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Post by Roberto on Jul 20, 2018 6:48:37 GMT
My guess would be somewhere between the 1960s and 2000 or the first half of 2001.
I'm just going to use September 11, 2001 as a sort of base point for when the decline in quality started. I think since then the quality of life on Earth has been in a continuous decline. I would say the decline throughout the 2000s was gradual, because even though the decade may have started with something so terrible, for the most part the 2000s were quite fine, even though it definitely got worse year by year. But ever since the early-mid 2010s or so until now, it has been plummeting hard, until we come to 2018 which has been absolute complete shit.
Thoughts?
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Post by Marv on Jul 20, 2018 7:25:17 GMT
Since I’ve only been around for a small portion of it thus far it’s kind of hard to say.
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Post by them1ghtyhumph on Jul 20, 2018 7:35:23 GMT
Are you asking about the quality of life throughout the entire world?
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Post by Pep Streebeck on Jul 20, 2018 12:47:34 GMT
The decline began at the iron age.
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Post by koskiewicz on Jul 20, 2018 15:52:40 GMT
...post Neolithic period, everything went into the toilet...
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Post by Deleted on Jul 20, 2018 15:54:00 GMT
Most people in the world today has a far better life than only 50 years ago.
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Post by Roberto on Sept 1, 2018 8:31:18 GMT
Since I’ve only been around for a small portion of it thus far it’s kind of hard to say. You can research to see how the world was like in the past.
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Post by Roberto on Sept 1, 2018 8:34:06 GMT
Are you asking about the quality of life throughout the entire world? I guess not. Just the areas of the world we are familiar with. The "first world" countries I suppose.
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Post by ant-mac on Sept 1, 2018 8:39:42 GMT
I do not believe it has "peaked" yet.
Therefore, if it has not yet peaked, it cannot have begun to decline either.
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Post by Roberto on Sept 1, 2018 8:42:45 GMT
I do not believe it has "peaked" yet. Therefore, if it has not yet peaked, it cannot have begun to decline either. You honestly think it will ever get better, with the direction humanity is taking? I wish I could be so hopeful. I really hope you are right.
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Post by Schwarzwald Magnus on Sept 1, 2018 8:59:06 GMT
Maybe during the Carboniferous, Cretaceous or just before the Anthroprocene.
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Post by ant-mac on Sept 1, 2018 9:55:51 GMT
I do not believe it has "peaked" yet. Therefore, if it has not yet peaked, it cannot have begun to decline either. You honestly think it will ever get better, with the direction humanity is taking? I wish I could be so hopeful. I really hope you are right. Consider this...
You're currently sitting in your own home - or a friend's home, or a café, or a restaurant, or a park or so forth - using a piece of advanced but relatively inexpensive technology to communicate with people all over the planet to tell them about how bad Human existence is.
Why? Have you had a bad day? Have you been unable to hunt down a wild animal, skin it, gut it and cook it for food before you starve to death? Were you unable to collect enough wild berries to eat? Did you accidentally get ill by eating a couple of poisonous ones? Were friends of yours killed by a wild animal today? Have 9 out of your last 10 children died in childbirth, along with their mothers? Are you possibly concerned by the fact that if you accidentally scratch yourself, you stand a fairly good chance of it becoming infected and killing you? Are you worried by the fact that the average lifespan for a Human is about 35 to 40?
Although it might not seem like it, life has never been better for the Human species. Even for Humans still living in undeveloped or underdeveloped countries, life has never been better. It might not yet match up to life in an advanced or developed country, but it's still steadily getting better. Of course things could still improve. And they are... bit by bit.
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Post by Roberto on Sept 1, 2018 10:38:17 GMT
You honestly think it will ever get better, with the direction humanity is taking? I wish I could be so hopeful. I really hope you are right. Consider this...
You're currently sitting in your own home - or a friend's home, or a café, or a restaurant, or a park or so forth - using a piece of advanced but relatively inexpensive technology to communicate with people all over the planet to tell them about how bad Human existence is.
Why? Have you had a bad day? Have you been unable to hunt down a wild animal, skin it, gut it and cook it for food before you starve to death? Were you unable to collect enough wild berries to eat? Did you accidentally get ill by eating a couple of poisonous ones? Were friends of yours killed by a wild animal today? Have 9 out of your last 10 children died in childbirth, along with their mothers? Are you possibly concerned by the fact that if you accidentally scratch yourself, you stand a fairly good chance of it becoming infected and killing you? Are you worried by the fact that the average lifespan for a Human is about 35 to 40?
