Asklemmy

No. I used to believe we were, I thought every generation the world was becoming more open and fighting for a better tomorrow.

But not anymore, I think the rich has put short term profits over the needs of the world sooo much that it's placed the majority in a bad situation. And because of that, people can and will only be able to look out for themself first. Because they are in a situation where they have to.

And I think we've gone past the point of return, where the future will continue to go negative, whether it be businesses destroying the society for profit, or the destruction of the planet or financial crises and hyper inflation from printing money, or just some outright war.

The majority are so busy trying to put food on the table or get a roof over our head that we can no longer care for the rest of the world.

Humanity is so fickle, it’s impossible to tell.

In the US, we went from overwhelming opposition to gay marriage to overwhelming support in less than a decade.

On the other hand, we went from aggressively eradicating CFCs and fixing the ozone hole to dragging our feet on renewable energy for several decades.

Even further back, we went from back-to-back world wars and economic collapse to a tentative global peace and prosperity.

Monarchy seemed inevitable for ages, and then multiple democratic revolutions all sprang up in quick succession.

Equality was fundamental to the Constitution, but we still haven’t healed the wounds of slavery.

There seems to be no telling. Some problems languish for a long time, but then see massive improvements in the blink of an eye. Some obvious fixes lay dormant for an offensively long time.

When I think about this stuff, I get a weird mix of hope and despair and guilt and frustration and impatience.

It seems unfair that we got stuck with these particular crises, with no guarantee that we’re actually prepared to handle them. (Maybe that’s the entire story of humanity.)

And then I remember what Tolkien had to say about such things:

Here's a bit of hope for you, scientists have figured out how to trick the body into producing any protein or antibody they want, through technology like gene therapy and mRNA vaccines. We're about to cure a lot of diseases that used to be 100% fatal. Diseases that kill kids and adults alike.

Most things seem to be getting worse these days, but at least we're making progress in other areas.

The current trend sucks, obviously.

But historically, we used to be so much worse to each-other.

There's reasons (data and practicality) to have faith that things will continue to improve.

But it won't be enough, for many of us, in many of our lifetimes, so let's all stay angry and active.

Things only get better if we make then better.

In the long run, yes.

In the short term, no.

It feels like everything is going down the drain right now but when you look at the whole human history, this is probably just a hiccup and overall it will continue getting better in the long run.

And although we missed the mark and won't be able to stop climate change, humanity will adapt somehow and live on. Enlightenment I don't know, but better yes.

But for the near future, I don't see good things coming...

Not for humans. Fascism can be recovered from, but climate change can't at this point until humans are gone.

I think the general population of humans struggle to recognize, understand, and address large scale threats.

There's the scientific community that'll try to explain these issues to the general public in simplistic term. But they're often overruled by dumb idiots in charge who store snowballs in their freezer as proof that climate change isn't real.

There's a belief that humanity needs to be brought to the edge of extinction to realize how bad things really are and to get their shit together. I don't believe humanity would be willing to save itself from extinction as it's just not profitable to do so.

"Do you believe our species will ever reach some form of enlightenment"

If there is anything history has taught me is that we repeat the same basic behavior over and over and have done so as far back as we can see. We are essentially very intelligent monkeys, obsessed with social status, manipulation, altruism and cooperation mixed with hostility and exploitation. I think the basic sociology of humans is baked into our DNA and the very nature of animal life. People have always imagined they can create some utopia on earth but it always ends up a failure because of the very nature of man and the impossibility of even defining a utopia for everyone.

I think it's gonna get a lot worse, but if we can hold it together then it'll be smooth sailing afterwards. Basically, I think we're approaching several "Great Filters" and if we can get past them then we'll be good.

At this point, it could still go either way. Make no mistake, we’ve already done, and will continue to do, profound damage to the environment and global climate that will take generations to reverse (if that’s even possible). That said, I think it’s going to need to get seriously worse before the world’s largest polluters have no choice but to go against the monied interests in fossil fuels and plastics. Like many very wealthy people are going to have to be directly affected by this is always that can’t be disingenuously explained away.

