Is the World Moving Towards Better or Worse ?

[Azeem]

Different kinds of political philosophies, factual science and pseudo science are all proffering that we are approaching a very dangerous point in human history. Some kind of mass extinction due to natural or man made disaster is not some thing from fiction anymore. Others call it bullshit and doomsday talk and that we are living in the best of times. What is your assessment ?

[CaaC (John)+]

Neither, the world has been like this always and works in cycles, if you believe that we exist in a Parallel Universe (Parallel Dimension) then there is another world where we have experienced nuclear war and the world is in shambles or another world where we have conquered space and living on another planet in space after a nuclear war.

[nudge]

Somewhat paradoxically, both.

On a large scale, we have made a huge progress in the last century in terms of advances in medicine, science and technology, which has directly or indirectly contributed to globally increased life expectancy and quality of life, reduced child mortality rates, decreased poverty and hunger with over a billion people lifted out of extreme poverty in the last three decades alone, increased literacy and education rates. 

That said, in some ways humanity has also faired worse than before, and I think that we are currently facing a massive developing crisis and the next years are going to be pretty rough for many. Growing political instability and economic uncertainty, massive wealth inequality, civil unrest, climate crisis, increasing conflicts, inflation, energy crisis, supply chain chaos, upcoming food shortages and declining global freedom are very likely to be our reality for quite a while.

So I voted "neither" - I do believe it all comes and goes in cycles, and while we've made some big improvements, we're also facing some very serious challenges for the future that many of us haven't faced previously in our lifetime. 

[6666]

In reality it is getting better but with social media we're seeing a lot of the flaws of society a lot more.

[Waylander]

I went for worse because of the Ukraine situation with no end in sight without this I might have gone for the cyclical one.

[Spike]

It's much better than it used to be for the most part but there are still issues that need to be resolved.

[nudge]

It's a pity the poll is not public, it would be interesting to see.

[Tommy]

Homo Sapiens are the worst thing that could have ever happened to this planet, no?

[Toinho]

1 hour ago, Tommy said:

Homo Sapiens are the worst thing that could have ever happened to this planet, no?

and Scousers.

[Azeem]

8 hours ago, nudge said:

It's a pity the poll is not public, it would be interesting to see.

Admins can make it

[nudge]

6 hours ago, Tommy said:

Homo Sapiens are the worst thing that could have ever happened to this planet, no?

Pretty sure a black hole or a neutron star entering the Solar system, a massive supernova explosion close to Earth, or the Sun turning into a red giant would be by far, far worse.

Humans tend to overestimate themselves and their significance. Yes, we might deplete some resources, do some damage to the biosphere and destroy our own ability to live on Earth, but this planet will be here long after we're gone, and we'll be nothing but a footnote in Earth's fossil history.

[Azeem]

10 hours ago, Waylander said:

I went for worse because of the Ukraine situation with no end in sight without this I might have gone for the cyclical one.

Yeah, I'm also concerned about this. WWI was a bit pointless ( really just a cousin feud ) this one can also escalate given almost the same powers are involved and there are uncanny similarities.

[Stan]

12 hours ago, nudge said:

It's a pity the poll is not public, it would be interesting to see.

 

4 hours ago, Beelzebub said:

Admins can make it

as if by magic...

[Azeem]

8 minutes ago, Stan said:

 

as if by magic...

They can't ? The 'Do you hate Liverpool ' poll was not public but Dr. Gonzo posted the votes.

On 01/06/2022 at 02:28, Dr. Gonzo said:

Rival of Liverpool, yes I do: Rando, DeadLinesman, MUFC

English footy follower, yes I do: nobody (I call bullshit)

Liars & also Dr. Gonzo  English footy follower, no I don't: Stan, HappyBlue, Dan, Tommy, Machado, RelucantStriker, Lucas, Waylander, Dr. Gonzo, Bluebird Hewitt, Asura.

Non-follower, yes I do: @Coma(wtf mate )

Non-follower, no I don't: Aladdin, Viva la FCB

I don't care about them: OrangeKhrush, DNA, Spike, Bluewolf, Rucksackfranzose

 

[Stan]

3 minutes ago, Beelzebub said:

They can't ? The 'Do you hate Liverpool ' poll was not public but Dr. Gonzo posted the votes.

On 31/05/2022 at 22:28, Dr. Gonzo said:

Huh?

I've made this poll public.

Gonzo is a mod so has the same view as admin for polls. 

[Carnivore Chris]

3 hours ago, Stan said:

 

Gonzo is a mod

I always had him down as being more of a rocker myself.

