sunset towns? That's absolutely nuts.
Sadly they are all over. It's crazy how empowered they have become these days. I guess it's a good thing though, at least this way you know where they stand. In the past they could have been closet racists and you may have never known.
Excellent piece of writing, and a fabulous, positive message! Kudos! 💜
Thank you 😃
During Covid, everyone said it's a bad thing (which is very true), but some good things also came out of it, like nature rediscovering itself because there were no humans around, and we got to appreciate things/life/family more. It just depends on how you look at things.
The world is ever changing and I think we just have to try find the best within
ever changing is not the same as moving. The world is ever moving and so we are also meant to be. Moving in harmony & rhythm to it.
Change, as we know it today, is not conducive to the movement of man and nature achieving greater synchronicity.
That's very true. Even the worst of times have good aspects. I very much enjoyed the quiet and less busy aspect of COVID.
Heh, it's funny. Your article irked me on certain points which I objectively cannot agree with you on but the overall moral to your post is far greater than today's reality.
My cynical side beckons me to plaintitively debate several statements made, but what's the point? The overall message and key points (internet saturation / digitlization globally = bad) I respect & support.
I will however, provide one refutation which I wholeheartedly accept at fact.
The Revelation of the Method. And I'll quote Michael Hoffman who coined the term, to rebut:
The eternal war between forces of dark and light are not natural but I believe that humanity's threatened by accepting it's subjugation to states of eternal war as an accepted fact of human civilization. The first march onwards into battle for mankind is for man himself and his overcoming of the enemy within.
Waiting for an eventual see-sawing back into light upon the pretence of it being eventual is no different than our Enlightened Oppressors waiting for us to eventually slide down into abyssal purgatory, forever.
I end on a hearty note from Michael again:
Bless!
It's an interesting point. I've heard a similar rebuttal that says the time when information becomes more free and less in the shadows is historically right before a dynasty or an empire falls.
I choose to be optimistic and look at the possibilities of good, but one can certainly look at it the other way and make a good case for their viewpoint.
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I think there’s a lot to be excited about and looking forward to. There’s a lot to say about how the enemies in the media want to constantly push stressful and depressing agendas and themes to keep people angry and fighting. When people aren’t in those mindsets they come together and improve things. That doesn’t jive well with the need to sell war, fear and hate to people.
I would like to think their agendas of hate and fear are coming to a corner where they are far less effective which is a very good thing!
The fear porn and FUD is corona 2.0 in my opinion. Always selling the fear.