In the last two days, Israel has attacked Qatar and Russia has sent drones into Poland. If there are any doubts the world is spiralling downward into full-blown war, they should be put to rest now. Poland is a NATO country, and the US has a military base in Qatar and it is considered an ally.
So - what is the response?
Nothing.
Essentially, both Israel and Russia apparently have a free reign to do as they please and all they have to deal with are words of condemnation. But, words are inconsequential if they aren't backed by actions. Yet, the only actions the rest of the world can make are either more economic sanctions (that haven't worked) or sending in military. The problem with the latter is that both Israel and Russia have nuclear weapons and at least one of them is likely to use them.
So the world keeps spiralling.
How far down will we slide before enough is enough and something is done? That something will either be the strongest push toward peace we have ever made, or it will be the final nail in the coffin of our species. And while this sounds like a polarised view, polarisation is the state we live in today.
It is interesting though, as while many people are spending their time on the new iPhone 17 features, or how AI is going to make their life easier, or what the score of the whatever sporting team is - the world keeps spiralling.
It is depressing to consider that we as a species have so much ability, yet we are coupled with so much stupidity. Rather than making the world a better place to live for everyone, we spend the majority of resources making it worse for most people. And most people are getting slowly crushed and forced to continually learn to make do with less, even though there are more resources available to leverage. We have the most information we have ever had, the most opportunity to automate the crap away so we can spend time doing valuable work and enjoying life - yet, how is that working out for most people?
Are things getting better?
Don't focus on individual points, but zoom out and look at the meta view. Are the lives of the average person improving? Is the quality of education, health, the safety in your city, the food availability and whatever else is import, improving? If not, it doesn't matter what individual points are improving and how, if the average is going down, because eventually, life is unsustainable.
While business is constantly optimising for profit, what is actually getting optimised is our wellbeing as humans, where as much is being extracted from us as possible. The optimisation of humanity isn't about optimising for wellbeing, it is optimising for subsistence. How tightly can we be squeezed, before we suffocate. And how many can suffocate before it impacts on profits.
It is no wonder people avoid reality.
But avoidance just means that conditions of humanity will keep deteriorating while those who profit from the deterioration keep profiting. We are failing ourselves as a society.
It is depressing.
But, what is going to be the catalyst of change that pushes the spiral in the other direction and starts to improve wellbeing? What is going to be a big enough event that shifts the world focus? If we look at the recent past, the only things that have really pushed back on the decline, have been severe decline with tens of millions of deaths. Is that hat "has to happen" for us to relearn what we have seemingly forgotten?
We are pathetic by nature.
Taraz
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I'm betting on aliens. I think aliens are going to show up and then things will finally start to turn a corner. Either that or nuclear fusion. Unhindered energy could give people a lot of hope that life can be better. At this point I think people are just to the point where they don't feel like one person can make a difference.
Aliens really are our only hope. I think they should be probing a few of the leaders now.
Nuclear fusion would be wonderful, or some other cheap, clean energy - but even then, would it be distributed cheaply and cleanly?
No, it would be more like that movie Chain Reaction where they try to kill people to keep it from being public. The greed always seems to win.
Yep - this is what I imagine. I reckon it is happening with a lot of clean tech - bought up by corporations and buried before getting close to market.
Yeah, probably :(
Yep - this is what I imagine. I reckon it is happening with a lot of clean tech - bought up by corporations and buried before getting close to market.
Aliens yes but cheap energy is not an option while there are powers who would like to have that thing called control over people and resources. Big Money likes stuff to be... exclusive.
I agree with you there! What if the aliens bring us clean energy?!
I might be preaching to the choir on a loop here, but I do think that while materialistic well-being is at its highs and only rising, it's on the back of the metaphysical well-being. And that is not sustainable, eventually the psychological un-wellness will affect the materialistic one. If the latter is not completely in the hands of robots by then, people seem to be rather slow in realizing that they're not happy, but only told that they're happy.
As to the spiraling down, that indeed surprised me, too. An attack on the negotiation team of Hamas in Qatar, wow. If that doesn't say "We don't want to negotiate at all!", what does? And Russia flexing their muscles is indeed surprising, too, and quite against the up-beat news that the media wants to sell, about the Flamingo rocket and such.
