I wonder if it's safe to say that we as a species have attained our peak and decline has set in.
@aloysiusmbaba
This is from a comment (the full comment is linked) on a recent article I wrote on self-improvement and social degradation. Wellbeing has become increasingly important to me of the last decade or so, as I have personally experienced a decline in myself and many of the people I observe around me, whether they be family, friends, or strangers on the street. Across pretty much all the individual areas, I believe we have on average got worse as a whole, which is what spawned the comment above.
I don't think we have reached our peak.
However.....
we might have reached our peak doing what we have been doing, and now doing the same thing is leading to our decline down the other side of the mountain. Because while there have been enormous advances in the last few hundred years of industrialisation that has led to all kinds of improvement tools, processes and conditions, the laws of economics have shifted the focus from human improvement to profit maximisation. This has ramped up significantly in the last fifty years with the debt funding that is lining pockets without consideration of the cost on humanity the products and services are having.
A spider spins its web, sits upon the threads and waits until a hapless insect gets caught somewhere upon it. As the insect struggles, it sends vibrations through the strands that the spider picks up and then hunts down its prey for lunch. What might be interesting for some to consider, is that while the spider sets the trap, it isn't influenced by the insect, it is influenced by the vibrations. Lightly touch the web with a stick, and the spider will respond similarly.
What we have to remember, is that we are like the spider in some way, where we are connected to the strands and even if we don't know it, we are getting influenced by the vibrations of experience. This means that no matter who you are, you too are influenced by other people in some way. Even a hermit living in the forest, is affected by the quality of the air he breathes, and that is influenced by others.
The way most of us live life has changed significantly in the last twenty years, where the somewhat novelty of the internet has turned into a compulsory part of our daily lives. This has changed everything about us as an individual to some degree and all of our behaviours also, with pretty much nothing untouched. The way kids behave, parents behave, teachers, workers, doctors - everyone. It isn't just how we interact with the internet itself, but it is how the internet has influenced the way we think and do, whether we are on social media, or looking up diy content, or using generative-AI to create for us. Everything has changed.
However, what hasn't changed is the economic metric that was once responsible for advancing us, where profit could be made from improvement. In the past, that improvement was for the improvement of humanity, and even though it led to a lot of bad side-effects like pollution that was not well-understood at the time, the general direction was that in order to make money, a company had to help people. But over the last fifty years, the general "money=wellbeing" algorithm shifted to a profit for shareholder model. This meant that as long as a small group of people were benefiting, it doesn't matter what the cost is to the entire group. So on average we can get worse, so a few can profit.
Everyone does the best with what they have.
But give "what they have" to another person with a different mindset, different skills, and different thoughts, and the same collateral could do a lot more. And this is the problem we are facing as a global society now, because while we were advancing humanity, because we haven't shifted our mindset, focus and what we do, the same actions are now costing us wellbeing. Many think that if only their country was wealthier, things would be okay, because they still believe that money = wellbeing. But it does not anymore, because money can be made in ways that are counterproductive to our health and wellbeing.
Social media is a good example, as the uptake has been enormous and it has become a diverse ecosystem of apps and content that grab the attention of users and keep them transfixed. There has been transformation, but it has been in a largely negative direction, with the majority of users worse off for the time they spend scrolling, and even those who financially benefit, struggling with their mental health and social behaviours, many knowingly lying in order to get the attention they need to keep getting paid. With all the potential it may have, we are not better for it in its current form.
And this is the case for most of industry today, where companies are able to make large amounts of money, without having to provide something that is beneficial to our wellbeing. In fact, the things that are beneficial, generally struggle in a market that has been able to position desire satisfaction as the core value of the consumer. And while everyone wants to be strong, healthy individuals, we are hard-wired to desire the path of least resistance, the foods that taste good, and spend our time doing nothing, instead of something.
I don't believe humanity has reached its peak by a long shot, but if we are going to keep doing what we have been doing into the foreseeable future, we are just going to keep degrading as a species, and as individuals. We are going to get worse, instead of better, on average. And even if an individual bucks the trend and is able to make themselves better, just like that spider influenced by the vibrations, they too are going to find themselves shifting to the vibrations of society and the communities in which they live.
