Is the World worth it?

[Deks]

The world by itself is worth it (numerous people that are a part of this society on the other hand are a different matter) ... problem ensues in present society that has idiots in power, concentration is on money ... limitation of people's movements from country to country and living however/wherever they choose, not to mention a lot of other stupidities that drag everyone down and slow down progress.

You know what would happen if got wiped out tomorrow?
Absolutely nothing.
The universe wouldn't miss us in the slightest because on a mere galactic scale we are nothing ... let alone on a universal scale, because we are presently confined to this planet.

So any grandiose fantasies that the universe would miss us are deeply misplaced I'm afraid.

This society needs to be cleaned up of corruption, idiots, outdated way of doing things, and everything else.
It can be done easily, but the incentive is not there, and it's 'too hard'.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

...why would anyone choose to live in such a world?

I didn't. I was born here.

That was pretty much my first thought.

Yep.

This kind of judgment is itself a waste of time and life.

 

[FordSVT]

I didn't. I was born here.

That was pretty much my first thought.

Yep.

This kind of judgment is itself a waste of time and life.

Most of the conversations that take place on this board are a "waste of time and life", yet here I am and here you are.

 

[Australis]

If an asteroid hit, it wouldn't matter to the universe, but it would have a serious effect on the rest of us. Get some perspective.

We have a TV station in Australia that broadcasts programmes fm all over the world. Their slogan is "The world is an amazing place". It's true.

I don't get the negative tone. I mean, I get WHY there is one, but we should strive to encourage people to be better than what they are, to grow, to help each other more.

Yeah, yeah, I know, hippy dippy shit. I try to help some people around here and they just, well, go on being who they are. But we've all watched TOS, and to a certain extent TNG, where they were trying to show a society that had moved away from greed and malice. Which is what we should be doing.

I keep saying, the Singularity is coming, and then [docbrown] you're going to see some serious shit[/docbrown]. My big worry about it is whether we'll be mature enough to use these technologies that will be able to reshape the world in ways we can barely grasp right now.

Do your bit. Move forward, be positive.

 

[FordSVT]

If an asteroid hit, it wouldn't matter to the universe, but it would have a serious effect on the rest of us. Get some perspective.

We have a TV station in Australia that broadcasts programmes fm all over the world. Their slogan is "The world is an amazing place". It's true.

I don't get the negative tone. I mean, I get WHY there is one, but we should strive to encourage people to be better than what they are, to grow, to help each other more.

Yeah, yeah, I know, hippy dippy shit. I try to help some people around here and they just, well, go on being who they are. But we've all watched TOS, and to a certain extent TNG, where they were trying to show a society that had moved away from greed and malice. Which is what we should be doing.

I keep saying, the Singularity is coming, and then [docbrown] you're going to see some serious shit[/docbrown]. My big worry about it is whether we'll be mature enough to use these technologies that will be able to reshape the world in ways we can barely grasp right now.

Do your bit. Move forward, be positive.

QFT x 1,000

 

[RandyS]

there are far more positives than negatives.

My mom believed that too, and it was that belief that killed her.

I will never forgive the world for that.

 

[trekkerguy]

there are far more positives than negatives.

My mom believed that too, and it was that belief that killed her.

Or was it she who died for that belief? World of difference.

 

[RJDiogenes]

In evolutionary terms, the Human Race is barely out of the trees, yet in the fraction of an instant we've existed we've produced great works of architecture and art and literature and music; we've invented incredible ways to feed people and communicate and travel; we've unlocked many of the secrets of nature and walked on the moon; we've peered to the distant edges of the Cosmos. The Human Race has produced such people as Leonardo da Vinci, Shakespeare, van Gogh, Beethoven, Thomas Jefferson, Einstein, and Arthur C Clarke (and me ). We have become self aware and learned to fight against darkness and entropy and the inertia of primitivism. We have created communities and societies and civilizations based on cooperation and selflessness; every day we beat the animals instincts down a little more. Yes, the world is worth it, because the existence of Humanity gives it meaning. And nihilism is as juvenile as it is boring.

 

[Lookingglassman]

This thread reminded me of a picture I saw today. It was taken by a photographer who commited suicide after it. It was of a small African child near death from starvation and a vulture nearby waiting for the child to die.

The world is really messed up, but I take comfort in knowing that God has everything under control. Those that do wrong will get their just punishments in the end and those who are suffering will be comforted.

 

[FordSVT]

This thread reminded me of a picture I saw today. It was taken by a photographer who commited suicide after it. It was of a small African child near death from starvation and a vulture nearby waiting for the child to die.