[Bluewolf]

19 minutes ago, Carnivore Chris said:

I always had him down as being more of a rocker myself.

Not many are going to get that.... 

[Mel81x+]

I thought about it and said yeah, it's bad but it's not so bad then I thought some more and said it is actually tethering on the edge of critical failure needing a reset. The primary issue I see in this is how we handled the pandemic as a race not as individual entities taking control of the situation. It exposed some serious flaws in how ill-equipped we were to handle a global-scale event mostly fueled by greed and a need to survive. 

Could we see another in our lifetimes? Probably, I remember reading somewhere that entropic changes in any facet of society tend to accelerate in occurrence over time irrespective of whatever measures we put in place.  

[Viva la FCB+]

On 05/09/2022 at 02:58, nudge said:

Somewhat paradoxically, both.

On a large scale, we have made a huge progress in the last century in terms of advances in medicine, science and technology, which has directly or indirectly contributed to globally increased life expectancy and quality of life, reduced child mortality rates, decreased poverty and hunger with over a billion people lifted out of extreme poverty in the last three decades alone, increased literacy and education rates. 

That said, in some ways humanity has also faired worse than before, and I think that we are currently facing a massive developing crisis and the next years are going to be pretty rough for many. Growing political instability and economic uncertainty, massive wealth inequality, civil unrest, climate crisis, increasing conflicts, inflation, energy crisis, supply chain chaos, upcoming food shortages and declining global freedom are very likely to be our reality for quite a while.

So I voted "neither" - I do believe it all comes and goes in cycles, and while we've made some big improvements, we're also facing some very serious challenges for the future that many of us haven't faced previously in our lifetime. 

This is along the same lines of my thinking, I would have said this but shittier and less coherent 

[Spike]

Well I'm not going over a trench towards machine guns, and my arms haven't been torn off by the heavy machinery that I use. A lot of things still suck but for the most part it's better than tilling a field for a feudal lord and then getting stabbed to death in a different field when said feudal lord goes to war.

[Toinho]

1 hour ago, Spike said:

Well I'm not going over a trench towards machine guns, and my arms haven't been torn off by the heavy machinery that I use. A lot of things still suck but for the most part it's better than tilling a field for a feudal lord and then getting stabbed to death in a different field when said feudal lord goes to war.

A fair point. I’ve looked at it with a similar lens. 
 

We are fucking up the planet and are a bunch of cunts BUT in my own context things are definitely getting better. Medicine, education, technology, etc etc. 

We can be doing more as a species that’s for sure, around poverty, climate, etc and I’m hoping we do. 

[Dr. Gonzo]

This planet’s shit and it’s because of the people that live on it.

[OrangeKhrush]

history is littered with bleak end of times rhetoric, political instability, war, the rebuild and stability.

when I was younger i was in the "people suck" boat, but seeing life like that means you are likely the problem.

classical norms of western society is decaying rapidly and if it is not arrested the west may get completely destroyed.  I have concerns that the world is moving towards inevitable war driven on sepratist ideology, perversion of Romany Greco western ideals, corruption, control of reducing resources and absolute power.  it may come before I die.   

I will say things are getting worse.

 

[Waylander]

1 hour ago, OrangeKhrush said:

history is littered with bleak end of times rhetoric, political instability, war, the rebuild and stability.

when I was younger i was in the "people suck" boat, but seeing life like that means you are likely the problem.

classical norms of western society is decaying rapidly and if it is not arrested the west may get completely destroyed.  I have concerns that the world is moving towards inevitable war driven on sepratist ideology, perversion of Romany Greco western ideals, corruption, control of reducing resources and absolute power.  it may come before I die.   

I will say things are getting worse.

 

I think we have proxy war currently and don't think it will deteriorate into all out war against Russia.

Think the biggest risk is around Iran, Hezbollah and Israel and other players like Turkey who are continually posturing.  Israel is alleged to have bought refuelling planes enabling it to attack Iran and get its planes back. With Hezbollah a proxy of Iran and its missiles on its doorstep, I think this would be incredibly risky. The next steps if Iran also decides to take action may cause the US airbases in the Gulf to attack Iran and then Iran might use its ICBMs to fire the oils wells of the Gulf. Saddam did it to Kuwait with much less weaponry. 

Then the oil price would go stratospheric.

[Harry]

We're much better off than we've been at almost any point in human history. But I reckon western society peaked at some time in the 1990's and have been on a bit of a descent since then.