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None of these are physical things. They are just feelings and thoughts
What happens when there is a power outage and the Supermarket closes? Or when the gas pumps are off? COMPLETE CHAOS.
That's the point. We are now nothing without our phone. This information you describe is edited and spun to a specific perspective (Wikipedia). Are you aware of the saying "The more we learn, the less we know"? There is now more misinformation and radicalism than ever. We might know more surface information but going into depth and more importantly knowing how to apply the knowledge is decreasing.
being less violent isn't a physical thing? are you for real? you are part of the problem in this country, wake up. Besides, thoughts and feelings give rise to physical actions, they come first.
who said the only place to get information is wikipedia? again, are you for real?
electricity has been around a long time, if it randomly shut off anytime in the last 50-70 years we would have been toast. We've also been dependent on fossil fuels for a long time as well. the whole developed world is in the same boat, this isn't just an American thing.
Less violent? USA is fighting two wars overseas. Do you see what's occurring in Ukraine, Venezuela, Syria?
You sound like someone without a passport. Get one, get out there and see the World. But you have to turn off Xbox first
violent crime has been steadily declining in this country for the past few decades. I'm not talking about overseas wars. Also keep in mind that most American's don't support our presence in the middle east.
What's happening in Ukraine and co. is a good thing. Temporary violence is sometimes a necessity, and I also wasn't referring to those struggles for independence when I mentioned America is less violent than it used to be.
I like to think of myself of a guarded optimist, but I'm really struggling for the silver lining these days. Granted, the ills of our times may seem more acute where I live, but I can't help but think we're a slowly sinking ship of a nation, that the great American experiment is winding to a close. And, no, I am not some curmudgeonly Rush Limbaugh disciple.
Not a day goes by that I don't notice some manifestation of general ignorance including:
--how to calculate a tip
--how to read a street map
--how to address a senior citizen
--how to use any hand tool
--how to cook
--evolution
--religious history
--the cosmos
--basic nutrition
--basic ecology
--the concept of credit and/or savings
--written expression (in any language)
--geography
--subject-verb agreement
--I should stop now
First, none of these have anything to do with 'societal collapse'.
Second, ignorance of these things by a substantial number of people has always been evident.
Third, it appears you are largely confusing change for degradation.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bideshi
I think "mutated" is more accurate. Evolution suggests progress.
No, it doesn't, though people ignorant of evolution often think this is so.
[quote=stormy skies;33639090]I like to think of myself of a guarded optimist, but I'm really struggling for the silver lining these days. Granted, the ills of our times may seem more acute where I live, but I can't help but think we're a slowly sinking ship of a nation, that the great American experiment is winding to a close. And, no, I am not some curmudgeonly Rush Limbaugh disciple.
Not a day goes by that I don't notice some manifestation of general ignorance including:
Quote:
Originally Posted by stormy skies
--how to calculate a tip
I don't calculate tips, I tip based on service.
Quote:
Originally Posted by stormy skies
--how to read a street map
I remember a study over 40 years ago that bemoaned the fact that about a third of the population was too illiterate to read a bus schedule.
Quote:
Originally Posted by stormy skies
--how to address a senior citizen
By name?
Quote:
Originally Posted by stormy skies
--how to use any hand tool
Like a smart phone?
Quote:
Originally Posted by stormy skies
--how to cook
Economically unnecessary. When I was a kid, food was 50% of the household budget, so it made sense for us to keep a cow, some pigs and chickens. We dropped that 40 years ago. I don't bemoan the fact that most people don't know how to treat coccidiosis.
Quote:
Originally Posted by stormy skies
--evolution
--religious history
There are organizations devoted to misinforming the public on these issues. They are called "churches."
Quote:
Originally Posted by stormy skies
--the cosmos
Relevance? Other than the gee whiz factor, it means nothing.
Quote:
Originally Posted by stormy skies
--basic nutrition
--basic ecology
I don't see many nutritional diseases. As for ecology, as long as negative population growth is the only solution, the earth is doomed. Get used to it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by stormy skies
--the concept of credit and/or savings
Nothing new. Look at the percentage of my generation arriving at old age flat broke.
Quote:
Originally Posted by stormy skies
--written expression (in any language)
--geography
--subject-verb agreement
--I should stop now
This isn't everyday under-education that a society just bounces back from. This is abject generational stupidity that transcends many walks of life and income strata--though, certainly, the underclass is taking it on the chin the most.
Little of this ignorance is any one person's fault of course. We have a school system so antiquated and diseased at this point that I blame no student who would prefer to stay in bed or sell meth. The teachers, products of the same antiquated and diseased system, are browbeaten sentries.
We have a full-fledged card-carrying underclass who have been so disenfranchised from societal involvement they can only apprehend a small number of ways in which they are being screwed. We have an overpaid, overeducated, mostly urban cadre of nearly infertile men and women whose sole interests in life seem to be iPhone apps and craft beer. (I would by certain demographic measures be a member of the latter group.) We have a middle class on life support. We have an aristocracy the likes of which this country hasn't seen since the 1920s.
Before we get into the "well, it's better than Niger" rebuttals, let me make a plea to one group: the elders. Elders, I would love it if you could provide some objective perspective on my potentially pessimistic assessment.
To address: was idiocy as rampant in your day as it is today?
If it was, maybe that will make me feel better. If it wasn't, what made the American populous a smarter, brighter, healthier and all around better functioning segment of the universe?
