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Old 12-02-2012, 04:31 AM
 
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In general I think things are getting better. Violence is decreasing. We haven't had any recent world wars. Thanks to ever increasingly easy access to information, people are becoming more open to different peoples and ideas. Technology has definitely made life more comfortable and safer. Compare the average working conditions of a hundred years ago to today. Now we have time to actually be bored, and complain about it. On the other hand, life seems to be getting more complicated and stressful. It's hard to unplug and unwind. People are obsessed with pop culture, which itself is becoming more intrusive thanks to technology.

Regarding morality, well that one is tricky. First, it's subjective. Second, I think overall morality is probably no different than it's ever been. There have been some brutal periods in history ruled by selfishness and greed for power, at the expense of others. Well look only to our own govt for that happening today. Our military is a tool of those in power to be used to secure blood money for their interests and contracts. To keep money flowing here. To keep our power exerted upon other nations against their will. And our youth are killed in all this. This is a supreme immortality in modern times.

But despite all that I do think overall things are better. Some things suck of course, and there's always room for improvement.
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Old 12-02-2012, 05:08 AM
 
Location: Logan Township, Minnesota
15,501 posts, read 17,023,829 times
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Today I was in the Salvation Army Thrift Store in Jamestown. Went over to the Book section and found a 1934 public school text book titled "Art Stories-Book one" the first few sentences read

Quote:
One summer day Frank and Mary were playing in their yard. All at once the rain began to come down. The children ran to the house. after a while Mother said, "That was just a shower. The sun is shining now. Let us go for a walk."
I wonder how many children in today's 6th grade would be able to comprehend the book. Or even show interest in reading it? It is 141 pages. The preface of the book reads

Quote:
Art Stories, Book One is the first-grade unit of a group of books devoted to the appreciation of art.
(bolding by me)

I bought it because I remembered reading it in 1946.

I would say education in the USA has declined. This just may be a sign things are getting worse. We have more technology but very lax education. We have been building a generation that is functionally illiterate, but with access to technology that staggers the imagination.
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Old 12-02-2012, 03:02 PM
 
Location: On the "Left Coast", somewhere in "the Land of Fruits & Nuts"
8,854 posts, read 10,430,759 times
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Good points, and Technology is obviously where the world is headed at virtually every level, which requires constant learning just to keep pace.

Also seems to be no accident that the folks with the least skills and training (and who are unwilling to upgrade), are often the ones who complain the most about "illegals", which BTW, are increasingly dominating the low-end of the labor market.

So arguably education, or more accurately, attitudes re: education and continuous learning, are becoming the difference between the haves and the have-nots.
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Old 12-02-2012, 03:14 PM
 
Location: Logan Township, Minnesota
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mateo45 View Post
Good points, and Technology is obviously where the world is headed at virtually every level, which requires constant learning just to keep pace.

Also seems to be no accident that the folks with the least skills and training (and who are unwilling to upgrade), are often the ones who complain the most about "illegals", which BTW, are increasingly dominating the low-end of the labor market.

So arguably education, or more accurately, attitudes re: education and continuous learning, are becoming the difference between the haves and the have-nots.
Makes sense. If I am understanding you correctly, we have become more of a swim or sink world. The education is out there, but the individual needs to have the self determination to go after it. Those that do swim get the floating apples those that don't swim sink to bottom and complain about the swimmers getting all the apples.
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Old 12-02-2012, 06:37 PM
 
Location: Land of Free Johnson-Weld-2016
6,470 posts, read 16,359,217 times
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I think for Westerners/Europeans, the world may be getting better. That's because I am mostly familiar w/ the history of Western Europe and am somewhat of a Medieval history buff.

I'm currently reading a book about knighthood, the badly drawn pictures of killing and sieges are really disturbing. More-so are photos of the weapons. They're totally barbaric, and I can't imagine killing someone w/ those things. A gunshot seems a little less gruesome.

As far as slavery or serfdom (gotten rid of for Europeans for the most part, except the Eastern European gangs and the prozzies), hygiene and wealth, I think life is super great for the majority of Europe. There's a lot less violence and people are relatively wealthy.

So Things are Better in General for Western Europeans

1. Better Health
2. No slavery/serfdom/Indentured servitude.
3. Less violent lives.

Life's a lot suckier for at least the following groups:
1. Blacks or black-like people of African descent. Lands stolen and natural resources (animals, metals etc) killed or taken from the countries. Blacks by historic accounts in the new world were resistant to a lot of diseases, but recently the blacks in general have a lot of horrible epidemics: Ebola, HIV etc. No more salt/slave trade so health/wealth are worse.

