Everyone just keeps acting like its normal
That’s a common trope in dystopian settings.
The youngest people in the society don’t understand that anything is even wrong. The rich folks have a vested interest in people being more afraid of foreigners and domestic terrorists than any government malfeasance. And the working class is so occupied with simple survival that they see no real opportunity to revolt… until something really falls off the rails, at which point the military moves in to suppress dissent with maximum bloodshed.
In those dystopia settings however, they never seem to have all the literature describing dystopia. We do here
Eh, it depends on the author. I’ve seen a lot of modern Post-Apocalypse/Cyberpunk stuff make comedic quasi-self-references by way of media-within-the-media (A piece of modern literature in the Fallout setting describing a “dystopian” world in the self-proclaimed utopian Vaults, for instance).
But the point of the media-within-the-media is often to illustrate how we fixate on the drama of dystopia without acknowledging the banality of social evils.
Right now, in the mostly-free-press parts of the world, I now think that dystopian scifi no longer serves as a warning of what not to do but instead acts as a numbing agent to increased oppression.
This is going to sound very Maoist or whatever but we need more utopian scifi like Star Trek TNG. We need utopian visions imagined for us so we have something to work towards.
It was so refreshing to watch the Chinese TV show for Three-Body where the world was at peace with each other and trying to solve this bizarre global mystery. Sure, the Chinese government was painted as much more competent than American & European governments but Hollywood does the same thing with the US government too.
1984 literally has a manifesto describing what’s happening.
In fact, the brainwashing of the kids in 1984 to report on their parents having / reading / discussing “controversial media” is a major element of the dystopia. Those media are not explicitly named, but I don’t think they have to be.
I feel like this describes pretty much every western society since we moved beyond tribalism.
I don’t think tribalism was the apex of greatness people seem to think it was.
I’m too broke to worry about much more then working enough to feed myself and afford my shitty apartment for another month.
So what your saying is the system is working as intended.
Oh well, at least frogurt is still relatively cheap.
The frogurt is capitalist
That’s bad.
It also comes in plant-based varieties!
That’s worse.
The plants contain potassium benzoate!
It’s really not. At least no more than it has been in the past
Yeah, there are tons of things to make better and improve on, but things could be a lot freaking worse. (For more people, anyway, for too many people it’s already terrible currently, e.g. Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan, Yemen, Haiti … )
The same people that quote that these are the least violent and most progressive times we live in will turn right around and say we’re in an ever increasing dystopian hellhole despite all the scientific evidence to the contrary.
They will continue to bemoan mainstream media and social media pushing propaganda on them they continue to link on THEIR better social media.
You’ll then be yelled at for Green washing and unironically saying that progressives are in the democratic party for a reason despite saying all politicians are the same from their useful idiot basements while pretending to be a Bernie Bro despite him endorsing Hilary, and Biden lol.
What would you have Bernie do after loosing his primary?
The point being that Hilary’s and Bernie’s platforms were near identical. They agreed and voted together on the same issues 94% of the time. More than any other candidate they had ever run with.
The progressive Democrats are not that different from mainstream Democrats not because they’re so far right like everyone loves to espouse but from a constant track record of Democrats regularly becoming more progressive.
Don’t believe bullshit internet memes and lies about centrist Democrats being far right. They’re not. They’re working in the framework of American culture and despite what everyone thinks is going to happen every time we get a forward thinking leader, the government is slow by design and quick changes are not reality for almost any government except dictatorships.
Having a benevolent dictatorship would be phenomenal. The form of government doesn’t matter as long as lives are being bettered. Representative Democracy tends to keep it from going full on off the rails in the span of a decade though.
The world looks like a horrible place, barely hanging on by a thread, until you step outside and see that society and the people in it are generally pretty chill.
Of course, that said, I don’t live in the states. Everything could be literally on fire there for all I know.
It’s a pleasant surprise every time I visit how chill the US is, you see so much news and fear mongering but it’s super friendly and nice everywhere I go.
Yeah standard of living overall is factually better than at any other point in the last few hundred years.
Medicine alone has made getting to or living past your mid-30’s far less hard or filled with pain - even for those in poverty.
And hell I’d argue that if the original commenter really believes it’s a dystopian shit-show…it’s crystal clear how to make your own lot better.
Yeah standard of living overall is factually better than at any other point in the last few hundred years.
