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>> We're living through the most anomalously prosperous period This. It's hard to make predictions precisely because the rate of change has been so rapid. Wha

>> We're living through the most anomalously prosperous period This. It's hard to make predictions precisely because the rate of change has been so rapid. What is interesting to note though is the varied societal responses to the changes over the last 70 years or so. The US embraced materialism with some reluctant social movement (womens rights, civil rights etc). Europe embraced Socialism (in the sense of Social support, not Communism), the Middle East embraced materialism, but eschewed any form of social development (eg women's rights et al). Right now we're in a bit of a rebound phase. Change has come too quickly (especially the last 40 years) so we're seeing pushback on rights (in the US) on social support (in Europe) and a general political swing to the right in lots of places. There's a "looking back" element which seeks to slow found societal change even as technology accelerates. Predicting what comes next is, well, tricky. But I expect in my lifetime to see global population maximum. I expect to see significant climate change. Both of those will be huge disruptions, and the knock-on effects could be anything

Muromec 2y ago
We are seeing swingback to the right because the threat of left revolution (instignated or supported by nuclear state out there) is less credible now
tsimionescu 2y ago
> The US embraced materialism with some reluctant social movement (womens rights, civil rights etc). Europe embraced Socialism (in the sense of Social support, not Communism), the Middle East embraced materialism, but eschewed any form of social development (eg women's rights et al). The US is the most fundamentalist Christian country in the world. There is also a large degree of materialism, but still, only a fraction of the population of the USA even accepts the idea that atheism (a hallmark of materialism) is a legitimate religious position. What the USA has embraced more than anything is consumerism, not materialism. What most of Europe has is called social democracy, socialism is a completely different ideology (workers having majority control of enterprises). The Middle East embraced Islamic fundamentalism, not materialism. You could say that they also embraced consumerism, like the USA. But hardcore Islamic fundamentalism as we see it today in Iran, Saudi Arabia, or Afghanistan is a very recent phenomenon, born of the last fifty years or less (at any wide scale), and it is at a level that consumes entire societies. These Middle East countries didn't eschew progress on women's rights, they actively regressed women's rights to pre-medieval levels. Iran and Afghanistan had the right to vote for women before the USA: they lost it as fundamentalist forces gained power (actually, they still have it in Iran, but it's significantly affected by other lack of freedom).
- defrost 2y ago
  > The US is the most fundamentalist Christian country in the world. Due to a large population it leads as the country with the largest absolute number of Christians, sure. In terms of percentage of Christians in the population as a whole, it doesn't even make the top ten list. Vatican City, Timor Leste, American Samoa, Romania, Armenia, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, Greenland, Haiti, and Paraguay all have greater than 95% christian populations. The US has perhaps a 65% Christian population albeit many of whom are in name without being particularly devout.
  - berdario 2y ago
    I remember reading about some people joining ISIS for economic reasons, I cannot find the article, but this one makes the same point (that among the other reasons, unemployment is also a factor): https://carnegieendowment.org/posts/2014/11/the-ultimate-fatal-attraction-5-reasons-people-join-isis https://carnegieendowment.org/posts/2014/11/the-ultimate-fat... My point being: being a religious fundamentalist country doesn't require an almost totality of the population to be religious, but just the people who have power (weapons, money, etc.) to be fundamentalist... and the rest of the country to not violently oppose them.
  - bonzini 2y ago
    But what about fundamentalist Christians? Watching from Europe I have a hard time picking the more fundamentalist country between the south of the US and the Vatican.
    - defrost 2y ago
      Does the proportion of Samoan fundamentalists exceed that of the US? Tough question to answer, I suspect it might, Pacific Islanders hold tight to Jesus ... * https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-09-20/the-christian-converts-who-are-setting-fire-to-sacred-aboriginal/11527402 https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-09-20/the-christian-convert... The US wins by weight of numbers, of course, but having the most tongue talking snake handlers doesn't make the entire country the poster child for revival tents.
    - 2y ago

Muromec 2y ago

We are seeing swingback to the right because the threat of left revolution (instignated or supported by nuclear state out there) is less credible now

tsimionescu 2y ago

> The US embraced materialism with some reluctant social movement (womens rights, civil rights etc). Europe embraced Socialism (in the sense of Social support, not Communism), the Middle East embraced materialism, but eschewed any form of social development (eg women's rights et al). The US is the most fundamentalist Christian country in the world. There is also a large degree of materialism, but still, only a fraction of the population of the USA even accepts the idea that atheism (a hallmark of materialism) is a legitimate religious position. What the USA has embraced more than anything is consumerism, not materialism. What most of Europe has is called social democracy, socialism is a completely different ideology (workers having majority control of enterprises). The Middle East embraced Islamic fundamentalism, not materialism. You could say that they also embraced consumerism, like the USA. But hardcore Islamic fundamentalism as we see it today in Iran, Saudi Arabia, or Afghanistan is a very recent phenomenon, born of the last fifty years or less (at any wide scale), and it is at a level that consumes entire societies. These Middle East countries didn't eschew progress on women's rights, they actively regressed women's rights to pre-medieval levels. Iran and Afghanistan had the right to vote for women before the USA: they lost it as fundamentalist forces gained power (actually, they still have it in Iran, but it's significantly affected by other lack of freedom).

defrost 2y ago
> The US is the most fundamentalist Christian country in the world. Due to a large population it leads as the country with the largest absolute number of Christians, sure. In terms of percentage of Christians in the population as a whole, it doesn't even make the top ten list. Vatican City, Timor Leste, American Samoa, Romania, Armenia, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, Greenland, Haiti, and Paraguay all have greater than 95% christian populations. The US has perhaps a 65% Christian population albeit many of whom are in name without being particularly devout.
- berdario 2y ago
  I remember reading about some people joining ISIS for economic reasons, I cannot find the article, but this one makes the same point (that among the other reasons, unemployment is also a factor): https://carnegieendowment.org/posts/2014/11/the-ultimate-fatal-attraction-5-reasons-people-join-isis https://carnegieendowment.org/posts/2014/11/the-ultimate-fat... My point being: being a religious fundamentalist country doesn't require an almost totality of the population to be religious, but just the people who have power (weapons, money, etc.) to be fundamentalist... and the rest of the country to not violently oppose them.
- bonzini 2y ago
  But what about fundamentalist Christians? Watching from Europe I have a hard time picking the more fundamentalist country between the south of the US and the Vatican.
  - defrost 2y ago
    Does the proportion of Samoan fundamentalists exceed that of the US? Tough question to answer, I suspect it might, Pacific Islanders hold tight to Jesus ... * https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-09-20/the-christian-converts-who-are-setting-fire-to-sacred-aboriginal/11527402 https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-09-20/the-christian-convert... The US wins by weight of numbers, of course, but having the most tongue talking snake handlers doesn't make the entire country the poster child for revival tents.
  - 2y ago