Incestious Modernity.

[>>FrEnZy<<]

"Mankind raped the mother earth with the erection of modernity."

Any comments on this quote???

 

[Ikerous]

How could anyone not like a quote that talks about rape and erections?

 

[<RJMC>]

since when modernity hav a penis?

 

[>>FrEnZy<<]

Think about it, besides toasters and vacuum cleaners, modernity has done nothing but given us wars, and allowed us to stuff up the planet.

 

[Ames]

Wars have been happening since the the dawn of life.

 

[>>FrEnZy<<]

yeh, and modernity has allowed us to have larger and ever more unnatural wars.

 

[Ikerous]

yeh, and modernity has allowed us to have larger and ever more unnatural wars.

With less casualties

Modernity has also allowed us to have extended life spans

 

[TheSomeone]

And forums.

 

[Naudian]

Modernity is shiney though.

Shiney > Mother Earth

 

[>>FrEnZy<<]

with LESS casualties?? Need I remind you of world war 1 and 2? are you crazy?

its extended the life of people resulting in over population.

 

[Qonfused]

I have a boner now. Thanks.

 

[>>FrEnZy<<]

......... .............

 

[Cooper]

with LESS casualties?? Need I remind you of world war 1 and 2? are you crazy?

Meh, how many do you think were killed in the many Roman campaigns? Medieval Ages? How about the Greeks or perhaps the conquesting of South America and Africa. War has been around for a very long time my friend. With a higher population comes more casualties, not very surprising.

Yes, some of it has to do with technology I won't deny that. But we are the ones that cause war, not technology. Because of modern society we live longer and most of us live fairly peaceful lives and are able to go to the movies on a weekend and enjoy a stroll in the park. 200 years ago relaxation would not have been possible unless you were in a high station in society.

I believe the quote is accurate to an extent. However, what should we have done instead, its either remain living in nice little brick houses taking a dump outside in the bushes or you use the resources around you and move up in the world.

I don't know which way is the correct way, just voicing another perspective.

 

[AzzMan]

::beavis voice::heh heh, he said erection, heh heh

 

[TheSomeone]

with LESS casualties?? Need I remind you of world war 1 and 2? are you crazy?

its extended the life of people resulting in over population.

Okay, can we get a clear definiton of modernity here? Do you mean from the industrial revolution and there on? Does your definition encompass Nationalism?

 

[ailevation]

Modernity > over some old shit. Mother earth shouldn't mind looking like robocop!:cheers:

 

[>>FrEnZy<<]

Okay, can we get a clear definiton of modernity here? Do you mean from the industrial revolution and there on? Does your definition encompass Nationalism?

yes it does encompass nationalism. My definition of modernity encompasses everything that mankind has believed himself capable of. Basically all the changes that have come from the enlightenment period. Modernity is what happened when Mankind left the millenia old traditions of there forefathers behind and in the space of a few centuries managed to stuff up the entire planet. I would argue that the cause of the calamity that the world faces today is due to humanity's arrogance and unwavering confindence in its self.

 

[>>FrEnZy<<]

Meh, how many do you think were killed in the many Roman campaigns? Medieval Ages? How about the Greeks or perhaps the conquesting of South America and Africa. War has been around for a very long time my friend. With a higher population comes more casualties, not very surprising.

Clearly not as many as today (save for the conquest of south america). Before the enlightenement it wasnt as easy to round up the people of your nation and send them off to war. Armies scarecely exceeded the hundred thousands. In the last world war, armies reached around the millions. This is due to the ability to industrosize war. When you can produce weapons, war gear, ammuntion, etc on an industrial scale, you can deploy more people in the war. In the past, there was no industry to priovide war gear for everybody and send them off too war. Im not saying there wasnt war before modernity, what Im saying is that modernity, has excalated human suffering on a larger scale due to our inability to control ourselves.

As for the conquest of south america, this was a direct result of modernity, as new technologies such as ships, gunpowder and navigation allowed people to conquer south america at the cost of millions of lives.