Although it might not seem like it, life has never been better for the Human species. Even for Humans still living in undeveloped or underdeveloped countries, life has never been better. It might not yet match up to life in an advanced or developed country, but it's still steadily getting better. Of course things could still improve. And they are... bit by bit.
You don't know what the hell you're talking about. Life is getting better because we have technology and the internet? Are you serious? These things are some of the big reasons why humanity is going down the toilet. If everything is so good, why is depression and suicide at an all time high?
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Post by dirtypillows on Sept 1, 2018 11:02:06 GMT
I do not believe it has "peaked" yet. Therefore, if it has not yet peaked, it cannot have begun to decline either. You honestly think it will ever get better, with the direction humanity is taking?I wish I could be so hopeful. I really hope you are right. I don't think humanity really changes. 500 years ago, people gathered around the village square to watch their convicted neighbors getting their heads chopped off. To me, this is barbaric and horrifying and unthinkable. But there are things about life today that I think are just as gross. I just think that there is always a sort of trade off in flux. Sometimes "quality of life on Earth" might be perceived as "best" during the era of one's childhood. For example, I will always be partial to the 70s, just as my parents are very vocal about how life was never better than in the 1950s. It also depends on who you ask. I think so-called "liberals" are more apt to think that the best is yet to come, while their so-called "conservative" counterparts are less likely to be so optimistic. It's very difficult to be objective about this topic. Also, it depends on what you mean by quality. Quality of health care and longevity and technology are valid considerations, but then progress in the quality of technology could also be considered not always a good thing, and that's valid, too. And I enjoy my conveniences as much as the next person, but to what ultimate effect. I read once that the one single invention of the 20th century that changed Americans' behavior more than any other single thing was air-conditioning. Makes absolute perfect sense. It made being inside much more pleasant during the warmer months. And I don't think too many people would rather go back in time and give this up. Those stiflingly hot months where it was almost impossible to sleep through the night. But one trade off here is that it has made us a more sedentary society, more comfortable and more complacent, perhaps, but also people started staying inside more often and technology and labor changed and maybe people even started getting lazier by comparison. And people started to get more and more interested in technology and its possibilities for making life easier, more comfortable. It has a trickle down effect. People say technology is good, but I see young people becoming totally addicted to their smart phones, living for their own hand held computer no bigger than a deck of cards. I cherish the fact that my oldest friendships still involve a decent amount of time actually hanging out in the same physical space with each other, or at least talking on the phone. And do people still actually sit down and write letters to one another? The act/art of letter-writing involves a certain degree of dedication and thoughtfulness and caring that sending off LOLs just does not. And who really has 1,500 friends? Well, I know a lot of people who say they do, but I sure as heck would never make this a personal goal. (I have always thought that if a person can say they have six good friends, then this is a wonderful thing, maybe ideal.) Then again, I cannot imagine a life where there didn't seem to be much else beyond work, eat, sleep, war, sex and religion. That seems a very dark and bleak existence. So, my answer to your question would either be 1959 (the year the super pretty, soft, colorful, cozy, carefree and fluffy movie, "Pillow Talk", was released) or 1977, the year that my three favorite tv shows, "Columbo", "Charlie's Angels" and "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" were all on prime time.) Kind of kidding, kind of not. I think times change, but people or humanity not as much, not at all or just not in the same way. And, if the ultimate goal for humans is perpetuation of the species (and maybe it is, I cannot say), then I guess times continue to get better as life expectancy continues to grow.
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Post by ant-mac on Sept 1, 2018 11:37:43 GMT
Consider this...
You're currently sitting in your own home - or a friend's home, or a café, or a restaurant, or a park or so forth - using a piece of advanced but relatively inexpensive technology to communicate with people all over the planet to tell them about how bad Human existence is.
Why? Have you had a bad day? Have you been unable to hunt down a wild animal, skin it, gut it and cook it for food before you starve to death? Were you unable to collect enough wild berries to eat? Did you accidentally get ill by eating a couple of poisonous ones? Were friends of yours killed by a wild animal today? Have 9 out of your last 10 children died in childbirth, along with their mothers? Are you possibly concerned by the fact that if you accidentally scratch yourself, you stand a fairly good chance of it becoming infected and killing you? Are you worried by the fact that the average lifespan for a Human is about 35 to 40?
Although it might not seem like it, life has never been better for the Human species. Even for Humans still living in undeveloped or underdeveloped countries, life has never been better. It might not yet match up to life in an advanced or developed country, but it's still steadily getting better. Of course things could still improve. And they are... bit by bit.