Really depends on who you are and where you live. I’m watching my Houston ISD getting torn apart before my eyes. Police were running around UH campus clubbing students and dragging them into squad cars just a few weeks ago. The derecho that blew through downtown knocked out 5-10% of the windows in various buildings and killed the power for a few days. Electricity costs have doubled in the last ten years, while summer heat is up a sold five degrees Fahrenheit on average.
Is my standard of living better than it was for someone living in the city a generation ago? Doesn’t look like it. But hey, we’ve got weird new AI and the stock market is very up. Is it better than someone living in Houston in 1824? Yeah… I guess? But so much of that seems to hinge on having electricity and running water. And the more pipes keep bursting and lines keep getting knocked down, the less reliable these services seem.
Medicine alone has made getting to or living past your mid-30’s far less hard
Average life expectancy has been over 60 years of age since at least the 19th century. A lot of that came entirely out of the advent of vaccinations.
Good think we’re not having trouble convincing people to get vaccinated in the modern era, I guess.
Not to forget, how we now “only” work 40h (for most people), but productivity went up and a lot of down times and social interaction in the past, were replaced by workload grind in a now stressful office environments.
we now “only” work 40h
That’s a deceptive estimate, as the number of employment hours worked across the household has jumped considerably higher. Two income families are the norm while children in low income households are routinely press-ganged into service - either as additional hires or as unpaid support for the primary worker (aiding parents as field workers while the field overseer turns a blind eye, for instance).
productivity went up and a lot of down times and social interaction in the past, were replaced by workload grind in a now stressful office environments.
Longer commutes, fewer public spaces and services, more haphazard schedules (more and more people working traditional “weekend” periods, particularly in retail, service, and transportation sectors), and more unreliable gig work. Absolutely.
People in the ukraine are like: man this is great, imagine living in the 30’s
Except now there’s nukes, end stage capitalism, and climate change… Sure up until like 100 years ago shit sucked hard for just about everyone, but at least there was no way they could literally end all life on earth
Even if we set out to do so we couldn’t end all life on earth (literally)
Lol, you high?
It’s always been terrible, this the best we’ve had, and it’s still still terrible.
Reminded me of this:
https://ourworldindata.org/much-better-awful-can-be-betterI’m still to pessimistic to feel hopeful by this, but maybe someone else can :)
That whole article you linked is about convincing you to be optimistic.
Yes, the world is awful. But it is so much better than it ever was before, and we have proven that we have the means to make it so much better still.
Even if all we did was get everyone up to the standard of living where they experience first-world problems, that still means making the world so much better than it was. And we can make the world even better than that. Even if you’re pessimistic, you should still be optimistic.
I totally agree with your assessment. I think it’s just that maybe something inherent in me is hopeless/pessimistic that I can’t bring myself to see/have this positive outlook, also in my personal life. Maybe it’s just a phase or something
Well, I don’t know your life, but I do know that even if you feel that way, it can still get better. Even if you’re pessimistic about their chances for success, there are resources and people available to help. I have hope for you, even if you don’t.
Thanks for the kind words! I am actually trying to get somewhat rid of these patternes of thought. It’s a long journey, though
You’ve got this.
In a lot of ways yes this is the best humanity has ever had, but it’s also the first time we’ve had the means to completely eradicate life on earth, and still seen to be barreling towards it. (If you consider the last 80 or so years to be “now”)
I’d argue we peaked between 25 and 50 years ago, and now we’re sliding back down the hill.
I’d argue you’re not very familiar with recent history. Also, who is “We”?
Yeah, life without a dishwasher, hot water and toilet was so much better!
reading 1984 as a kid: Wow how could anyone live in England?
understanding the world a bit more as an adult: The overwhelming majority of people just live where they were born and accept whatever good or bad things come along. Making positive changes to our system is a slow process, not unlike planting trees so that future people can enjoy the shade.
me now: Wow how could anyone live in England?
The overwhelming majority of people just live where they were born and accept whatever good or bad things come along.
This!! I’ve been trying to tell people this for so long but no one every listens. Most people especially Americans are the boiling frog. They choose to live in blissful ignorance because it’s easier than actually fixing the problem, and now the rest of us who can actually acknowledge what’s going on have to suffer
Can’t even plant a tree because someone “owns” the land.
LOL… how could anyone live in a country with free healthcare, subsidized higher ed, public transit that covers the vast majority of the population, practically zero gun battles daily… oof, yeah, how could anyone?
pfft
Imagine not having the freedom to have your daily gun battle!
I don’t have that hope. There’s plenty of gun violence in my country and state and neighborhood. I’m not anti-guns per se, I’m anti-fuckwits and universal firearms access is leading to the a real dystopia.