Because of modern society we live longer and most of us live fairly peaceful lives and are able to go to the movies on a weekend and enjoy a stroll in the park. 200 years ago relaxation would not have been possible unless you were in a high station in society.

look this is my point, I just simply dont think that the ability to go to the movies and chuck a shit in the toilet was worth the threat that the potential of modern technology poses on mankind today. Yes modernity has allowed you to relax more, but at the same time it has allowed for the world to become and extremely dangerous and scary place. I just don't think humanity is responsible enough to handle modernity, look at george bush for chrissake. Besides, 200 years ago, i really dont think people minded shitting in the bushes anyway, My point is, we don't need modernity to be content, there are other ways to achive contentment with out taking such risks.

 

[kirovman]

I hate modernity.

In protest I'm going to throw my computer out the window now.






...






No, not really.

I believe whatever changes occur, however harsh, we will adapt to them. Populations increasing in size naturally mean more people are dying, whether through war, natural disaster etc.

 

[>>FrEnZy<<]

we will adapt to them....unless we die out.

 

[Pi Mu Rho]

and if we die out, we die out. Nature isn't about humanity.

 

[>>FrEnZy<<]

I totally agree. Unfortunately, ever since the enlightenment, man has made the purpose of everything that he does for humanity, and not for nature. This is why we are so unnatural, and this is why we will die out. I, Being a natural human concerned for our survival, am trying to make the point here to people that we should be content with the way we are and live according to our nature, instead of according do what humanity wants as humanity is fundamentally flawed in what they want.

 

[Pi Mu Rho]

Well, good luck with that.

 

[Dan]

yeh, and modernity has allowed us to have larger and ever more unnatural wars.

How can we have unnatural wars? Humans are only animals, everything we do is in accordance with our nature. Humans are just part of the system. Darwinism is basically just common sense. If we are the cancer of this planet, then eventually we kill our own resources and die off, problem solves itself see. If we aren't then we aren't. What works stays around, what doesn't work ceases to exist. Don't worry about it, only worry about yourself.

 

[kirovman]

If we die out, we die out. It's the law of the jungle, we'll only survive ultimately if we are fit to survive.

I think we're doing a damn sight better now then when we were getting attacked by giant cats and dogs in the grasslands.

 

[ComradeBadger]

I'm not sure you quite understand what 'modernity means'.

yes it does encompass nationalism. My definition of modernity encompasses everything that mankind has believed himself capable of. Basically all the changes that have come from the enlightenment period. Modernity is what happened when Mankind left the millenia old traditions of there forefathers behind and in the space of a few centuries managed to stuff up the entire planet. I would argue that the cause of the calamity that the world faces today is due to humanity's arrogance and unwavering confindence in its self.

The problem with that is that it is your definition alone.

 

[Absinthe]

I really don't care.

 

[Dan]

I'd also like to point out the irony that the medium for this rant is the internet. So much for our forefathers.

 

[kirovman]

This reminds me of old people who rant about how things were better "in the good old days, before these new fangled things"

 

[Absinthe]

I find it hilarious that he thinks he's in a position to dictate what is and what isn't natural for humanity.

 

[Element Alpha]

I find it hilarious that he thinks he's in a position to dictate what is and what isn't natural for humanity.

Everyone should have the right to an opinion.

To the OP:
Don't get scared by modernity man. It's cool. It's our purpose. That's why we're here. To evolve. To use our potential. Polution, war, inequality, animal extinction, .... those are clearly problems created by our evolution, but at the same time, they aren't unsolvable. It's true that the only thing that can save us from technology is more technology. You can see it as a good thing or a bad thing. But it doesn't matter. What matters is we give it a good shot. You can do as the amish do, but it won't change a thing. Look around you: how exciting has the world become? I can talk to people at the other side of the world in the blink of an eye. Or I can take the plane and be there in half a day. The world is becoming a smaller place. Not because there's not enough room, but because distances don't matter that much anymore.

Embrace it and hope for the best. You're supposed to.

 

[OCybrManO]

The lives saved from disease and injuries via medical science more than make up for the number of people lost in a few major wars. For example, the "Black Death" alone killed four times as many people than all of World War II... and that's even without correcting it for population increases between the two events. That one instance of the bubonic plague killed more than the top 5 deadliest wars/regimes in history... combined... and with 60 million left over for good measure. War is omnipresent in human history.... but, even if you include casualties of war, the premature death rate of the world as a whole is actually decreasing with time. So, if killing people is your only measure of how good/bad something is... we're actually doing better off with technology.

