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my questions to the world
i'm just about to turn nineteen. therefore, i do not have a lot of wisdom, probably. and to some of you i might just be talking a bunch of nonsense. but. i've learnt things. i've heard things. i've been educated through time. and the more educated i get, the more questions i have. maybe, hopefully, there are people out there who are alble to answer them. or at least try to. or maybe just share them. (the reason i got this blog).
is our system going to collapse like the roman empire? a couple of days ago an elderly person stirred up a conversation with me. a conversation about the loss of morals, shift of values. everything is about money today, absolutely EVERYTHING. disneyworld, movies, wars. we live in a purely capitalistic environment. i get sick walking through las vegas, thinking about the incredible masses of humongous amounts of money existing, being owned by the invisible super rich, by a good percentage of some kind of mafia, by whoever. i get sick thinking about how those people do not care about anyone else. and that's just vegas. but it's the whole entire world, too.
where is this going to go? we have wars being fought not because helpless women were being raped or poverty was governing and the interfering country wanted to change it. no one can tell me that - because no one gives a darn on what's happening in various african countries, either, for example. no one would ever have the idea of getting involved in a highly unimportant conflict down there. isn't it. (our western civilization has also only tried to find a cure for a.i.d.s. when we were first affected by it ourselves...). most wars are being led because there's money to make - in whatever kind of way. it's always been like that. i come from a supposedly neutral country, but don't fool me - while the rest of the world was experiencing a major downfall during ww2, my country's economy was flourishing. how's that. tell me one country that does not have any hidden scandals.
are we destroying ourselves? there are people who don't believe in global warming. and then there are people who believe in global warming, but think it is "just" part of a normal cycle taking place, and we're going through a phase of heat only to slide into the next ice age after that. all natural. personally, i belong to the people who believe that global warming is part of the eternal cycle. but. i believe our way of living makes this current heat phase worse. we've never been at this point before. we've never experienced such an extreme degree of growth, of pollution and natural resource use, combined with the point where we're at in our lovely global warming cycle. how do we know it's just going to return to normal after a few thousand years? big ice age time, everything's okay?
what i don't get: how can it be that, even if the planet-destroying effects of global warming worsened by mankind is not proven, no one cares that this world COULD really be destroyed by our civilization? and along with the world our species - any kind of species?? how?! even if it's NOT sure that we do actually have an impact on global warming: how can we just wait and see what happens. like: oh, the world is exploding - they were right, we DID have an impact on global warming... too bad... but why would any living person of influence care today. most probably none of our time are going to experience the end, if there's going to be one. it's gonna be our children or grandchildren, great-grandchildren that might have to get to see the SERIOUS effects of our behavior. right now, no one has to care, right. right now, economy is more important. money is more important. it's more profitable to get that oil and sell it and make people heat their homes with it, and run their cars, for example. and if i have the opportunity to earn my xxx billion dollars and enjoy life... why not?
i'm not dumb. i know you can't just say: okay, let's quit money. i wouldn't do it. but. what IS going to change this world and push it into a healthier direction? is there someone out there who will have to invent a whole, entirely new system that can be applied to our globe? like marx tried, like the movie "equilibrium" shows...? what will have to happen?
i'm young still. i might not know everything, and you might disagree with me on many points. but still: i think that the fact that a not even twenty year old teenager has THIS kind of terrifying questions on her mind (and believe me, i'm not the only teenager fearing the future in some way or the other) should wake up at least some people out there.
and maybe get them to try to answer some of my questions in an honest way...
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Should we be more prudent about our impact on the environment? Probably, but the law of unintended consequences tells us that whatever we do, there is a down side. There is no perfect course of action.
Capitalism is not all bad, in fact, it affords even the poorest of it's citizens a much better standard of living then you will find in some of the darker corners of the globe. It's not perfect, but it really is the best system we've come up with thus far.
It's important to realize that all governments are run by human beings, animals, products of evolution. We will never live in a utopia, and many of your fears have been shared in one form or another by young people of previous generations dating back as far as you care to look.
It's one thing to be concerned and seek ways to make the world a better place, it's another thing entirely to worry yourself to death about things over which you have no control, and that you have no way of knowing for sure will ever cause the fall of modern civilization.
thank you, erik, for your quick answer. that's exactly what i was hoping for as an anwer (i didn't really expect someone telling me: "yeah, the system IS gonna go down, in just about... let's see... four years, twenty-five days and three minutes." i hope you know that *g*).
you're right, there IS no perfect course of action. and i'm well aware of the fact that capitalism ONLY bad, naturally not. otherwise no one would've agreed to it. but. i'm actually just saying that i belive it isn't going to be working for a long time anymore. or maybe not THIS exact way...
and in case there will ever BE one trying to come up with a totally, entirely new solution: i doubt that it will be free of burdens. you are very right: we will never live in a utopia. AND you're also right about your last paragraph. though i'm not worrying myself to death really - it's just my thoughts from time to time, and i get lost in them, like you get lost thinking about multiverse.
i find myself a young human being enough strong to not be taken over by this one thought of hopelessness that i think a lot of young people share with me in one way or the other. i am actually (hard to believe, i know, haha) a very smiling person, or at least i was told so. most of my friends appreciate me because i'll always have an enthusiastic twinkle in my eye. and still i wonder: we have no way of knowing for sure if all this is ever going to cause the fall of modern civilization; but if it did: do we, as a mass of people, really not have any control over it? (but that's probably just the rebel thought of the 68-generation blooming inside me there...).
