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To be fair, Star Trek wasn't a result of perpetual progression. There was an apocalypse first.
It's also important to note how a lot of the whole neoliberal ideals of perpetual progress and the end of history have some roots in classist sentiment and the necessity of moral luck. The political pendulum is always going to swing and the solution to a better world is to lift everybody up. We are not free until we're all free.
A WW3 so destructive it apparently killed all organized religion, killed capitalism, and left English as the only language regularly used around the globe
I might be wrong but I seem to recall universal translation is pretty recent, like post first encounter with the vulcans, and by that point it seems we mostly spoke English
Well the reason for English is the context of it's a show meant for English speaking watchers.
Technically they could be speaking whatever language that became dominate, but it is accurate to say there is a dominate "Human" language that the Federation speaks. By natural extrapolation of English being the dominate language today for most international interactions, it's a natural assumption.
Well mostly that's because people got pissed that minority and historically marginalized groups were "top uppity" and had to get fascist to put us in our place.
It was really """fun""" to be a teenager during the height of gamergate.
Ngl, the last thing we need is flying cars. People already can't handle 2D driving, and fender benders don't currently fall out of the sky onto people and stuff.
Idiocracy undersold it. President Camacho at least wanted to make things better and recognized that he needed someone smarter than him to figure out how.
Self driving cars could lead to flying cars. One part of the issue with flying cars is 'human'.
The other part is 'energy', it takes a lot less to roll something and keep it rolling then lift it and keep it lifted.
So once we figure out unlimited energy and perfect automated driving to get to automated flying...we'll be 'The Jetsons' in no time. (100 years+ minimum{if we survive})
I have cousins who really think 40K is peak humanity. Like that’s the best humanity can possibly be. While completely missing the point that 40K is a work of satire. They’re also Christian Fascists, so I guess that tracks.
Also had a friend of a friend threaten to kill me because I compared Trump to Nurgle. He also thinks the Imperium of Man is great, and has fascist aligned beliefs. I’m sure that’s just a coincidence!
Yup, nothing more usual than alt-right fascists (with a sweet pinch of religious zealotry) believing that a tyrannical theocracy is the way to go... I´d rather be an eldar lol
Absolutely right. There’s good individuals in most of the factions, but that doesn’t mean the factions as a whole are good. Like the video above explains, ultimately 40K is a war game.
If two people roll up with the same army, there needs to be a justifiable reason in the lore on why anyone could be fighting anyone else. Including themselves. Hence they all need to be bad on some level.
But the Imperium especially is designed to be as bad as possible to the point of satire. Like GW themselves say, they’re a twisted reflection of ourselves when our worst natures are allowed to take control.
But I’m a Blood Bowl guy myself. No more wars, but it’s been replaced with ultraviolet football! Yay? LOL
Their peak of humanity as Christian Fascists is the global worship of a human idol? Or are they just overlaying Jesus on top of the Emperor in this scenario they’ve concocted?
And ignoring appearances, trump is much more Slaneesh coded IMO.
They’re definitely overlaying Jesus onto the Emperor, while conveniently ignoring the teachings of both. Trump is definitely Slannesh in a Nurgle body. But suggesting that he’s not the modern God Emperor like my friend’s friend thinks is clearly a crime worthy of death.
Look at the bright side.... to get to the Star Trek future, they had to go through.... very very rough times on Earth the likes of which we haven't really seen IRL (even if some stuff is concernedly close). Just imagine that we're in a variation of those rough times, and that on the other end of it, we'll get our Star Trek
Up to the 24th century, Earth (pre-United Earth, United Earth, a Pre-Federation Coalition, and the UFP) has to go through the Eugenics Wars, World War III, The Xindi Crisis, Earth-Romulan War, Federation-Klingon War(s? Idk), eventually the Battle of Wolf 359, and the Borg crisis, and more that I can’t remember off the top of my head, it took awhile to get the Federation to where it is now
The optimism of Gen X: In my 20's I genuinely thought we were running out of history, and that the internet would be a big part of why. I said things like "People won't be able to believe ridiculous hateful things because of propaganda and ignorance because they'll be able to look up the truth in seconds!"