The way I look at it, things have to get better. Because if they don't then we will destroy ourselves. Barbarism until socialism.

As long as we keep not listening to the scientists, no I think there is no getting betrer. A world like ours is not going to get better as the climate deteriorates, and we cannot reign in the rich from continuing to kill the envrioment for profit. So long as carbon credits exist large polluters will continue to pollute and simply buy their way back into compliance. Based on the lack of progress on this exesistential issue for the survival of the whole species, at the very least its going to get a lot worse before it ever gets better, if theres still an environment that can support life left.

I guess it depends on what you mean by destroy. Like literally population 0, I doubt it’ll ever get there. But losing 75% of population, I can see some nuclear war breaking out

The trend is that in general, living conditions for humans have gotten significantly better over time. Look how much better people in medieval times had over cavemen. Look at how much better people in modern times have over medieval times. In general, medicine and technology will continue to advance, further increasing living standards.

People like to turn a blind eye to technological progress and assume just because there are ebbs and flows in society and politics that it means that humanity is going down the toilet. The general trend has never been that way. We have ups and downs, but lives are generally continued to improve over time. I can't imagine that changing any time soon. Sometimes steps backwards are made, yes, but be thankful we aren't living in caveman times where you would have died during childbirth, from accidentally cutting your leg on a rock, from starvation, from getting eaten by a mountain lion, etc.

Things will get better, eventually, if we work for it. Our time is the age of the death of the US Empire. The decay of Capitalism in the US and Imperialism abroad drives much of the division in the world over today, but if we know how to get past this we will succeed. I recommend reading Marxist theory, it can be very comforting to know how the world actually works, and how we can overcome it. I keep a "Read Theory, Darn It!" beginner reading list if anyone wants it, let me know if you have any questions.

Do you think things will get better?

Yes.

A lot of the problems we face are systematic, to do with how our society is organised rather than any human limit. They are solvable problems, and many have already been solved already in some countries. The reason they're aren't solved isn't because we can't, but because the few most powerful people are powerful because of this rigged system, and have a self-interest in keeping it that way by any means necessary.

History has shown us clearly that even kings, dictators and other broken systems can be overthrown AND stopped from coming back, provided the people doing it are politically educated and organized. That's the key. If we just get angry without a plan, we will end up like the pitiful Jan 6 riot. But if we educate ourselves with lessons from history and work to create a mass movement, we can finally move forward beyond this frightening present situation.

Eventually but I think society might need to collapse and rebuild in between, and that supporting this level of complex civilization isn't gonna be possible, nor IMO desirable.

This is not to say we would go back to being cavemen, just that society has less tech and energy at its disposal and less people.

I guess we could get there without collapse, but I have zero faith in any kind of degrowth moment despite agreeing with it ideologically. This would help us avoid much death and suffering but it doesn't seem to be priority for anyone in power.

We survived the Cold War. We survived that mild awkward moment where there were just 10,000 humans or something. We survived the Paleolithic by throwing and walking kinda good despite having super-mediocre body builds compared to the lithe apex competition.

Sure, a United Statesian might not know what price elasticity means when they go pro-tariffs, and shoot their foot on a national scale. Sure, "Eastern" youths might stretch themselves systemically thin to leap through an education colander into a limited, demanding job seat. Sure, there's a whole terror cloister awkwardly just below South Korea, a crap ton of eyes on the Ukraine, and the new context of exponentially advancing tech compared to the last kabillion years.

But I believe in the human spirit. Call me a fool. We don't even need to be enlightened to not destroy ourselves. We just need to be what we always fuckin been, what we always fuckin will be.

Stupid endurant.

in all three senses of the shit.

I'm expecting a repeat od what's happened in the past, with major changes eventually happening when the working class gets too upset. But I don't expect that to happen for several more decades.

But with a much hotter climate this time around.

I survive not to cope with hope of a better tomorrow. I survive out of spite so I may get the chance to witness very very bad things happening to very very bad people.

If you are Elon Musk it is looking amazing right now.

We have the potential for far better, yes.

The real question is, will enough people want for us to get better...