We all have to change.
At least, the majority of us have to change, and that change has to be one that breaks the current model of wealth for a few at any cost, because that is what is costing us. Shareholder wealth as a metric is fine, as long as in order to create wealth it means having to do something that improves humanity. Not improves how people feel day to ay, but actually advances us sustainably into the future in ways that matter. Profit shouldn't be able to be made by reducing our capabilities as humans, it should be made by enhancing and empowering them. And to do this, we need to understand what humans actually need to have wellbeing.
Again, looking at my simple model of body, mind, emotion, and social as representative of us as a whole, we have to consider what each component requires in order to function fully and improve over time. Good nutrition and movement. Quality content and opportunity to learn and apply what is known. Emotional maturity and management that understands the difference between need and want, and has the patience to develop. And communities of people who can enable and assist personal growth for the purpose of human advancement, which means social participation.
All of industry should be providing clear, unambiguous products and services with these goals at their core, and any business that offers the things that harm these, should struggle in the market. This is a shift away from the current offering though, which targets our vices instead of improving us. Yet, for most to understand this, they would need to explore the whys all along the supply chain to see how the majority of industry is in service to wealth maximisation at the cost of human advancement.
We have plenty of resources to do better.
It is a fallacy that we are overpopulated or don't have enough resources to improve humanity. It is just that with the way we do things, we are unable to improve. We have to do differently with what we have, not reduce the number of people so we can keep doing what we have been doing up until now. Yet most people seemingly don't recognise this, because most of us have been trained to support what we know, what we do, what we have always done. We are conditioned to support the status quo, which is a process of maximisation of shareholder wealth at any cost to humanity.
We are far from the peak of human existence.
But we are heading down into the valley.
Taraz
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The focus now is mainly to provide for human wants and not human needs. That's why the entertainment industry has grown over the years, and also the fast food industry. Production is focused on what we desire as a species even if those things add no real value to our lives. And cooperate organizations know that we humans often rank our wants above our needs and they've capitalized on that to earn a huge profit for themselves while the lives of people in the society are being ruined.
This is the very reason why it seems we've hit our peak when in fact we haven't. We focus on wants that add no real value to our existence, so we feel we are making efforts to better ourselves but it yields little result. If we focus on our needs as a species we will quickly find that there's a lot of room for improvement and growth for us humans. Thanks for the mention.
It is a far easier market to attract. When profit is the aim, it doesn't matter what is sold.
It is like collecting knowledge, but not being able to apply it. It is useless.
There is so far we can go and it could be awesome. But the current model hinges on conflict, not growth.
No worries!
I don't think we have reached our peak, but I also think we seem to have given up on innovating. Either that or we have lost our focus and we are innovating the things that really don't matter. AI For instance. The energy is misplaced and like those scientific rules, the place we are putting that energy isn't going to lead to improvement in the areas where we need it.
Yep. So much energy put into creating nothing that propels us forward as a species - but it does make profit for a few, doesn't it?
That's always the way.
I agree with you on all points, and I appreciate this even being brought to the discussion.
Something that I would like to add is the issue we have with our nervous systems, as I have come to suspect this may be the root behind many of our collective dysfunctions and confusion and feeds many of the imbalances be it economic or social and moral. We have a lack of SAFE SPACES. As our world moved towards laïcity, we have a shortage of sanctuary spaces that uphold a safe environment for us to feel safe, protected and calm. Many people have no place in the world where they are able to experience the feeling of safety and healthy regulation; their nervous system is in a perpetual survival mode with no respite. A major reversal for more and more humans, is that even the intimate home has become the most dangerous place for their nervous systems. So I get the impression we need to examine the nervous system balance with more depth to truly understand, not only what we as humanity really need, but also what we need to create and uphold for us to even be able to function as real humans, as nature intended. Because we can we really follow our natural design and bloom into our full potential, as long as we don't feel secure anywhere?