EDIT: Ooh, I'll be breaking 4k posts soon...

 

[Absinthe]

Everyone should have the right to an opinion.

Never said anything contrary to that. However, his right doesn't make his opinion any less ridiculous and it doesn't diminish the air of arrogance and narrow-mindedness that comes with trying to define what's natural for humans; a species with no known equal or similar mental capabilities. For instance, I could argue that modernity - a product of our existence-long strive for advancement - is very much natural. It's what we've been doing for centuries.

 

[Element Alpha]

Never said anything contrary to that. However, his right doesn't make his opinion any less ridiculous and it doesn't diminish the air of arrogance and narrow-mindedness that comes with trying to define what's natural for humans; a species with no known equal or similar mental capabilities. For instance, I could argue that modernity - a product of our existence-long strive for advancement - is very much natural. It's what we've been doing for centuries.

I'm really not trying to be an ass here, but calling others opinion ridiculous is the greatest threat to this whole modernity question. He's just really asking: Have we really thought it through? Do we know where we are going? Should we?

There's absolutely nothing wrong with that. On the other hand I remember a guy named Gallileo who thought the earth was on an ecliptic path around the sun and others calling it ridiculous and saying the earth is a flat disk. Who's ridiculous now? The same goes for most major breakthroughs in science. First everyone calls an idea ridiculous, then all of them die, and a few generations later people go "mmm... maybe grandpa found something after all".

If you want to evolve, you have to put things back in question. If we are going to do things a better way tomorrow, it means that how we're doing things today have room for improvement. Asking those kind of questions is exactly what's going to get us there. There's no arrogance or narrow-mindedness on HIS end...

 

[Absinthe]

I just simply dont think that the ability to go to the movies and chuck a shit in the toilet was worth the threat that the potential of modern technology poses on mankind today.

That is narrow-minded. And his assertion that we need to forego modernity and go back to some sort of "natural" state is idiotic because we can't objectively define what that actually means. Oh no! Man strives for his own gain! Since when has this been a recent development in our existence? Since when has the prospect of dying out been alien to any species?

Modernity is not the bogeyman and we are not on the brink of self-destruction. Humanity's nature and what humanity wants are, in all likeliness, intrinsic. This is nothing but intellectual wankery in the guise of a doomsday prophecy and I don't buy it for one second. Your use of Galileo is just a vague and barely-relevant analogy.

So allow me to call it ridiculous and you can think whatever you want of me. I couldn't care. I'll tell you right now that this false dichotomy between nature and modernity won't do humanity any favors.

 

[Kmack]

"Mankind raped the mother earth with the erection of modernity."

Any comments on this quote???

it's pretty true, though modernity is a natural course of human evolution, and probably could not have been ACHIEVED without raping mother nature. the thing is, modernity can be MAINTAINED without raping mother nature, once we have achieved a certain level (parts of the world, like the US and europe have already achieved this level) we can begin to repair and halt the rape. while developing countries (like say china) need to continue this disrespect of nature to establish themselves as we (us europe etc) have in modern society, it is our job to start the repair processs so other countires can follow our model once they reach our state. we must continue to progress, but our own modernity should allow for teh protection of the sanctiity of mother earth.

i love the quote

 

[Sulkdodds]

It's a ridiculous quote (it sounds extremely silly, overly bleeding-heart and tree-huggy for one thing). If we're raping anything we're raping ourselves and not 'mother earth'. It's true that we're quite likely to royally **** everything up for ourselves quite soon - pollutants, global warming - but a Year Zero attempt and a return to living in wigwams, weaving our own yoghurt, is not the answer. New technology saves lives as Ocyber pointed out, and in the future nanotechnology and so forth has the potential to change the world for the better. The problem is not the technology but the human nature behind it. Because who'll bother to use miniture assemblers to construct resources from trash on a molecular level when they can charge the poor for expensive goods?

Also, whoever said it's impossible for anything we do not not be 'natural' was exactly right. There is no such thing as unnatural.

 

[WaterMelon34]

Well it IS our nature to kill stuff. You can't stop us, unless God decides to throw things at us like meteors :| ....Please don't.

 

[AzzMan]

It's a good thing ants don't rule the world.

 

[Reginald]

I'd hit it. :cheese: