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“We have fallen upon evil times, the world has waxed old and wicked. Politics are very corrupt. Children are no longer respectful to their elders. Each man want
by Balgair 9y ago
“We have fallen upon evil times, the world has waxed old and wicked. Politics are very corrupt. Children are no longer respectful to their elders. Each man wants to make himself conspicuous and write a book."- Naram Sin, c. 5000 B.C. (Cuneiform tablet)
Every time I hear 'olds' talk about how the 'youngs' are lesser or missing something, I am reminded of this quote pulled out of the dust from 7,000 years ago. That said, yes, things are changing. Just like the Naram Sin's society underwent a transformation from hunting and gathering to agriculture, we are undergoing a similarly sized shift in human life from industrial to climo-genetic-digital. Yes, things are changing, probably not for the better in the short term, but that changing is not going to stop.
So, I don't know, maybe instead of trying to make things like the old times, jump in with the 'youngs' and help fend off the sharks alongside them. Maybe it'll help those diseases the 'olds' always seem to catch: nostalgia and regret.
Also, yeah, those graphs are a train-wreck.
- jashkenas 9y agoA lovely quote. But sadly, apocryphal: http://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/10/22/world-end/ http://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/10/22/world-end/ > "In conclusion, QI believes there is currently no compelling evidence that any one of the multiplicity of quotations listed above was really inscribed on a tablet during ancient days in Assyria."
- abiox 9y ago> A lovely quote. But sadly, apocryphal it did seem odd to me to suggest anyone in 5000 BC would be wanting to "write books" as a means of gaining notoriety. seems a bit anachronistic, but perhaps i underestimate our ancient friends.
- omalleyt 9y agoThere have been multiple civilization-wide collapses in those intervening 7,000 years, so he wasn't necessarily wrong for his time period And until it recently became taboo to do so, many giants of the enlightenment looked back and blamed many of those collapses on moral decay