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DividedQuantum
Outer Head


Registered: 12/06/13
Posts: 9,819
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Technology and daily life 1
#23745671 - 10/17/16 01:51 PM (7 years, 3 months ago) |
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Technology gives us comfort and convenience in our daily lives, but not, seemingly, lasting happiness. We adopt it and it becomes ho-hum. Looking at history, people in, say, the 1950's appear to have been happier than most are now, given economic and political circumstances. They had no cell-phones or computers, no microwave ovens, no flat-screen tv's, etc. We tend to be biased toward our own age, thinking the past could not possibly have been better. Well, it appears we have more suffering and misery today than at any point in our nation's history. Technology hasn't saved us from that.
I'm not arguing against technology at all; I have many uses for it, and, as it is a force unto itself, it will continue to develop whether anyone likes it or not.
I'm just curious as to whether anyone feels otherwise. As I pointed out, there are many indicators that Americans are not very happy (but I can't speak for the rest of the world). And we're deluged with technology. So, is it really more than a matter of comfort and convenience? Or am I wrong and it does create genuine, lasting happiness?
-------------------- Vi Veri Universum Vivus Vici
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redgreenvines
irregular verb


Registered: 04/08/04
Posts: 37,539
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I have to say that the eureka moment of creating the right technology for a problem, or of finding the right tech solution when you need one is more on the happiness side.
Acquisition of tech or anything for the sake of show or to keep up with the Joneses however is empty of satisfaction.
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zzripz
Stranger


Registered: 12/23/08
Posts: 8,292
Loc: Manchester, UK
Last seen: 4 years, 7 months
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I was watching this video that really was good, concise. But I linked it twice here and then deleted it because the 'answer' the videomakers gace I did not agree with and it totally undermined pre-that. it promoted idealism as an alternative to materialism. But this is not what your asking
I agree with the video that technology is a diversion/distraction away from what we have lost, and what really matter, which is a naturally deeper connection with others, including other species, and the whole natural world
Just go out now and take a look at how many people are mesmerized by the little plastic rectangle in their hand!
Only today, I was walking up one of the most wonderful magical lanes. it's near where I live. it is in a park surrounded by insane roads and insane traffic and sirens, manic manic frantic rush
So he is coming down with two dogs all full of life, and he is not into the amazing lane, the sunlight coming through the trees, the sound of wildlife. He is transfixed on his cellphone
I am seeing it all the time. Women with prams, kids, etc etc
it is this culture pushing pushing via mass media that UNLESS you have technology, and possessions and especially are rich you cannot be really happy
EVERYTHING is propaganda for that, coming at us from all angles, including the accepted explanation of reality, that we are robots with no freewill, living in an insentient world whose only purpose is to consume and produce consume and produce
So the question we must ask ourselves really honestly is this: are you bored with nature, with others, with yourself? it MUST be an honest inquiry. This is not meaning give up your computer.
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sudly
Darwin's stagger


Registered: 01/05/15
Posts: 10,810
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I think most people simply take technology for granted.
Seeing as the average life span a century ago was around 30 and it's now near 80, I have nothing but gratitude for technology. I don't think that technologies are inherently bad or problematic, take GMO's for example, I think they have a great potential for solving hunger issues and improving crop yield but the management behind the technology is often tainted by bureaucratic corruption that puts an agenda behind new technologies, e.g. Patenting GMO seeds for profit.
I would say satisfaction comes with how an individual decides to use technology, people may not be satisfied if memes are all they get from it but in the scientific fields technology can be used as a godsend for data collection.
-------------------- I am whatever Darwin needs me to be.
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Jokeshopbeard
Humble Student

Registered: 11/30/11
Posts: 26,088
Loc: Deep in the system
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Re: Technology and daily life [Re: sudly] 2
#23749708 - 10/18/16 06:04 PM (7 years, 3 months ago) |
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I think you hit the fucking nail on the head with your OP, DQ.
Personally, I'd forego the lot of it in exchange for IRL community being what it once was, or could be, but alas; it seems that is not what destiny has in store for us...
-------------------- Let it be seen that you are nothing. And in knowing that you are nothing... there is nothing to lose, there is nothing to gain. What can happen to you? Something can happen to the body, but it will either heal or it won't. What's the big deal? Let life knock you to bits. Let life take you apart. Let life destroy you. It will only destroy what you are not. --Jac O'keeffe
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DividedQuantum
Outer Head