But according to you the world has been just as fucked up since Adam and Eve ate the apple and were cast from Eden, this is just more of the same. The world is just as much worth it now as it has ever been, and I would argue more so.

 

[RandyS]

there are far more positives than negatives.

My mom believed that too, and it was that belief that killed her.

Or was it she who died for that belief? World of difference.

Nope. Unending negatives, both in and out of her life drove her to suicide.

 

[trekkerguy]

My mom believed that too, and it was that belief that killed her.

Or was it she who died for that belief? World of difference.

Nope. Unending negatives, both in and out of her life drove her to suicide.

Well I'm sorry, that's sad.

But if she believed that the world had more positives than negatives I also
believe she had the better outlook, excluding the suicide.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

there are far more positives than negatives.

My mom believed that too, and it was that belief that killed her.

I will never forgive the world for that.

Not to be too insensitive, but the world didn't kill her.

That was pretty much my first thought.

Yep.

This kind of judgment is itself a waste of time and life.

Most of the conversations that take place on this board are a "waste of time and life", yet here I am and here you are.

Well, to elaborate just a bit...

I didn't say that the conversation is a waste, but that making a judgment on the world's "worthiness" is.

We're born into this world; we don't create it. We're limited by our human natures - limited in time, limited in knowledge, limited in the extent of our influence over our surroundings...and, amusingly, limited in our ability to know what the limits of our influence are. From moment to moment we over- or underestimate ourselves.

But to pass judgment on the world itself, when my understanding cannot encompass the world? That's abandoning the humility of our limited human point of view and adopting that of God. I'm an atheist, but I understand the hubris - and just plain nonsense - of that.

 

[Nardpuncher]

I think there's too much cynicism posing as insightfulness here.

The OP was complaining about large corporations and the like so I doubt her life is all that bad. That's borrowed sorrow that many college kids heap on themselves.

 

[The Borg Queen]

Actually I was complaining about the nature of the culture of Humanity that's not only the dominant influence in society, but the controlling one.

This is the world we live in.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

That's not my understanding of the world I live in, so perhaps your point of view is humanly limited too.

 

[Jadzia]

I couldn't care less if 99% of the world got wiped out tomorrow.

Infact i'm a firm believer that our civilisation needs a fresh start. I pray for the day we are hit with an Asteroid and the worlds population falls to about a thousand people.

Would I be one of the survivors?

 

[iguana_tonante]

Why is this the nature of the world we live in, and why would anyone choose to live in such a world?

You are free to leave anytime, mate. Can I have your stuff? Seriously, we didn't choose to live in such a world. The world just is, with our without us. The universe don't care about us. Society's ills are a very poor excuse for going into "woe is me" mode.

This thread reminded me of a picture I saw today. It was taken by a photographer who commited suicide after it. It was of a small African child near death from starvation and a vulture nearby waiting for the child to die.

Was anyone of them kicking a puppy, too?

The world is really messed up, but I take comfort in knowing that God has everything under control. Those that do wrong will get their just punishments in the end and those who are suffering will be comforted.

Obviously, according to a your partial, skewed and subjective notion of right and wrong.

I didn't say that the conversation is a waste, but that making a judgment on the world's "worthiness" is.

We're born into this world; we don't create it.

I very much agree. We are part of this world. We can't judge it more than a cell can judge the entire organism.

 

[Ensign_Redshirt]

What a depressing thread...


Human beings are a flawed and imperfect species. Then again, I'm convinced that things get better overall at a very slow speed... in the so-called "Western world" anyway.

150 years ago women weren't allowed to vote because people (mostly the men, I guess) thought the female brain structure is incapable of making political decisions or something like that. This if you lived in a Western country which had elections in the first place. And of course there was still slavery practiced in the United States. But this was also deemed okay, because "scientists" had "proven" that blacks (and generally all non-whites) were genetically inferior anyway.

So, maybe slavery and the denial of woman's rights could be successfully wiped out in the rest of the world in another 150 years or so. Of course we won't live to see it. So we have no choice but to live with the shitty state of the world that now exists.

A fully utopian society like it is depicted on "Star Trek" won't be possible though... not in the forseeble future anyway. Maybe we could clap ourselves on the shoulders if we manage to realize the more imperfect utopia of DS9 (Section 31, Maquis etc.).

 

[FordSVT]

there are far more positives than negatives.

My mom believed that too, and it was that belief that killed her.

I will never forgive the world for that.

I'm not trying to be a dick here, and I don't know the details, but if your mom was suicidal how could believing the world was mostly bad have helped her any?