Maybe you don't remember how ugly America was 60 years ago. "The silent generation" was silent because they didn't have a clue what was going on, and just took the word of their leaders. It's why we double crossed Ho Chi Minh and reneged on the free elections after WWII, just because we had a streak going that "no nation has ever had a democratically elected communist government."
I'm an old guy, but I'm a futurist. The information age has changed the basic nature of human society, but that doesn't mean it's collapsing. Yes, it is vulnerable to rapidly propagating misinformation, and entrenched special interests have circled the wagons. However, in a crisis we can respond faster than ever before. Panic will come and go. I thought we handled the 2007 collapse of western civilization rather well.
As John W. Campbell, Jr. pointed out 50 years ago, the advance of civilization can be measured by how much you can afford to forget. Nobody remembers how to knap a flint arrowhead, because civilization has moved on. Don't judge the current population by 20th century educational standards. They are irrelevant. Forget that.
Honestly after the people born in about 1980 and earlier pass the world is doomed. Part of gen y's and newer generations are affected by the cell phone boom and all the instant gratification with everything. These generations think they can find an app for everything they need to accomplish in life
Anyone seen the movie Idiocracy? This movie depicts a future 500 years from now where the average person is completely uneducated, vulgar, and self indulged. Society and infrastructure is falling apart, and these people are too stupid to see it, or if they see it they are too stupid to fix it. Unfortunately I think there is something prophetic in the movie Idiocracy, today in America we have people who don't know how to make change, cant use a sentence properly, cant get through a sentence without cursing, cannot find their home state on a map, don't know how our government works etc. We are becoming cast members in that movie.
Haha, this just happened last week.
I bought some stuff for like $11.52 and paid with a $20. After the cashier entered the amount paid into the register I remembered I had a few pennies in my pocket so I pulled out 2 to give her, so that she'd only have to give me $8.50 back instead of a bunch of small change adding up to 48 cents. Her response was "sorry, the register is already open, I can't change it" - indicating that she wouldn't be able to give me correct change unless she had actually typed in $20.02 as my payment...
Honestly after the people born in about 1980 and earlier pass the world is doomed. Part of gen y's and newer generations are affected by the cell phone boom and all the instant gratification with everything. These generations think they can find an app for everything they need to accomplish in life
Every generation thinks its successor generation is screwing things all up and can't manage on its own.
This has always been true.
The generation before yours thought it about your generation.
Just like you, they bought into the whole "Yeah, but this time it's different!".
Anyone seen the movie Idiocracy? This movie depicts a future 500 years from now where the average person is completely uneducated, vulgar, and self indulged. Society and infrastructure is falling apart, and these people are too stupid to see it, or if they see it they are too stupid to fix it. Unfortunately I think there is something prophetic in the movie Idiocracy, today in America we have people who don't know how to make change, cant use a sentence properly, cant get through a sentence without cursing, cannot find their home state on a map, don't know how our government works etc. We are becoming cast members in that movie.
Idiocracy is genius. Its important to understand how it got that way and they show the reproduction rates of uneducated vs educated and how over time the uneducated population engulfed the educated.
One might say that this is becoming evident in our news today...
I like to think of myself of a guarded optimist, but I'm really struggling for the silver lining these days. Granted, the ills of our times may seem more acute where I live, but I can't help but think we're a slowly sinking ship of a nation, that the great American experiment is winding to a close. And, no, I am not some curmudgeonly Rush Limbaugh disciple.
Not a day goes by that I don't notice some manifestation of general ignorance including:
--how to calculate a tip
--how to read a street map
--how to address a senior citizen
--how to use any hand tool
--how to cook
--evolution
--religious history
--the cosmos
--basic nutrition
--basic ecology
--the concept of credit and/or savings
--written expression (in any language)
--geography
--subject-verb agreement
--I should stop now
This isn't everyday under-education that a society just bounces back from. This is abject generational stupidity that transcends many walks of life and income strata--though, certainly, the underclass is taking it on the chin the most.
Little of this ignorance is any one person's fault of course. We have a school system so antiquated and diseased at this point that I blame no student who would prefer to stay in bed or sell meth. The teachers, products of the same antiquated and diseased system, are browbeaten sentries.
We have a full-fledged card-carrying underclass who have been so disenfranchised from societal involvement they can only apprehend a small number of ways in which they are being screwed. We have an overpaid, overeducated, mostly urban cadre of nearly infertile men and women whose sole interests in life seem to be iPhone apps and craft beer. (I would by certain demographic measures be a member of the latter group.) We have a middle class on life support. We have an aristocracy the likes of which this country hasn't seen since the 1920s.
Before we get into the "well, it's better than Niger" rebuttals, let me make a plea to one group: the elders. Elders, I would love it if you could provide some objective perspective on my potentially pessimistic assessment.
To address: was idiocy as rampant in your day as it is today?
If it was, maybe that will make me feel better. If it wasn't, what made the American populous a smarter, brighter, healthier and all around better functioning segment of the universe?
As people get older and feel their own life slipping away they conflate that with the demise of society in general. It has a narcissistic basis.
Every generation thinks its successor generation is screwing things all up and can't manage on its own.
This has always been true.
The generation before yours thought it about your generation.
Just like you, they bought into the whole "Yeah, but this time it's different!".
They were as wrong as you are wrong.
I didn't buy into anything. I'm 35 and I see it. The 30 and under crowd have a lot more issues compared to any other generation. At least the older people 30s+ grew up in a time where everything wasn't handed to them. We also grew up in a time where patience was needed and we didn't have a problem waiting for things. We also don't expect things to be given to us or have an entitled attitude. Not all of the under 30 crowd is bad but for the most part they are in my observations in daily life.
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