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Sometimes I wonder if all of the online computers, internet, apps and other stuff makes any sense. We have complicated our lives unnecessarily and multiplied b

Sometimes I wonder if all of the online computers, internet, apps and other stuff makes any sense. We have complicated our lives unnecessarily and multiplied beyond the capacity of our plant to hold us meaningfully or have a life with any semblance of contemplation.

icebraining 10y ago
What makes online computers & etc different? You could say that about many technologies, even about agriculture. Life was much simpler and sustainable when we were hunter-gatherers (I'm being sincere, not facetious). In my opinion, whether they are "necessary" is irrelevant (by objective measures, most things aren't) and simplicity is not a meaningful goal in itself.
- clarkmoody 10y ago
  Simpler, yes. But everyone lived near subsistence, and maximum population density was enforced by war, human sacrifice, and starvation.
  - icebraining 10y ago
    Yet, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anarcho-primitivism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anarcho-primitivism
asdfologist 10y ago
Without those things, we wouldn't even be having this discussion.
- nice2some1nice 10y ago
  Maybe this discussion wouldn't have come to pass in the first place.
adventured 10y ago
Isn't it inherent to your opinion that it doesn't necessarily apply to how other people feel, such that you can't actually use "we" in the way you used it? As a species, we're drastically better off today than we have ever been. That includes calorie counts globally. The human population of earth has far more food than it needs. There are radically fewer famines today, not more. The suffering that is happening in Venezuela wasn't caused by 'complications of modern life,' much less apps. I completely disagree with the base premise, and do not believe our lives are more complex. I believe our lives are drastically simplified versus the concerns of just a few hundred years ago: near total lack of any rights, serious fear of starvation or exposure, constant war, a life filled with non-stop violence and death, almost total poverty, extreme majority illiteracy, constant risk of premature death by unknown illnesses, extraordinarily horrible hygiene and living standards, no stable / functional / trustworthy systems of savings or retirement (meaning a constant fear of not making it through the next year), and on it goes.
- cgh 10y ago
  You are of course correct. By any objective measure, humanity has never had it so good. We live in the safest and most peaceful time in human history, as measured by the deaths caused by famine, disease, warfare and poverty. This is often overlooked in the common narrative that modern times are unusually violent and unstable. We do however face grave environmental issues so it's not all a feel-good story.
botfly 10y ago
You're free to simplify and to contemplate

icebraining 10y ago

What makes online computers & etc different? You could say that about many technologies, even about agriculture. Life was much simpler and sustainable when we were hunter-gatherers (I'm being sincere, not facetious). In my opinion, whether they are "necessary" is irrelevant (by objective measures, most things aren't) and simplicity is not a meaningful goal in itself.

clarkmoody 10y ago
Simpler, yes. But everyone lived near subsistence, and maximum population density was enforced by war, human sacrifice, and starvation.
- icebraining 10y ago
  Yet, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anarcho-primitivism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anarcho-primitivism

asdfologist 10y ago

Without those things, we wouldn't even be having this discussion.

nice2some1nice 10y ago
Maybe this discussion wouldn't have come to pass in the first place.

adventured 10y ago

Isn't it inherent to your opinion that it doesn't necessarily apply to how other people feel, such that you can't actually use "we" in the way you used it? As a species, we're drastically better off today than we have ever been. That includes calorie counts globally. The human population of earth has far more food than it needs. There are radically fewer famines today, not more. The suffering that is happening in Venezuela wasn't caused by 'complications of modern life,' much less apps. I completely disagree with the base premise, and do not believe our lives are more complex. I believe our lives are drastically simplified versus the concerns of just a few hundred years ago: near total lack of any rights, serious fear of starvation or exposure, constant war, a life filled with non-stop violence and death, almost total poverty, extreme majority illiteracy, constant risk of premature death by unknown illnesses, extraordinarily horrible hygiene and living standards, no stable / functional / trustworthy systems of savings or retirement (meaning a constant fear of not making it through the next year), and on it goes.

cgh 10y ago
You are of course correct. By any objective measure, humanity has never had it so good. We live in the safest and most peaceful time in human history, as measured by the deaths caused by famine, disease, warfare and poverty. This is often overlooked in the common narrative that modern times are unusually violent and unstable. We do however face grave environmental issues so it's not all a feel-good story.

botfly 10y ago

You're free to simplify and to contemplate