The harshest paradox of the Information Age is freedom to edit available information. Not only has it been astoundingly easy to democratize, but even easier for that democratization to erode the trustworthiness of the easiest to access information. In some cases, while it's tempting to think of malicious actors, it's also just as easy for ignorance to compound ignorance.
do not discount the ability of prejudice and bigotry to do the same though... it's not always ignorance, some of these people are just directly malicious towards marginalized people.
Ironic too that we were told not to trust Wikipedia because it could be edited by anyone.
Turns out it has one of the strictest editing policies and does the work to include sources.
Way better than relying on the now clickbait news articles we were supposed to look for.
I'm an older millennial, but I really still thought the same until slightly over a decade(ish) ago. I figured being connected to everyone wouldn't make us all more tolerant of each other, which was the general effect it had on me.
There was an NPR spot yesterday about an Egyptian doctor who recommends a diet of no fresh fruit or vegetables, and to primarily get your energy from activated sugars. No supplements, including insulin for diabetics.
Not even dumb information, but straight up the opposite of what all research says. Apparently this guy is very popular, in multiple mid east countries. Hospitalization is up with many people citing this diet as the one they follow. The doctor died of a heart attack prematurely. People not only are still following his advice, not giving insulin to their diabetic kids in some cases, but some now believe his death was a government/big industry assassination because he was speaking the truth.
Where do we even go from here. People won’t accept the peer reviewed research from historically trusted universities and labs. But they will trust baseless info from a sketchy source totally and at the drop of a hat.
RFK Sr. was on track to be a progressive leader, like his brother JFK. But he was killed shortly after JFK.
RFK Jr. being such a polar opposite extreme of his father and uncle is a grave insult to both the legacy of those men (flawed, yes, but progressive nonetheless) and the country's history. Riding on those nepotism coatails has carried him far.
For reference, RFK Jr. was fourteen when his father was assassinated. In isolation, that would mess up anyone, but it was fifty plus years ago. He's done so much harm as an adult I have no sympathy for him.
Most of them are alright, not the best mind you. And RFK Jr. really drags on that family in particular. His father must be rolling over in his grave with the way his son turned out to be
I was a frontline healthcare worker, so the pandemic was actually hell for me. I'm so jealous of everyone who had a relaxing time off. So many friends are growing beards and making bread and I was working 10+ hours a day and hoping I wouldn't bring anything home to my family.
Honestly you frontline health workers have my deepest respect, I cant even begin to imagine what it would have been like. I hope you're doing better nowerdays, I wouldn't be surprised if it was a bit traumatic
But I still was sad just seeing the behavior in my red was town. A global problem arose, and 1/3 of the population straight up started gently sabotaging any solution.
Yeah every once in a while someone pops up a poll of take 10 million dollars or become a teen again. Boy I HATED being a teen. You better give me 100m to make me go back to having no privacy, no independence, overbearing and abusive parents, etc etc etc.
I remember being excited to get a real adult job and start my career, thinking it'll be nice to be around professional adults doing adult things.
Well the office environment was just a bunch of petty bullshit being acted out with adult resources. The cliques and pettiness between groups was just like high school but on steroids.
Flat Earth is just the stupidest conspiracy theory. To understand what the thing planes leave behind is, you probably need to ask others or study something or trust others. To understand whether vaccines are beneficial, you need to trust that there's no world-wide conspiracy to lie to you about statistics. I can understand a mindset that somehow thinks you can't do that.
But the shape of the Earth: You don't have to talk to anybody. You don't have to read anything. You don't have to trust anybody. Just look at the stars and draw some star charts at different times of the year at different places You don't even need to trust that the bus that takes you to a different place is moving at all. Just look at the stars at the new place.
You're 100% right, but it won't matter. These people are working backwards from the conclusions they want to the "facts" that must be true to support those conclusions (mostly white nationalism and christian nationalism). Flat earth, Qanon, etc are different symptoms of the same pathology.
I had a coworker once, four years ago, try convincing me the earth is flat by showing me a TikTok. I told him you can do a whole lot of things in photoshop, to which he paused & said yeah that’s true.
I enjoy watching videos about unusual/rarely seen wildlife of all kinds on YouTube. Now, I have to actively think about whether I'm watching something AI generated/edited.
The worst part, I strongly believe this will end up negatively affecting actual research/funding towards endeavors such as cataloging and conservation (when necessary).
