The past year or so i have become increasingly aware of the irresponsibility of the human race and the way we live. I know that there are some very intelligent people on this forum and I am interested in discussing the problems of our society and serious ways we can work to solve these problems. I believe the best way to make a difference is to start by creating awareness then working as a collective group in order to create solutions. This a documentary i recently watched. It is an interview of a very intelligent man and i encourage anyone interested in society's issues to watch it. The documentary is fairly long so make sure you have the time to actually watch and absorb the information. You can view the video at the following link: Watch www.filmikz.net Collapse.2009 online | Novamov - Flash videos for all If there is a better section of the forums for this thread please let me know.
Creating awareness?? People are so far in denial .. People love the Matrix. They love that blue pill. Fucking love it.
Yes... To become aware of the problems of the world and accept the role you personally play in them can be a painful thing. Most people would prefer to continue living under the false assumption that people's suffering in this world has nothing to do with them...
I blame the monetary system and Human Greed for society's problem. Without a monetary system, debt cannot exist, and without debt humanity will have a vast amount less to worry about. However, human's greedy nature prevents us from being able to form a moneyless society because with money comes power and those with power are unwilling to relinquish it. Wow im stoned this was hard to type but yall understand what im saying right?
Not true, a monetary system only facilitates the transactions. Debt can arise regardless. When you have a fiat monetary system is when debt is inevitable.
I wanted to keep all the words i used common english, but exactly. however, with an economy based on a trade/barter system, debt is much harder to accrue and that was what i was referring to. im sorry I didnt make myself clear initially.
Yea, I guess it's harder to accrue, but life sucks in a barter economy... as the baker won't always be needing shoes from the cobbler. I think a sound currency backed by a commodity (preferably gold/silver) would prevent the levels of debt we've seen arise in the US due to inflationary printing and the ensuing deficit financing.
By my train of though, u dont get the cow untill i get all five sheep, but i suppose if u broke a rule of stoners not to front, then yes u would have debt. good point.
I think Education (or "lack of) is a big contributor. Ways to fix education? Man, talk about a fucking MESS. I had an idea though. In my experience and talking to other teachers, the hardest factor to overcome when teaching is motivation. Everything is geared towards trying to get the students to WANT to learn. Which is really the wrong way to look at it. Education is a PRIVILEGE. Policies based off of "No child Left Behind" are really gutting our education system. Anyone who has an education knows how VALUABLE it is. So why are we forcing people to get something that we are giving away for free? If they don't WANT it... fuck em. It should be a Parent's responsibility to keep kids IN school and PROGRESSING...... until they reach the age where they can take their responsibility for their own education. Schools should be responsible for providing material ONLY. If you got rid of ANY and ALL students who did not want to learn.... school would be a very different environment and the performance of those who were enrolled would skyrocket. Instead, teachers have to spend half their time dealing with asshole kids who don't want to be there in the first place? Now I obviously don't have the exact changes to the education infrastructure that would pull us out of the shitstorm we are in right now.... but it does seem like we are in a lose-lose for Teachers/Schools and Students/Parents. I believe a few radical changes could put us in a situation that everyone is happy with.
absolutely. civilizations rise and fall, but the core "problems" in society still exist. greed, abuse of power, and a thirst for violence existed long before we did, and will exist after we're gone. it is human nature, and i'd love to know the solution as much as anyone else. when you turn on the news, or read a newspaper, what are the pervading topics? war, disease, crimes.. fear fear fear. can you imagine how much differently we might see the world if we turned on the news and constantly saw positive stories? if we opened the newspaper and read stories of people helping eachother? i think that, through the media, we're shown a picture of the world that isn't accurate at all- it's only purpose is to keep us in a constant state of fear/apathy. so maybe that's a start to solving some problems- think for yourself! turn the TV off and see the world for yourself, there's actually a lot of good in it.
The problem: N/A The solution: N/A There only problem with society is a sense that we are more than just competitors in the big game of life. For billions of years evolution has trained every single living organism to fight everything else so as to ensure that one's DNA survives to replicate down the ages. From the very second protozoa eating the very first, to the modern corporation (which is effectively artificially created, complex life) absorbing a competitor company to try and monopolize its environment, life has been a competition. The natural world sees this set of rules and goes along with them. Animals don't care about the ethics of how eating the smaller guy will affect his wife and kids. Humans on the other hand are cursed by their greatest gift; higher thought processes. We lead ourselves to believe that we are somehow different and exempt from the way the world works, when in actuality we demonstrate the most base of actions every day. Take for example cannibalism: a socially unacceptable action that brings with it much stigma from others. If I go out and kill some random guy and eat him, I will probably be locked up or killed. But, if I go out and purchase a commodity that is produced through someone else suffering (i.e. sweatshops, forced labor, etc.) I am effectively committing the same act; killing though consuming. The only way that this is not going to happen is if we can come up with some sort of system where every person has unlimited access to unlimited resources, and likely even that won't work. What people need to realize is that the world is not going to change the way it works simply for our benefit. People need to accept that life is a game, and that all those captains of industry and corrupt politicians people are winning. No person should be concerned with morals or ethics, because those are simply creations of humans in an attempt to cope with not winning. When one can afford to do whatever they want, it is invariably true that they will, and they won't give a damn about who it hurts. The best part about the game that is life is that it never ends, and no matter who is on the top of the heap, their position is always precarious and subject to change. So instead of complaining about how the world is unfair, realize that it is always going to be that way and go out there and compete. Compete as hard as you can because in the end nobody is going to just hand over the power that comes with being at the top and you will have to take it by any means necessary. I probably appear about as far-right as they come, but the way I see it is that the liberal philosophy appeals to the mind, and that the conservative philosophy appeals to the body. In the end the mind is too dependent upon the body for survival to overpower the base need to survive. I have lurked here for a while, but this is a topic I like to discuss so I had to register and share. Plus I love my ganja. Please feel free to debate anything you see in this post, as I'm locked, loaded and fully convinced I'm right.
Perhaps the most basic truth I believe (and it's unlikely I'm alone in this) is that suffering is bad. Alleviation of suffering is good. I think you take it for granted that living causes suffering in others. You're probably right about this... However, I would argue that humans have the ability to minimize the suffering they heap onto others. For example, in your search for nutrients you could either A. consume the farmer's crops or B. kill the farmer and consume his corpse. Clearly the former option creates less suffering. We can 'win' - survive, live comfortably, pass along our genetic material - without destroying our fellow man (or at least there are methods to 'win' where we can destroy him less). I find this clip relevant to the discussion at hand, and even if you don't think so, it's a great clip. Particularly, pay attention the part where Alpert is asked about 'How this affects the economic system of utility' or something or other... [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hW6Dm_m5t4]YouTube - Richard Alpert (Ram Dass) on LSD[/ame]