Jooo, wa söll i do no sege... Weisch, i kenn die froge nur zu guet, i überlegg mir da amel au lang und breit. Aber es isch doch eifach so, dass en mensch, au wenn er alli andere, grosse problem au gseht, glich immer zerst i sinere eigete chline welt für ornig lueg, zerst döt mit alli problem mues umgo... weisch, au wenn alles schlechte uf de welt gsesch regts di glich am meiste uf, das de zug verpasst hesch... Verschtosch wani mein?
I glaub aber au, dass jede mensch durchus öppis chan mache, wenn er so lebt dass er mit guetem gwüsse cha däzue sto, en teil vomene kapitalisische System z si... i glaub au, dass d welt no gnueg lang so wie jetzt witertreit. I glaube, dass d Menschheit eifach
I think that is a good point, making small changes as a whole might lead to a greater impact than forcing large changes that won't hold. (? Not my language of choice; Mind)
The sadness that is; without some major changes, we will eventually take the ball we are on and push it past the returning point. At least, with us still on it. I honestly don't think we as a whole will ever hear the most accurate estimations that science has available to it in the darkest pockets of research and knowledge.
If they knew the end was say... Within 10 or even 20 years, they wouldn't tell us... It wouldn't do any good. They'd try to prolong it... That would probably be it. There's too much politics in Science.. (Funding, Research; Marketing of New products.. etc)
The most dire predictions, regardless of possible accuracy, will never see the light of day.
As for the system Collapsing; it is possible. It may not be highly Probable; but it is a distinct possibility. Will it happen on it's own? Probably Not... I think; as with Most changes of a mass scale, It will require people to make the changes... Visionaries and Dreamers; People with ideals worth Fighting for, To Make those changes... Until someone can come up with a new, better, alternative system; I don't think the current way of business will change... And even then, it will probably descend into anarchy First...
Peace Favor You
yes, making small changes in your own environment... it's always seemed like the best thing to do. but, as you're saying, without some MAJOR changes, we might push the ball past the returning point. with us still on it. or my kids.
what i find even more frightening is the subject you, Callused, brought up. the fact that someone on earth might actually know the end was near... and they wouldn't tell us... but what influence do we have on that... (although, i could actually become a top secret scientiest... haha... i'm still young *g*)
Und wa da betrifft, dass irgendein eifach in Irak spaziere chan... i glaub, döt chömmer, so trurig wies isch, eifach nüt mache, (usser e gheimi terrororganisation gründe...;-)) nei im ernst, i glaube, mir chönd nöd meh mache, als es nöd vergesse, und denen Organisatione helfe, wo ebe döt lueged, wo sus alli weg lueged... so terre des hommes oder wwf oder unicef und so... well i glaub, dass ein mensch ällei ebe würkli nöd allzu viel chan usrichte, usser ebe s liecht lösche wenners nüm brucht oder de pc abschalte...aber ebe, d mensche sind chli z fuhl zum mol was tue, wo au chli astrenge wör...Vo Kettcar gits es lied, woner seit: "was für ein Verständnis von erkennen und Erkenntnis, wenn ich sage, Geld allein macht auch nicht glücklich, aber irgenwie schon besser, im Taxi zu weinen als im HVV-Bus" und i han ebe s gfühl dass da d istellig vo no so manche lüt isch... dasses ebe wüssed aber ebe...
Naja, du gsesch, ä Antwort hani au keini, aber i glaub da hesch au nöd erwartet... aber i han d hoffnig, wie gseit, dass d welt no gnueg lang so geduldig witertreit, dass selbst de hinderletst mol sin fuhle hinter lupft und was tuet...
dear michael,
thank you for commenting on this one. i'm sorry to sadden you. in fact, i'm sorry to sadden a lot of people who have read this post. it is not the most cheerful post in the world, i know. but it is, what not only i worry about, but a lot of my friends and people my age, too. it is our future, and we'll have to deal with it. and i am sorry to sadden you a little more when you read through this answer, and i am verz sorry to disappoint you:
i think it's great that you don't worry about things like wars and global warming. i wish i could do that, too. my guess is, that your positive faith has something to do with your beliefs. but as you can see in my second post ("find god"): at the moment, i cannot accept answers that are being given to me by other people, nor from other people who received their answers from god. it is a step that i have to do on my own.
sadly, you might think, my cognition has been rationalized. i used to be able to believe in things. now i don't just believe. i see. and what i see, i need to understand. i will be asking questions for the rest of my life, THANK GOD, and most of them i will never be able to answer, i know. but i am not willing to accept this all as a universal plan of god, because i believe in free will.
so to answer your questions: no, i probably do not understand humilty. nor do i understand humbleness. because i AM hungry. and i am honest, and i'm not only open to hearing the answers that fit my desires - otherwise i would NOT believe in war and global warming and i would certainly never believe in the holocaust.
thank you. yes, it is good to ask questions and express them. i will continue to do that, and i won't stop until i find very satisfying answers. after this response you most probably think that i won't be willing to listen to the answers you find to be true. but i'd still be interested in what kind of a clear understanding you have on what will hapen in the future. because i will live in it.
"The unquestioned life is not worth living."
and,
"There are two easy ways in life: the first is to accept everything, the second is to deny it."
My students always have such visceral reactions to these two statements, which I why I use them. Of course, by the end of the semester, they are better able to understand why they reacted the way they did.
Now, some might think it cynical that one has to "jump-start" students at the start of their college career; however, from my experience, it is the rare student that comes into my class with the level of inquiry that you have demonstrated.
For your consideration, you might wish to examine other "disappeared" and "fallen" civilizations and cultures, such as the Mayans and the Anasazi. While the infrastructure may no doubt have collapsed over time, and the nationality as such vanished, the people still remain.