I think this vision usually comes to be when people aren’t aware of how much worse other people have it, or how much worse was in the past.
Sure nowdays there are a lot of terrible things happening, but we have the best tools ever to fix them.
The world needs a bit more of optimism, the only way we can start fixing our problems is acting like we can.
How do you know how bad many of the people have it here? Also, in general, I reject the premise of your comment.
Just because people may be suffering more elsewhere, doesn’t mean we don’t have a right to be frustrated by our current systems. This is especially true in a society that allows absurdities like billionaires to exist.
It is Nice not having to worry the black lung.
Yes, this system absolute madness only equaled by the madness of the mass tolerance of it.
And NOT the fun weekend bender kind of madness I haven’t had time for in years due to capitalist exploitation.
Yeah. Your free time is very limited by the fact you live under capitalism and not magic fairy dust.
I mean, compared to all the other economic systems, capitalism provides more leisure time. But compared to magical fantasy circumstances, capitalism’s a drag.
Never heard of Europe, eh?
Communism limits free time, too. You still have to work under that system. And pay bills. You have to pay for childcare, dental work, travel, food, housing, and just about everything else. Except medicine. But you have to wait for that, and have no choice in who you see.
Depending entirely on the form of communism. Right now the worlds richest 400 have a combined wealth amounting near 7 trillion. In a communist society world wide we could distribute that wealth globally to install water infrastructure, food infrastructure, vaccinate everyone and still have change in the bank to support other large projects.
And this is speaking purely finance. Here in the UK we have more than enough empty home to house all of our homeless.
The amount we work to the resources produced are wildly high, we could work a lot less if not for the bosses ever demanding more.
Well, I am referring to actual communism, not the fantasy kind.
Wealth distribution is not equal under communism. Most is owned by the state, the privileged class still exists. The underprivileged class also exists.
Communism tends to be inefficient and less productive than capitalism, so a lot less is produced. This is demonstrated time and again. People just don’t have a personal motivation to increases production for the state. Distribution is also inefficient. Historically it leads to hunger because central planning is less effective than a decentralized system where individuals are able to make decisions.
So while I agree that the current level of wealth inequality is not good, communism is certainly not the solution. All it does is change where the lines of inequality are drawn. It usually kills a few million people for no good reason, too.
Given that we now have a track record of communism, it’s hard to imagine why anyone would choose it.
well i say if we can go from feudalism to mercantilism to capitalism then why not capitalism to socialism to communism? its again distributing power from the top to the lower status classes, we saw similar in feudalism to mercantilism.
Wealth distribution is not equal under communism. Most is owned by the state, the privileged class still exists. The underprivileged class also exists.
- wealth distribution should be equal under communism, wealth not being equal means we must do better. we don’t look at corrupt corporations and think “to bad its fucked best not make any more”
- under socialism most would be owned and redistributed by the state. communism is worker lead and not state lead at least in my school of socialism.
- under socialism the unprivileged class gets lifted through the transitional period. class distinctions are to be removed through the transitional period leading to a classless communist society.
Communism tends to be inefficient and less productive than capitalism, so a lot less is produced. This is demonstrated time and again. People just don’t have a personal motivation to increases production for the state. Distribution is also inefficient. Historically it leads to hunger because central planning is less effective than a decentralized system where individuals are able to make decisions.
- i cant argue communism and its efficiency as i have yet to see it but i am sure socialism can be made to be more efficient. being from the UK and having the carcass of what was once our publicly owned NHS i know that after WW2 under a Labour government we saw the NHS rise from nothing within 3 years, Labour at the time were socialist. the NHS was revolutionary at the time. we also mass built affordable housing. these are all things we struggle to achieve now.
So while I agree that the current level of wealth inequality is not good, communism is certainly not the solution. All it does is change where the lines of inequality are drawn. It usually kills a few million people for no good reason, too.
so your a reformist?
Are you familiar with twentieth century Chinese or Soviet history? If you are impressed by communism, you really should read up on what happened in nations that implemented it, or attempted to implement it, in the last hundred years.
Communism doesn’t redistribute power to the lower classes. It redistributes power to the Communist Party members - usually an inner circle. The people who are running the massive government that is required to operate a nation with all the central planning that communism requires. The new privileged class becomes the top technocrats and their families.