2. Aboriginal peoples - Native Americans, the aboriginals in Australia, Latin America and the Caribbean are poorer, probably sadder and in some cases wiped off of the earth. Those who remain had almost all of their things stolen from them, including land. Their lands and animals are pretty much killed/polluted nowadays. So worse for these guys.

For Everyone, I think as far as the environment goes, it is a thousand times worse.

1. Oxygen - I may be a nutter, but I think you need a certain number of trees per person to make oxygen and clean the air...don't you? I don't understand how we are going to survive w/ the way we're cutting down trees and plants to put up housing. Maybe we are going to survive, but not function as well...who knows?

2. Clean water - There is no clean water in the natural state in an increasing number of places in the world. We do have ways of purifying water, and a lot of people who can afford it do drink purified water. Somehow, I still feel this is a problem.
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Old 12-02-2012, 07:44 PM
 
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Everything that I have ever experienced in life eventually degrades and deteriorates. I might hear someone driving a twenty year old car stubbornly say the car drives like a new one but no one seriously believes that. And then sometimes it is just the world of the particular person that is temporarily getting better.

If I look back over the years I have lived, I would say, there's no way in heck the world is improving for the human species. My family and I have actively worked to reduce the amount of crime that surrounds us yet we have suffered more serious crime in recent years that ever before in our lives. We continue to be dumbfounded how anyone could be so insulated, or just stubborn, that they think the world in general is getting better.

Sometimes I think discussions like these are like two business people getting on an elevator in the morning. The first, suffering from newly diagnosed prostrate or breast cancer, says "Well how are you today?" The second person replies "Oh, just fine" although they have a splitting migraine thinking about the parking ticket they expect to find on their windshield after work from the only parking space they could find near a fire hydrant that morning.

Philosophy is a good category for this subject as it is extremely subjective.
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Old 12-03-2012, 07:14 AM
 
Location: On the "Left Coast", somewhere in "the Land of Fruits & Nuts"
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Why is the glass always half-empty for some, while half-full for others? Or as kinkytoes points out, life in some places has improved dramatically, while other parts of the world seem mired in misery.

So perhaps the real question is why do certain people and areas (both globally and locally) seem to succeed, while others remain stuck in negative behaviors, values and attitudes.... and why do they stay there?

Of Moderns, Traditionals and Cultural Creatives
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Old 12-03-2012, 07:56 AM
 
Location: Victoria TX
42,579 posts, read 86,764,762 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Woodrow LI View Post
Makes sense. If I am understanding you correctly, we have become more of a swim or sink world. The education is out there, but the individual needs to have the self determination to go after it. Those that do swim get the floating apples those that don't swim sink to bottom and complain about the swimmers getting all the apples.
The thread question is, Is the world getting better? So, is this the way it SHOULD be? In view of this evolving phenomenon, what should be the goal of society? To reward the swimmers at the expense of the sinkers, or to enable even the sinkers to experience the benefits of societal advancement?
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Old 12-03-2012, 09:10 AM
 
Location: Logan Township, Minnesota
15,501 posts, read 17,023,829 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jtur88 View Post
The thread question is, Is the world getting better? So, is this the way it SHOULD be? In view of this evolving phenomenon, what should be the goal of society? To reward the swimmers at the expense of the sinkers, or to enable even the sinkers to experience the benefits of societal advancement?
Society does have a responsibility to help those that can not help themselves. So I guess the measurement we can use would be is the life of the most impoverished today better or worse than the impoverished in the past. In the US it seems to be better. But, there are areas of the world were people live in conditions worse than 50 years ago.

If this is the way it should be, will depend on each person's perspective. It seems that what is better for one group is worse for another. Typically when one group gains another looses.

I do not think we can come up with a definition for a better world or better life that all would agree upon.

I like the simplicity of life I lived 50 plus years ago, in some ways I see that as a better time. But at the same time I remember friends that died in childhood from diseases like polio and influenza.

As wish-washy as it sounds my conclusion is both. We are better in some aspects and worse in others.
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Old 12-03-2012, 10:29 AM
 
Location: Ontario, Canada
31,374 posts, read 20,091,717 times
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Better for those in the first and developing worlds - worse, or the same - for those in third world, or war-torn countries.

I don't think we'll see significant, world-wide improvement until we drop some of our insular, nationalistic thinking and embrace the fact that we are one people, inhabiting one world. We need to take care of each other and we need to take care of the planet.
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