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DividedQuantum
Outer Head


Registered: 12/06/13
Posts: 9,819
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Re: Technology and daily life [Re: blingbling]
#23751470 - 10/19/16 09:27 AM (7 years, 3 months ago) |
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blingbling said:
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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 agree in very large measure with this. We are indeed at a psychospiritual low point, there can be no doubt of that. I actually just finished a biography of Thomas Jefferson, and two hundred years ago, in America at least, people were clearly happier and more fulfilled, much more, than today. They were more religious on balance, and I do not know if that was the key factor. But their lives were clearly more meaningful to them. That and people seemed to be smarter back then. Their writing was much more intelligent than anything one sees today.
People are lost. We are broken and lonely and longing to have some sort of meaning in our lives. Gadgets and stuff fill that vacuum, but how hollow is that? Progress/technology and money, you could definitely say, are the pillars of the modern secular religion.
Excellent points on your part.
-------------------- Vi Veri Universum Vivus Vici
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redgreenvines
irregular verb


Registered: 04/08/04
Posts: 37,539
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lower than what? (the good old days were not that good you know just more dusty and crude)
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DividedQuantum
Outer Head


Registered: 12/06/13
Posts: 9,819
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I agree that there were never any golden ages, but imho, having looked at history over time, it would seem that at no point in the past were humans as desensitized, generally unhappy, zombie-like, distracted, or spiritually unfulfilled as we are right now. That's only my opinion, of course.
-------------------- 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: I agree that there were never any golden ages, but imho, having looked at history over time, it would seem that at no point in the past were humans as desensitized, generally unhappy, zombie-like, distracted, or spiritually unfulfilled as we are right now. That's only my opinion, of course.
Mine too. It strikes me that superficiality is rotting the core of our species; something I doubt was ever as much of an option, or pushed agenda, throughout history as it is now.
-------------------- 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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Good point.
-------------------- Vi Veri Universum Vivus Vici
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blingbling
what you chicken stew?

Registered: 09/04/10
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Last seen: 3 years, 2 months
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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.
I know because people wrote stuff down that was analysed by historians, philosophers etc. And I read their books. Check out A Secular Age by Charles Taylor. Its a massive book, but definitely worth reading.
And of course there was oppression. But people didn't really see it that way. They were more worried about what the right way to get to heaven was, not whether there even is a heaven or a God or a meaning to life. If you asked someone back then whether they thought life could lack meaning they would probably just stare at you blankly. The idea that life could lack meaning was not really thinkable the way it is today. That is a massive cultural shift.
What you need to realise is that oppression is a problem. But its not the problem outlined in the OP. We are actually less oppressed than in any other time in history as far as we know.
-------------------- 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.
Edited by blingbling (10/19/16 09:50 PM)
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zzripz
Stranger


Registered: 12/23/08
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Re: Technology and daily life [Re: blingbling]
#23754041 - 10/20/16 05:54 AM (7 years, 3 months ago) |
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And of course there was oppression. But people didn't really see it that way.
oh, is that so? And you know this because you read this was not the case? Oppressed people didn't feel it. LOL
Orwell eat ya heart out!
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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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Re: Technology and daily life [Re: zzripz]
#23756024 - 10/20/16 08:22 PM (7 years, 3 months ago) |
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zzripz said:
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And of course there was oppression. But people didn't really see it that way.
oh, is that so? And you know this because you read this was not the case? Oppressed people didn't feel it. LOL
Orwell eat ya heart out! 
People felt oppressed, yes. But all oppression was the will of God and if one did not stray from the path they would be rewarded with everlasting life. So, there was a silver lining to oppression that no longer exists.
And don't get me started on Orwell. The guy was clueless. He thought that somehow love could break through the power structures of oppression. What he failed to realise was that love is most often the source of oppression. Love of nation, religion, tribe etc. He was just as bad as the communists he so vehemently condemned. .
-------------------- 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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