Registered: 12/06/13
Posts: 9,819
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Quote:
Jokeshopbeard said: Personally, I'd forego the lot of it in exchange for IRL community being what it once was, or could be, but alas; it seems that is not what destiny has in store for us...
Indeed not.
-------------------- Vi Veri Universum Vivus Vici
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Jokeshopbeard
Humble Student

Registered: 11/30/11
Posts: 26,088
Loc: Deep in the system
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Quote:
DividedQuantum said: Indeed not. 
Let's loot and burn things in retaliation for the fact that our culture focuses on only the most superficial aspects of being alive.
I'm off to go kick a television and burn a newspaper...
-------------------- Let it be seen that you are nothing. And in knowing that you are nothing... there is nothing to lose, there is nothing to gain. What can happen to you? Something can happen to the body, but it will either heal or it won't. What's the big deal? Let life knock you to bits. Let life take you apart. Let life destroy you. It will only destroy what you are not. --Jac O'keeffe
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DividedQuantum
Outer Head


Registered: 12/06/13
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Let's send a brick through a Starbucks window
-------------------- Vi Veri Universum Vivus Vici
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Jokeshopbeard
Humble Student

Registered: 11/30/11
Posts: 26,088
Loc: Deep in the system
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Let's take a vote on the note; I'll throw the brick - I've enjoyed a few clashes with 'the man' in my life.. including taking a beating with a baton one time for being 'peaceful'...
Should the note say;
1. Fuck you scumbaggiest scumfuckholes of society, you're singlehandedly destroying the human race 2. We surrender, my lords 3. What channel is Breaking Bad on? It's the best thing I've ever seen..
-------------------- Let it be seen that you are nothing. And in knowing that you are nothing... there is nothing to lose, there is nothing to gain. What can happen to you? Something can happen to the body, but it will either heal or it won't. What's the big deal? Let life knock you to bits. Let life take you apart. Let life destroy you. It will only destroy what you are not. --Jac O'keeffe
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DividedQuantum
Outer Head


Registered: 12/06/13
Posts: 9,819
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I want to go with 1, but when there's a tank and swat team on my front lawn I may switch to 2.
-------------------- Vi Veri Universum Vivus Vici
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Jokeshopbeard
Humble Student

Registered: 11/30/11
Posts: 26,088
Loc: Deep in the system
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Going down betwixt a hail of bullets from SMG's and tank rounds is my all time #2 way to exit this life. Bring the cunts on, I say...
-------------------- Let it be seen that you are nothing. And in knowing that you are nothing... there is nothing to lose, there is nothing to gain. What can happen to you? Something can happen to the body, but it will either heal or it won't. What's the big deal? Let life knock you to bits. Let life take you apart. Let life destroy you. It will only destroy what you are not. --Jac O'keeffe
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DividedQuantum
Outer Head


Registered: 12/06/13
Posts: 9,819
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What's #1?
-------------------- Vi Veri Universum Vivus Vici
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Jokeshopbeard
Humble Student

Registered: 11/30/11
Posts: 26,088
Loc: Deep in the system
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Death by motorbike. Only hours ago I was doing 170mph+. I hope I get that pleasure, but the man would rather I died worn out, used up, and brainwashed. Fuck that cunt.
-------------------- Let it be seen that you are nothing. And in knowing that you are nothing... there is nothing to lose, there is nothing to gain. What can happen to you? Something can happen to the body, but it will either heal or it won't. What's the big deal? Let life knock you to bits. Let life take you apart. Let life destroy you. It will only destroy what you are not. --Jac O'keeffe
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DividedQuantum
Outer Head


Registered: 12/06/13
Posts: 9,819
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You have balls, sir. Where in greater London can you get going that fast on a motorcycle? Jesus, I hope a squirrel doesn't cross the road on you.
-------------------- Vi Veri Universum Vivus Vici
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Jokeshopbeard
Humble Student