It’s impossible for wealth distribution to be equal. Wealth is not just money, it is also assets. Say you strip all the assets away from people - let’s say housing - and redistribute it. OK - Now everyone has a house. But all houses are not created equal. Some houses are nicer than others. Some locations are nicer than others. Everyone will want to move into the nicest house in the nicest city, but obviously they can’t all fit. So what do you do? Someone has to work on the farm and grow wheat. How do you force people to work on a collective farm? What about people who don’t want to work? Do they get the same housing as the workers who contribute to society? Even if you house everyone, including providing free housing for those who won’t pay, what about the people who don’t WANT to live in a house? Do you force them to live in a detention center? What about their kids? They keep having more kids… Do you forcibly sterilize them, or do you put their kids into an orphanage, hoping that the state can do a better job raising workers than their lazy parents? And then, what about the homeless? The people who actually prefer living outside? Obviously if they refuse to live in their house, they have fewer assets than others. Now your society isn’t equal anymore, it’s just made some changes in who have wealth.
Yes, socialism can be made more efficient. The trick to it is my introducing a mix of capitalism so you have a mixed market economy. Like in China.
Am I a reformist? It depends on what you want to reform, and what kind of reform you’re talking about. I’d like to see more direct democracy, which I believe can be achieved in my home country through reforms. But in some other countries, it can only be achieved via revolution. For economic systems, a mix of capitalism and socialism seems to be the best thing we’ve found so far. No doubt a better economic system will be discovered someday. But it is not communism. Communism is too extreme. It’s not a good system, and it has failed everywhere it’s been tried.
Potential convicted felon president with many active indictments looking to give himself blanket immunity for all crime and appointing himself dictator president for life. All while every year is the hottest year on record, there isn’t enough housing, actually nazis feel safe to actively demonstrate in public, a million less Americans are alive post COVID and all of the world’s wealth is split between 7 people and all the world’s companies owned by 4 parent companies…
What the fuck are you talking about dystopian?
Those in that million category were probably the lucky ones, the afterlife’s probably pretty dope.
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I’ve read history. I know what actual dystopian nightmares look like. We’re not in one.
“Things can always get worse” is a pretty shit justification to say things aren’t bad now.
No-one is saying that all is fine. Yes, there are loads of big issues right now, but we’re still living better and safer than 99% of all the humans that have ever lived. We are not living Ina dystopian world.
- “We are not living in a dystopian nightmare”
- ”The fact that things can always get worse justifies a lack of effort to make things better”
- ”All is fine”
These are three different statements. Not the same thinfs.
Can we fucking stop with the sloppy quoting? Nobody in this thread is responding to what anybody else is actually saying.
I literally didn’t quote anyone
Things are NOT bad now.
History does not only repeat, and simply looking at the past can make you blind to the novel ways society has transformed. For example, oppression has been a constant throughout history, but it never has been as faceless as it is today. Lords and kings have been replaced by corporations and agencies operating across borders, in ways and with purposes that I don’t think anyone who’s not actually involved with can claim they fully understand.
You really think oppression is more faceless now than before the existence of cameras? What was the odds that a medieval peasant knew what the King looked like? Or that a slave in Egypt knew the face of the Pharaoh?
Maybe they could never see the actual pharaoh, but what I’m saying is that “The Pharaoh” was itself the “face” of power, and also where power and influence actually resided. Now we have surveillance and propaganda perpetuated by either known but opaque actors (e.g. governmental agencies, corporations) or simply unknown ones. You can believe or not in an international “elite” conspiracy, but by that I also mean random teen hacker groups, data brokers, gov agencies of nations other than the one you live in, etc.
And soon no human will be able to understand the main strategy of the company.
Sure the AI can break it down for the humans, but it’s not always going to be easily comprehensible in human terms.
Sure the AI can break it down for the humans
Depends on who built the model, and the selection of the data used to train it. AI holds a lot of potential in my book, if you use it right. But never stop being critical of the answers you receive, and be aware of they work and their shortcomings
Someone in Gaza would disagree right now.
Yeah, and Jews in WWII would disagree with you.
It’s always easy to find a very specific group of people that are having a horrible time, that doesn’t mean that on average, humans live better and safer than in the entire history of humanity. Sure, the last 10 years saw a bit of a down turn, but thing are still way better than, say, 40 years ago.
I guess it’s hard to remember how really hard life could be
Idk man it’s really not a competition. AI powered automated genocide and industrialized genocide are both horrible in their own way and to me absolutely dystopian nightmares. Same way how China uses AI to track every aspect of their citizens lives + also genocide.
The Uyghurs are absolutely living in a dystopian nightmare. China uses technology to track their citizens. You can’t blame it on AI, although AI has improved their technology. Their tracking predates AI. Also our current “AI” is just self-improving algorithms, not true AI.
