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I would argue that only when society is expanding does life get better for most people. When societies start to contract, people start trying to get control of
by jeffreyrogers 6y ago
I would argue that only when society is expanding does life get better for most people. When societies start to contract, people start trying to get control of as much of the shrinking pie as possible, and the people least able or with the least power struggle the most. If you want an equitable society, and you don't want an authoritarian state forcing equity on everyone, then you need society to expand to space.
Edit: fixed some typos that messed up the meaning.
- Hokusai 6y ago> When societies start to contract people start trying to get control of as much of the shrinking pie as possible and the people least able or with the least power struggle the least. As right as you are, contraction is inevitable. Even if colonize space, it is not going to happen in any significant scale the next 100 years. So, maybe we are doomed because people in power will always want more power and that creates a downwards spiral for non-growing societies. Maybe that is the "great filter" that await for us. I believe that societies will accommodate for the new situation. Not only Americans, but humans, always do the right thing after trying everything else.
- jeffreyrogers 6y agoYep, I agree. It seems like progress comes in waves. We have periods of advance and periods of stagnation or regress. From about 1000CE to 2000CE was mostly advance, although there were some questionable periods where arguably that was not true (late 1700s-early 1800s, 1914-1945, for example). It looks like we're now entering a period of regression, but it could turn out to be another temporary period of stagnation/reorganization followed by renewed growth.