All while a lot of people (or bots) are eating it up with engagement.
I think social media was a lot less prevalent, and also not fueled by an algorithm that promotes engagement and conflict. There was a time where we could go onto Facebook, see like 5 new posts from friends and then close it because nothing yet was made to be endlessly scrolled.
Of course there were some people who were getting things wrong, but they weren't handed a megaphone yet.
When I was younger, I thought a lot of the 'stupid' behavior was due to a lack of information. I thought the internet would provide a clear gate to the information and, therefore, we'd make smarter decisions.
The flat earthers arent even a problem anymore comparably to all the other idiots nowadays. Flst earthers may be dumb, but at least they arent actively running the government and removing everyones rights. Its wild to me that so many people are trying to actively destroy any sort of human progress. Science is actively being dismantled. Official government websites are claiming things that are verifiably false.
I was born in 1975. I spent the first ~14 years of my life in constant fear of nuclear annihilation, never spending one wit of concern over my future.
Then everything changed. The Cold War was over! We were living in a glorious new world of American exceptionalism! The principles of democracy and free expression had swept the world! Humanity was free!
…So anyway, if you’re looking for advice on how to psychologically cope with the current disappointing geopolitical shitshow, feel free to message me.
I went from thinking things will only get better in the future, to realizing that there are people in the world who purposely make things worse and halt the world’s progress to maintain their empires built on lies, effectively sapping real value from the world for the monetary gain that will sustain their lifestyles.
…….i mean there haven’t been any witch burnings in a while. That is at least something.
Been almost a century since the last truly global conflict.
I mean the dumbest people will always be, super dumb. Even if the average goes up a bit they will drag us down some just by existing and breeding at higher rates.
I think it's a mistake to pin your hopes for the future on people being "Smarter." Intelligence has almost zero connection with believing in things that are true. A CPU with a higher clock speed isn't more resilient against viruses.
I was in my 30's in my teens lol 😂 I'm older now and I'm frankly like " l don't care anymore I'm just doing my thing". I was never that optimistic about humanity ever 😂
So many people think climate change is a hoax 😣
So many people think vaccines cause autism 😖
So many people think Putin have their best interests in mind 😫
…
Me in my 20s: The internet is connecting people and allowing them to communicate like never before. Iranians just used Twitter to coordinate mass protests of their authoritarian government. The world is going to become a freer and more altruistic society!
Me in my 20s "unlimited access to the Internet will let anyone easily research the truth of a statement and followup with accredited resources to discover the truth."
Me in my 30s "He fucking said he was storming the capital for Trump! He said he was trying to OVER TURN THE GOVERNMENT! WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE WASNT A TRUMP SUPPORTER!" "HE TOLD PEOPLE TO DRINK BLEACH" "LOOK THIS IS WHAT HE LITERALLY SAID --- NO HE WASNT JOKING !"
Unfortunately I always knew things were heading this way. When I was in school I was bullied because I had good grades and actually tried. And those same people who were constantly failing and getting in trouble were still given diplomas because the school didn't want to deal with them anymore. So.there are a lot of "high school graduates" out there who are basically middle school level at best.
I remember how disappointed I was when someone told me that evolution wasn't a one way street, and that if becoming dumber and meaner meant we were more likely to survive, than that's what we'd do. I really didn't think I'd see it happen to this degree in my lifetime.
As I always like to say: there are some people that do not deserve a return to the earth in which they tried to salt, unworthy of the even the lowliest of worms and bottom-feeders.
I've been known to blame Star Trek for giving me an unfounded optimism in humanity's ability to be better. I'm both angered and depressed by the realization that nope, this is people, and always will be.
I used to believe that all we needed was one good catastrophe to get people to put aside all the broken systems and stupid bullshit and unite together.
And then Covid happened and it became eminently clear that nope, people are morons. The same people that abused the broken systems immediately propped those same failing systems back up when give the chance to put something functional in place. We’re still dealing with people who deny it ever happened in the first place.
To make things even worse, just like the Spanish Flu, everyone is working overtime to pretend no pandemic occurred at all so we’re guaranteed to be blindsided by next one just like last time.
Millennials got to stay hopeful until their 30s? I had hope up until I was about 17/18 and realised the world was going nowhere fast, backwards even. I’m sure it’s even sooner for Gen Alpha
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