What comes from it? Trump pressuring Europe to also use tariffs on India and China to pressure them into dropping Russia. Yeah, is that such a great idea? Would it work, or would it make BRICS even stronger, the "us against the world" mentality that I mentioned in my post about the AfD yesterday. Because it's just that - not wanting to debate, not wanting solutions, but pure propaganda firing from all cylinders. And that's what they call politics. Arg.
Enough distraction, until the distraction can't overwhelm reality. Will people wake up?
The entire concept of politics as we know it needs to change, because we are still fooled into thinking that at some point, politicians will do what is best for the people. That point will never come.
I'm thinking about writing an argument with the hypothesis that our society is not able to sustain politics anymore, based on my observations that values have eroded and are still spiraling down, and that politicians come out of that society that has no base values anymore. The disconnection between politics and people is obvious, and society is moving away from community, dragging politics and with it, making it as well more egoistical.
As I'm biased and haven't thought it through completely, I'd say that a focus on community as small fractions of society is the way to go for now. The masses won't turn, but it will be easier to manage adversities caused by politics when within a real community. Doesn't save the world, but maybe some folks.
For sure. I'd also add that on top of this, the drive for entertainment has also pushed politicians to be celebrities, without needing to be knowledgeable, or even close to good people. It is more social media point scoring, except with real world consequence.
Absolutely, it all falls into the same direction - downwards. There are so many reasons that it's going down, and so hard to change direction. Would be great to have some instructions on how to make an impact, as small as it may be. Something like mentioned in the podcast in the post yesterday - don't convince the troll, but put contra arguments for the lurkers.
The only one I've found so far is being the best human possible according to my values, and hope it would rub off. At least on Lily it will, and I do see some change in the folks working with me daily, but regarding most people my hope has the same fate as yours.
The challenge for Lily (and all decent children) is that they are going to grow up with a lot of kids that have been raised very poorly, with bad habits and terrible values.
That's why I focus so much on teaching her how to deal with those people. Stoic approaches, communication tactics, self-esteem, a little bit of everything, with reduced complexity (e.g. displayed in selected books for children) for her to understand step by step. It's hard though to be alone in that, the only support I have is from a few other parents in my community that understand the significance of this. Another reason why I cherish community so much 😅^
By the way, how's Smallsteps doing in her new school? If I missed the post about that, I'll look for it. The last one I remember reading was about her making a friend through sharing a GF meal 😅
We are told governments exist to secure our freedom and prosperity, but war, regulatory overreach, and corporate cronyism are shackling us to poverty. There is no hope there. However, people are also seeking alternative solutions based on voluntary frameworks. Open-source alternatives to corporate software, cryptocurrency and silver instead of government fiat, building local communities instead of waiting for government bureaucratic solutions. It's not hopeless, but neither is anything easy. The general public seems conditioned to nationalism, partisanship, and blind obedience to self-profeseed "authorities."
Some how people still believe this. I don't understand how with all the evidence to the contrary.
If Walmart ran a school monopoly, had pictures of their CEOs and boards of directors on all the walls, and taught a generation that Sam Walton was the founding father of economic freedom, a lot of people would grow up to believe it. And that's without the mythology our ancestors built around political systems.
This is true. I am just biding me time until Gandalf comes and sorts all this out.
I first left Russia, then Belarus, and ended up in Poland. Feels like I’m not doing a great job choosing routes while trying to escape all this madness...
And yes, we stubbornly avoid reality until the “war” comes to our home. But when it does, just “expressing concern” is already far too little…
As a realist, I don’t see good outcomes either. But as an optimist, I still hope — and I do what I can, and what I must.
Have you checked your body for trackers? :D
I don't know if things can improve significantly in my lifetime, but I hope my daughter will see some good times ahead.
I find it really sad watching the world slide toward chaos while most of us are distracted by many things such as new iPhones , sports, or social media platforms. It is pathetic to see that the world is going where it is now. War here and there. Attimes, I do wonder what happened to us that we can't have peace with ourselves. If animals could live in harmony, how much more we human. I think we should look towards making this life a better place for all of us. If there is 'real' war among nations of the world, none of us, we wait to tell the story.