Yeah, I get what you are saying with the nervous system, though I might not fully agree. What i do agree with though, is the home is no longer a "home" - it is an entertainment machine, and the entertainment people chose is largely harmful for their self, whether it be their nerves, or their self-esteem, their bran, or the body.
The thing with the safe spaces out of the home is, in order to have them, we need a community to create an uphold them. Instead, we are more disconnected than ever, and more violent.
I think when it comes to being human, we search for security. However, it is a fallacy, as nothing is actually certain. To bloom, I reckon we have to accept the uncertainty and learn to navigate it by improving ourselves, and the people around us.
It seem the change from focusing on enhancing human life to chasing profits is clear all around us, particularly in sectors that serve temporary wants instead of long-term health.
This comes back to what I was saying about how most of our jobs are useless for improving humanity. Busy work that produces for wants, not needs and growth.
I agree with this 100% "It is a fallacy that we are overpopulated or don't have enough resources to improve humanity". Everytime I do an inter-state travel in my country. I travel for hours on the road and I see a lot of arable land, as far as the i can see, What we lack I believe is vision, leadership, and selflessness. The Creator did not make the earth insufficient, humans made it all unequal.
Rather than making tools and equipment to improve the land, we make crap that destroys it. We aren't very smart, for an intelligent species.
Yes, I like the spider web analogy. It just reminds us that everything we do sends a message and a repulse to society. Even the small actions we engage in can affect others or the environment we live in. When we are focused more on our collective well-being depends on being more mindful of the vibrations and how actions connect with other people every day of our lives.
Vibrations go both ways, so a healthy society helps build a healthy individual. And a lot of healthy individuals build a healthy society. We are pretty sick as a society, and as individuals though.
We have optimized for shareholder value instead of human value and this thing shows everywhere, mental health, community breakdown and even basic fitness. The resources exist no doubt but it's just being used to make a few people richer instead of making everyone better
Reallocate with new processes, and we shift quite quickly into a healthy society.
That's very true, but I do have a question that's been bothering me with regards to resources.
Since there's enough to go round and apparently what we have is an allocation and distribution problem and we have kind of tired that with money as almost everything has been tied to money. Is there a possibility of reaching a point where everyone gets enough while money is still the system we use. I may be wrong but I feel like money system has been the thing fueling it besides our own greed and desires
When it comes to this matter I will connect with this idea that we may not be at our peak but we are already used to doing it the old way. And this is true we are still using old system to solve modern problems and that is the issue here. If we don't change the goal from just profit to genuine progress we will to see continuous decline and this is a fact.
And that is the direction we keep heading - decline.
Yes, I agree with you. We haven't reached our potential yet. We've got so many things to do. When it comes to tools, technology and knowledge, and when our priorities a and profits depends on making people stronger, healthier, more good and useful to the society.
We will keep struggling if the profits are not beneficial for the growth of others, then it will be useless in the long term. Time for real shift values and it reveals what really matters in our lives.
And if we aren't working as individuals toward the growth of others. Most of the jobs in the world, service shareholder wealth over human improvement. We are all part of the problem.
Well said, this post really hits deep, we truly need to shift from profit to purpose, from money to meaning, only then can humanity rise again
For many these days, money and meaning seem to be the same thing.
yes. there are many bad things.. but also the good. i guess it depends on how u choose to view it. I mean, if u went back in time, or brought a caveman or someone from the middle ages here to modern day.. would they not be so amazed by everything going on and how far humanking has advanced?
we are still growing and got a few years to go before our sun burns out and then what we gonna do??
Feeding our Vices on a constant, non-stop basis...yep. The Big Companies certainly has the majority of us (myself included) on a tight grip
I love the metaphor of the spider and the web.
I completely agree that the problem is not a lack of resources but their misguided use to achieve goals that are often created by the society in which we live.
I dream of a world where empathy and true sociality come first...
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In USA research funding by the government has been gutted this year, so the only research that is being done is the one funded by the individuals. That significantly sets back the advancement of the human species... The rollback of advancement of science and education in US will be felt a decade later as these things have lag time...
I don't think things are improving human condition wise, I think we are actually going backwards and more towards profits driving everything...