The World is Getting Worse, and Neither You Nor I Care

As a young person, I have generations of individuals above me offering their analysis of the world. Pretty frequently, I hear statements like “it is so sad that kids can’t roam free all day without supervision anymore” or “life is so stressful nowadays”. Although there explanations of the world in their youth are interesting, it does not dramatically change the way I see my world. In other words, my life (without past luxuries) seems normal and I do not have a big problem with it. Why is that? Because I never have experienced anything different. Therefore, I have nothing to compare this “degrading society” to.

 

I realized this to be true when explaining my favorite childhood TV shows with my little brother. Programs like PBS’s “Zoom”, “Crashbox”, and “Ed Edd n Eddy” were true hallmarks of my days growing up. However, my brother could not care less as he was preoccupied with watching Minecraft Let’s Plays on Youtube. It then dawned on me, absolutely no one, aside from other like minded late-millennials, could ever and will ever understand my TV watching experiences. These experiences exclusively belong to my peers.  These experiences exclusively belong to my peers.

 

I believe that as long as your biological needs are met and you feel secure, humans are indifferent to their surroundings if it is all they know.  This has interesting  implications for the handling of our future.

Interstellar and Other Apocalyptic Movies 

We are all familiar with films such as Interstellar.  In case you aren’t, the premise is that Earth is facing an extreme apocalypse, and for the human race to continue, people must leave in search of a new planet.  Imagine if this were to happen to you! You would be devastated to have to literally leave the home of mankind for hundreds of thousands of years.  The communities you were a part of, the landmarks with personal significance, and even the moon in the sky are ALL GONE.  However, the crazy thing is that your children, and definitely your grandchildren, would be indifferent (as long as their needs are met).  Your stories of earth are nothing more than a story.

 

Our Dream Future

Now, let's change gears to the future we all hope for.  Flying cars take us wherever we need to go in an instant, robots cater to our every needs, unlimited power sources allow us to innovate and create without the limitation of our current power restraints.  This would require decades upon decades of brilliant minds.  Trillions of dollars would have to be invested into projects that slowly inch their way to reaching this state of existence.  However, those born into this world will think nothing of it.  They would not be able to imagine a world without these luxuries.  Sound familiar? This is our existence now.  Most people in “advanced” countries live better than the wealthiest individuals 100 years ago, but somehow find problems to occupy their time.  

 

The human condition is very interesting.  Perhaps this mental intergenerational amnesia of the past is a gift from God allowing us to not relish on the past and live in the present moment.  I think it is a good sentiment to have as we move towards our unknown future.