Seeing Israel attack Qatar and Russia send drones into Poland makes me worried, especially since there’s barely any real action taken to stop it, and what if it leads to third world war? It feels like those in power care more about profit than people’s lives, while people like you and me are left to struggle and survive with less. I can’t help but wonder if it’s going to take a huge tragedy before we finally wake up and do something to change things.
The more I live, the more I believe that humanity is lost. We are part of a dying species that is smart enough to kill ourselves, but not smart enough to save ourselves.
That's humans for you... We never get satisfied and we just choose not to learn from history. As far as I'm concerned, war is totally pointless because the people who start them do so for selfish reasons. Nations go to war for vain things like resources and lands. Yet, if you look at the people they lead, they're still suffering. What then is the point? Why does peace look so farfetched?
Honestly, I don't think humanity has any hope. Because most leaders today are more interested in keeping their power by any means necessary, regardless of how many people will end up dead than they are with keeping peace.
Economic sanctions can't work either because you can't force these guys to do what you want. Also, any physical action one leader takes against another, regardless of how noble the reason is, would be a declaration of war.
And at this time, everyone is simply looking out for his own people. That was the same stance the US took before Pearl Harbor and it was forced into the war as well. It seems we're all sitting on a powder keg that will most likely go off any time soon, but we're all waiting for the last possible moment.
And I also believe that the rest of the world is watching the US. Because the decision they make would determine how everything will play out.
These are dark days indeed... God help us all.
The point of war is to maximise wealth and power for those who wage it.
Up until that point, they were selling to both sides.
World War is surely on the horizon. I don't think the US can exert enough restraining influence to stop this from worsening. The distablizing of Europe and Asia will have a lot of terrible consequences on the world, including on the economies of the nations of the world. I'm eager to see how the US government will react to these events, not just in word but action. I fear Trump will allow the war-mongering side of him get the better of him.
The US is just words for now. The only actions they will take is when they think they can gain a power advantage at the expense of others.
goin DOWN, DOWN, Down.. :(
I am still on the fence about the whole AI thing. Y not just 'dumb' bots.. I guess too many nerds who are now men, and they are trying to make real r2d2 and C-3po. :P
Nerds need to make the robots so they can finally have sex.
Yup! 😜😁🤙
Is it ok to say that the control of some of the nation are in wrong hands? The leader are more into their selfish being and not looking the meta version of humanity.
I think for the most part, all countries have the wrong leadership.
Unless countries are led by intelligent and conscientious people, we will see more wars and attacks. Someone is constantly looking for an excuse to wage war. While he sits in his modern chair, it is soldiers and security forces who are dying. If a leader can take personal risks, then let him fight.
The people who want political power are already generally corrupt and vicious in the first place. Intelligent and conscientious people generally either do not want such power in the first place, or quickly find themselves corrupted by the perverse incentives it offers.
This can't happen, until the population is intelligent and conscientious first at the very least.
It is annoying to see that as we concentrate on small improvements or fun activities, bigger geopolitical issues continue to rise without control. A new WW is possible in the future, every global economic crisis led to a WW in history.
Yes and we are about to face the largest ever.
Reminds me of the Bramante Double Helix Staircase at the Vatican.
I feel your frustration and concern about the state of the world. It's so scary to think of potential consequences that may arise.
It's so sad that there are a lot of people who have been distracted by their daily life while it seems like a lot of bigger issues just slipped under the radar.
I think if there's a significant shift in perspective or maybe some think of events that force us to reevaluate our priorities, probably there might be some kind of change, even if it's little.
There are many different things happening in the world. However, I hope that the chaos in each nation will end and that everyone will use the popular things for good, like AI, which we constantly see on social media. Some of these videos are meaningful, while others are not, especially for young viewers. And you're right there is a lot to consider in the country, and the true needs of each individual should be prioritized.
This is not the right thing isreal should do.
And it is this view that makes us even more pathetic.
I don't think it is your awkward English that is the reason.