You don't know what the hell you're talking about. Life is getting better because we have technology and the internet? Are you serious? These things are some of the big reasons why humanity is going down the toilet. If everything is so good, why is depression and suicide at an all time high? And unfortunately, you've completely missed the point. I was referring to the advancement of science and technology in general, in broad terms. I was also referring to a broad range of other fields of Human endeavour and interest, many of which have improved immeasurably compared to how they once were. Those examples I mentioned briefly in passing were just that - examples. How could you possibly believe they represent the totality of what is best in the modern Human world? Stop mincing about with petty nonsense and look to the bigger picture.
Science and technology are advancing daily. Our experience, knowledge and wisdom are also increasing daily concerning a broad range of topics, including - but not limited to - the field of agriculture and communications, astronautics and computers, astronomy and medicine and countless other areas of expertise. Our knowledge about the world and the universe around us - and of course ourselves - has never been greater.
You speak of concerns regarding anxiety, depression and suicide. Surely you realize those issues have always been with us, throughout all of Human history? There could be several explanations as to why they appear to be more numerous now than at any other time. The Human population has never been higher. More Humans equal more who are happy, more who are sad, more who are good, more who are bad and so on. However, thankfully, we're also in a position to do detect more people who suffer from these issues than ever before and help them to deal with those problems.
Life is not perfect. It never has been and it never will be. There will always be ailments and problems we will have to deal with, but we are currently better prepared to deal with them then we have ever been before. However, if you honestly think we're currently at the nadir of Human existence, you're seriously deluded. Our life spans have never been longer, our overall health has never been better and the quality of our lives have never been higher. The emperors, empresses, kings and queens of old would look at the least of us with envy and wonder.
If you honestly believe the Human species is plagued by problems like never before - and I'm not saying we don't have our fair share of hassles - why don't you devote your time and energy towards finding solutions for them, rather than just complaining about them? And if you honestly feel the internet is one of the big reasons why the Human species is "going down the toilet", why are still you on it? Or do you just enjoy floating around with the rest of us turds?
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Post by dirtypillows on Sept 1, 2018 11:39:17 GMT
Consider this...
You're currently sitting in your own home - or a friend's home, or a café, or a restaurant, or a park or so forth - using a piece of advanced but relatively inexpensive technology to communicate with people all over the planet to tell them about how bad Human existence is.
Why? Have you had a bad day? Have you been unable to hunt down a wild animal, skin it, gut it and cook it for food before you starve to death? Were you unable to collect enough wild berries to eat? Did you accidentally get ill by eating a couple of poisonous ones? Were friends of yours killed by a wild animal today? Have 9 out of your last 10 children died in childbirth, along with their mothers? Are you possibly concerned by the fact that if you accidentally scratch yourself, you stand a fairly good chance of it becoming infected and killing you? Are you worried by the fact that the average lifespan for a Human is about 35 to 40?
Although it might not seem like it, life has never been better for the Human species. Even for Humans still living in undeveloped or underdeveloped countries, life has never been better. It might not yet match up to life in an advanced or developed country, but it's still steadily getting better. Of course things could still improve. And they are... bit by bit.
You don't know what the hell you're talking about. Life is getting better because we have technology and the internet? Are you serious? These things are some of the big reasons why humanity is going down the toilet. If everything is so good, why is depression and suicide at an all time high?Well, I sort of agree with you on the part in italics. But this is where the objective vs. the subjective factor into the matter. Depression and suicide are, ultimately, very personal things. And I don't have any statistics, but I am thinking that faith and religion and the "fear of God" had a lot more presence in the lives of people 500 years ago than they do today. And I bet that depression and anxiety and suicidal tendencies were looked at with a whole lot less respect (for lack of a better word) back then, than they are today. For better or for worse is not for me to say. I had an acquaintance from Vietnam, and once she said, in a straightforward, non-judgmental manner, that the whole notion of psychotherapy was pretty much exclusively a Western notion, way of thinking and that it essentially was a very narcissistic and self-centered thing to indulge in. I've spent my time with therapists and could have been offended, but, ultimately, I couldn't help but agree with what she said, or at the very least I appreciated and respected this way of looking at therapy, and by extension depression and anxiety and any self-destructive behavior. And I don't mean this in a heartless or judgmental way at all, but suicide really is the ultimate act of self-absorption. So maybe people are just more self-absorbed than they were, even 50 years ago. Also, look at how everything in our consumer culture is geared toward giving us more pleasure, more conveniences, more excess. (Does civilization really need the deep friend Twinkie?) And this has the inevitable and not very attractive result of making us more self-centered, and, somewhat paradoxically, more unhappy. Just look at the sheer quantity of distractions we have today. Like the number of channels to choose from on tv can be over 500!!! When I was a kid in the 70s, I lived in a small town outside of Indianapolis and I believe we had 7 or 8 channels to choose from, not including HBO. And programming shut down at 3:00 am. And the target audience seems to be getting younger and younger, and young people are just not going to have the same level of self-awareness to be making the smarter, more responsible decisions about the bigger picture. And there is something that is, I suppose, meant to be comforting (for people of a certain age, at any rate), but is also just as disturbing about a saying/attitude that entered into the national consciousness a few years back, re: "sixty is the new thirty". This kind of thinking appeals to man's biggest fear which is fear of death, which rests on the toes of our fears of getting older, then fear of maturity, fear of accepting responsibility, fear of hard work, fear of not having Mom and Dad to take care of us, fear of falling down and skinning your knee, blah, blah, it all comes from the exact same place. I don't know if you've ever seen a movie from the 1930s. But a movie character from a movie made in 1930 who was supposed to be about 18 years old, ( a young person, right?) - usually looked about 35-40 years old. I may be exaggerating a little, but not very much. Life was harder then, people aged more quickly then, people didn't live as long, etc., and it is a completely intuitive thing for human beings to want to be young and to put aging off and to live to a longer age and to not have to work quite so hard and to be able to get by with immature and self-centered behavior and to be able to enjoy all the creature comforts that are out there. It would be only the individual with the extraordinary inner constitution to reject these comforts because of their "un-natural" nature, for lack of a better word. At the same time, I bet even Moses himself would have preferred a Big Mac and fries and a Coke for dinner over roots and berries and river water. (Why do you think they call it a Happy Meal?) It's all relative.
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Post by dirtypillows on Sept 1, 2018 12:07:18 GMT
Consider this...
You're currently sitting in your own home - or a friend's home, or a café, or a restaurant, or a park or so forth - using a piece of advanced but relatively inexpensive technology to communicate with people all over the planet to tell them about how bad Human existence is.
Why? Have you had a bad day? Have you been unable to hunt down a wild animal, skin it, gut it and cook it for food before you starve to death? Were you unable to collect enough wild berries to eat? Did you accidentally get ill by eating a couple of poisonous ones? Were friends of yours killed by a wild animal today? Have 9 out of your last 10 children died in childbirth, along with their mothers? Are you possibly concerned by the fact that if you accidentally scratch yourself, you stand a fairly good chance of it becoming infected and killing you? Are you worried by the fact that the average lifespan for a Human is about 35 to 40?
Although it might not seem like it, life has never been better for the Human species. Even for Humans still living in undeveloped or underdeveloped countries, life has never been better. It might not yet match up to life in an advanced or developed country, but it's still steadily getting better. Of course things could still improve. And they are... bit by bit.
You don't know what the hell you're talking about. Life is getting better because we have technology and the internet? Are you serious? These things are some of the big reasons why humanity is going down the toilet. If everything is so good, why is depression and suicide at an all time high? Okay, so I'm curious. Why did you ask for people's opinions and then tell somebody they don't know what they're talking about when they respond to your post and offered their opinion? (And provide several valid, well-thought out examples to back up their point of view?)
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Post by Deleted on Sept 2, 2018 0:27:10 GMT
My guess would be somewhere between the 1960s and 2000 or the first half of 2001. I'm just going to use September 11, 2001 as a sort of base point for when the decline in quality started. I think since then the quality of life on Earth has been in a continuous decline. I would say the decline throughout the 2000s was gradual, because even though the decade may have started with something so terrible, for the most part the 2000s were quite fine, even though it definitely got worse year by year. But ever since the early-mid 2010s or so until now, it has been plummeting hard, until we come to 2018 which has been absolute complete shit. Thoughts? Started to decline around the same time you started posting here, brah. <smirk> j/k
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Post by ant-mac on Sept 11, 2018 0:13:05 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Sept 11, 2018 1:05:31 GMT
My guess would be somewhere between the 1960s and 2000 or the first half of 2001. I'm just going to use September 11, 2001 as a sort of base point for when the decline in quality started. I think since then the quality of life on Earth has been in a continuous decline. I would say the decline throughout the 2000s was gradual, because even though the decade may have started with something so terrible, for the most part the 2000s were quite fine, even though it definitely got worse year by year. But ever since the early-mid 2010s or so until now, it has been plummeting hard, until we come to 2018 which has been absolute complete shit. Thoughts? I couldn't disagree more. I think the overall quality of life has been increasing, on average, for all of history. There are ups and downs along the way but it never stops improving overall, and I doubt it ever will.
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