Registered: 11/30/11
Posts: 26,088
Loc: Deep in the system
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Well my good sir, 'twould rather not say sir, for 'twas perhaps imaginary. Although one would be correct in assuming such things being possible within the boundaries of Greater London would be only the folly of a fool, a madman, or a fairy.
My wings doth glitter.
-------------------- Let it be seen that you are nothing. And in knowing that you are nothing... there is nothing to lose, there is nothing to gain. What can happen to you? Something can happen to the body, but it will either heal or it won't. What's the big deal? Let life knock you to bits. Let life take you apart. Let life destroy you. It will only destroy what you are not. --Jac O'keeffe
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DividedQuantum
Outer Head


Registered: 12/06/13
Posts: 9,819
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Your bike must have a chain of gold, a headlamp of diamonds and a brake light of rubies!
-------------------- Vi Veri Universum Vivus Vici
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Jokeshopbeard
Humble Student

Registered: 11/30/11
Posts: 26,088
Loc: Deep in the system
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Thine chain be the colour of rubies, my good sir:
-------------------- Let it be seen that you are nothing. And in knowing that you are nothing... there is nothing to lose, there is nothing to gain. What can happen to you? Something can happen to the body, but it will either heal or it won't. What's the big deal? Let life knock you to bits. Let life take you apart. Let life destroy you. It will only destroy what you are not. --Jac O'keeffe
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DividedQuantum
Outer Head


Registered: 12/06/13
Posts: 9,819
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-------------------- Vi Veri Universum Vivus Vici
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blingbling
what you chicken stew?

Registered: 09/04/10
Posts: 2,987
Last seen: 3 years, 2 months
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Quote:
DividedQuantum said: Technology gives us comfort and convenience in our daily lives, but not, seemingly, lasting happiness. We adopt it and it becomes ho-hum. Looking at history, people in, say, the 1950's appear to have been happier than most are now, given economic and political circumstances. They had no cell-phones or computers, no microwave ovens, no flat-screen tv's, etc. We tend to be biased toward our own age, thinking the past could not possibly have been better. Well, it appears we have more suffering and misery today than at any point in our nation's history. Technology hasn't saved us from that.
I'm not arguing against technology at all; I have many uses for it, and, as it is a force unto itself, it will continue to develop whether anyone likes it or not.
I'm just curious as to whether anyone feels otherwise. As I pointed out, there are many indicators that Americans are not very happy (but I can't speak for the rest of the world). And we're deluged with technology. So, is it really more than a matter of comfort and convenience? Or am I wrong and it does create genuine, lasting happiness?
My opinion is that although we have advanced economically and morally, we are on a psycho-spiritual decline. A few hundred years ago the thought that life is unfulfilling or meaningless was pretty much unthinkable. The power of God was present in all things, we were the centre of the universe in this sense. Now things have changed and we find ourselves in an abyss of time and space which human made meanings cannot find a place in.
I think most people are trying to return to the good times whether through religion, identification with a tribe/group/society, a return to "natural living" whatever that means etc. Technological advancement has also taken on some quasi-religious overtones fuelled by a belief in "progress" which along with money is the new secular religion.
I believe we should attempt to become true atheists and condemn ourselves to radical alienation from society, the earth, the universe, anything we attempt to project our own importance onto. I see no other way to stay truthful to oneself.
-------------------- Kupo said: let's fuel the robots with psilocybin. cez said: everyone should smoke dmt for religion. dustinthewind13 said: euthanasia and prostitution should be legal and located in the same building. White Beard said: if you see the buddha on the road, rape him, then kill him. then rape him again.
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redgreenvines
irregular verb


Registered: 04/08/04
Posts: 37,539
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Re: Technology and daily life [Re: blingbling]
#23751189 - 10/19/16 05:44 AM (7 years, 3 months ago) |
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I get it, you are the leader of true atheism!
wait a minute, do we need an atheist leader? also, how do you know that in the past, religion actually filled any void in peoples' lives at all. More likely it was just more oppression and mindfuckery that people spent their time struggling to understand. some of the trappings and candlelight felt homey and secure - some stories and poetry combined with ritual, food, and holidays begins to look like culture.
still lots of emptiness in it.
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Edited by redgreenvines (10/19/16 07:01 AM)
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