That’s just authoritarian abuse. That’s the same kind of horror humans have been facing throughout history.
To me, a “nightmare” is artificial life extension for the purpose of torturing people, and non-invasive mind control and neural reprogramming from a distance.
Don’t get me wrong we’re going there. We’re not going to be able to turn back from that course. The nightmare stage is when the ability to off oneself is gone, because the machines or other people own your body at a cellular level, and it can detect and paralyze you when you’re acting against their interests.
On average, I think humanity’s experience will rise. For the majority things will get better.
But for some unlucky ones (and unfortunately, because it will soon be as easy for a kid to do as pulling the wings off a fly, eventually there will be countless trillions of those people), all the usual stops and limits to suffering will ne raised only to usher in a continual flow of pain beyond anything they can imagine, for orders of magnitude beyond their normal lifespan.
But even if that only happens to one person, that is an indescribable nightmare.
My sincere hope is that in the long run, during the war for control of the galaxy, the resources necessary to maintain these eternal torture cloud instances will be reallocated to the war effort.
That’s the only eventual escape I see for those people, now that I know the depth of sadism that exists in the world.
I think we’re headed for a nightmare, but we’re not there yet.
Their situation could easily be the setting of a dystopian novel written 30 years ago. Your nightmare future is essentially the Matrix.
By the way, people have been kept alive and prevented from killing themselves to allow further torture for a long time. It’s why there’s doctors at Guantanamo Bay. And suicide watch in prison.
Can you explain why 40 years ago was worse, as a whole?
I look at the 80’s and I see affordable housing, the fall of the Berlin wall, the birth of the internet, and a ton of economic upturn for the US (including way higher wages if you adjust for inflation.)
This decade is popularly referred to as the “decade of decadence.”
The fall of the Berlin Wall was the end of the 1980s. It was such an amazing and joyous event specifically because of the level of mastery generated by the previous arrangement of Berlin being split in half and people in East Berlin needing a wall and razor and armed guards to block them from moving out of the area.
40 years ago people were literally living in 1984
Sure, the last 10 years saw a bit of a down turn, but thing are still way better than, say, 40 years ago.
What’s funny is if you don’t include the improvements in China which skew the average then the rest of the world has gotten noticeably worse than it was forty years ago.
The homeless veterans in my city park disagree.
Yeah, it was much better before when vets died from gangrene swallowing their bodies. No vets - no problems!
Even a poor person in any EU country lives much better than any king a mere 200 years ago. Healthcare, painkillers, food safety, clean water, indoor plumbing, freedom of religion and expression, and in the palm of your hand all the knowledge, pr0n and memes you heart desires. Probably a few items less on that list in freedom land, but still not that bad.
They eat cleaner food and have more amenities than a King, but they certainly don’t live better. The point of the article is that the rising tide is floating a few boats wayyyy higher than the rest, and the overall growth does not justify the fact that people still die of hunger, get evicted while working multiple jobs, fall ill and are saddled by medical dept for life (US only), and shit like that.
I don’t think anyone dies of hunger in the developed world, even the US. No evictions in many EU countries either, even if you don’t have a job at all you get unemployment that is high enough for a reasonable apartment.
I can only speak about the US, but sadly, the unhoused die of hunger, preventable disease, and exposure all the time here. And unemployment does not cover a 1 bedroom apartment in major cities, nor does it qualify you for the outrageous requirements of most leases. You may be right about the status of the poor in the EU though.
And so we go, on with our lives
We know the truth but prefer lies
Lies are simple, simple is bliss
Why go against tradition when we can
Admit defeat, live in decline
Be the victim of our own design
The status quo, built on suspect
Why would anyone stick out their neck?Fellow members
Club “We’ve got ours”
I’d like to introduce you to our host
He’s got his and I’ve got mine
Meet the declineNOFX - The Decline
This song, by a comedian, is a showcase of the hopeless, fucked up, irredeemable, state of humanity.
These 2 particular lines brings a tidal wave of emotions:
20 thousand years of this, seven more to go
The quiet comprehending of the ending of it all (Actually, the whole song, the whole album gets me)
That Funny Feeling ~ Bo Burnham
Stunning 8K-resolution meditation app. In honor of the revolution, it’s half off at the GAP. Deadpool’s self-awareness, loving parents, harmless fun. The backlash to the backlash to the thing that’s just begun.
There it is again, that funny feeling That funny feeling There it is again, that funny feeling That funny feeling
The surgeon generals’ pop-up shop, Robert Iger’s face. Discount Etsy agitprop, Bugles’ take on race. Female Colonel Sanders, easy answers, civil war. The whole world at your fingertips, the ocean at your door.
Live-action Lion King, the Pepsi Halftime Show. 20 thousand years of this, seven more to go. Carpool Karaoke, Steve Aoki, Logan Paul. A gift shop at the gun range, a mass shooting at the mall.
There it is again, that funny feeling That funny feeling There it is again, that funny feeling That funny feeling
Reading Pornhub’s terms of service, going for a drive. And obeying all the traffic laws in Grand Theft Auto five. Full agoraphobic, losing focus, cover blown. A book on getting better hand-delivered by a drone.
Total disassociation, fully out your mind. Googling “derealization”, hating what you find. That unapparent summer air in early fall. The quiet comprehending of the ending of it all.
There it is again, that funny feeling That funny feeling There it is again, that funny feeling That funny feeling
Hey, what can you say? We were overdue But it’ll be over soon, you wait Hey, what can you say? We were overdue But it’ll be over soon, just wait, ba-da-da, ba-da-da, ba-da-da-da-da-da
This the way the world ends. Not with a bang, but a whimper.
T.S. Eliot - The Hollow Men
About a year after it came out, I was singing along with it during a depressive episode and realized ‘seven’ wasn’t accurate anymore. It freaked me out, but I realized that part of the nature of the song is the impending doom, and I have to change the lyrics when I get to that part.
…Four more to go.
Don’t forget to factor in the time between him writing, recording, and releasing it.
One of my favorite songs of all time. I revisit it once a year or so but have to be careful because as much as I love it, it can put me in a dark place. I’ve urged a lot of friends to give it a listen while paying attention to the lyrics but that seems to be quite a commitment for most people 😂
Just in case, this year is your last chance to see them live. Thought you might want to know that 😊
Yea I just saw that in my feed. I’ve never seen them live (though I hear they suck live 😜) so I should def try.
I missed them my whole life, until this year. Crossed half the country. It was amazing.
Like as in you traveled across the country to see them? If so, that sounds fun. I’ve driven across 3-4 times (assuming you mean the US) and it’s been a lot of fun each time.
It would be really great to see them for me this time since they are playing with the Descendants (the two were my introduction into punk music)!
Like as in you traveled across the country to see them?
Yes! Although in a smaller country than the USA, with high speed trains 😇
they are playing with the Descendants
Oh cool!
Only moron and genius would fight a losing battle against the super ego.
No. I’m familiar with history. It is normal.
What’s the other option?
We just need to have some bell riots and WW3 and then bam star trek
Don’t forget to add a little bit of post-atomic horror!
Are you telling me you can’t even imagine a better world?
I think that they mean you still have to eat and sleep and try to have joy in your life.
It’s easy if you try.
Nothing to kill or die for, and no religion too
Can you simply imagine things into existence?
You can act them into existence, but you’ll never even start if you can’t imagine anything better, even if that’s just “we should improve society somewhat.”
Not a dystopian nightmare?
Your nightmare is someone else’s dream.
My nightmare is a libertarian’s wet dream?
No idea. Never met a libertarian.
No realistic society can satisfy everyone, because when it comes to individual desires, “we the people” falls apart.
How about a society that isn’t predicated on the exploitation of others?
Some societies are objectively more pleasant to humans than others, otherwise we wouldn’t strive at all
Any society needs resources. In order for a society to grow or maintain itself, their consumption of resources must not exceed the production of it. Should we pursue a society that doesn’t depend on the heavy exploitation of resources, it would mean to severely limit the reproduction of its population within the society’s means of sustaining them. Our planet does not have the capability to sustain our current 8 billion population.
Many of us will die and after that many would be restricted in their rights for procreation.
As such, while those societies might be pleasant for some humans, the ones it needs to get rid of to achieve its desired status won’t be too happy with it needing them gone.
I think it’s doable. Sure we won’t have so much cheap crap in the north, but no one needs to starve.
Moving on from class society
People all over the world have agency.
People are not acting, they are desensitized… we all are in some capacity, the difference being the few who can recognise this😅
I’d say it’s less about being desensitized, and more about the fact that the world has never been a utopia. This “dystopian” stuff has always been happening.
That’s because a lot of people are profiting from things being the way they are. And the rest of them are too scared and traumatized to risk saying anything.
Literally gives me anxiety to the point I need meds
With you.
Nice that meds exist though.
