Are we peaking?

[belamyi]

I mean, the changes that are usual and more or less momentuous as we have lived during the past decades, are reaching now a major turning point, more THAN less disruptive?

 

[rareboy]

So hard to say.

I think we already may have peaked so everything is a slide downward for this era.

As trite as it sounds, I think the proof will be whether rrrZZZia is successful in Ukraine...and whether we continue to see a slide toward fascism in western democracies.

 

[belamyi]

So hard to say.

I think we already may have peaked so everything is a slide downward for this era.

As trite as it sounds, I think the proof will be whether rrrZZZia is successful in Ukraine...and whether we continue to see a slide toward fascism in western democracies.

I do not mean if this or that has peaked: that happens literally every single day, hour, nanosecond...

I mean reaching a point beyond which people will not be able to lie to themselves and be lied to anymore, when the fantasy of continuity, resistance, renovation, reform, transition, sustainability... will be revealed as the "fantasy", to put it gently, that it is.

I do not mean a bang... I always thought that even more stupid than periodization according to landmark dates is the taking them academically seriously: like October 12, 1492, bang!, Modern Era. July 14 1789 bang! Contemporary Era, September 4 476, bang! Medieval Era, 9/11 boom!.. February 24 2022 bang! end of the Second Globalization Era.
1900 bang! XXth century... with not even a landmark event to disguise it, not even taken from an H G Wells book.

 

[belamyi]

The most stupid part of that sort of periodization is that it takes the start of a transition as the overnight crossing of the threshold into a completely new different era.

 

[belamyi]

The most stupid part of that sort of periodization is that it takes the start of a transition as the overnight crossing of the threshold into a completely new different era

For example, taking the reign of Heraclius as the start of the end of Antiquity makes more sense, not just in itself, according to the change it entailed or started, but more in line with the more sensible periodization derived from other history books that study those times or some issues of those times without having a direct interest in setting lines, but simply mark the division as the necessary consequence of the contrast with previous or later eras, or of definite issues in those different eras.
Like the end of those "Middle Ages", even from a global perspective, making more sense towards the first quarter or third of the XVII century...
The best part is when they would grab centuries o even millenia under a general label, or reduce the known authors of centuries and dozens o countries and empires to a couple dozen, then make very tiny divisions and lengthy lists of the most recent couple or couple of couple of centuries.

Ooops, I did it again...

 

[rareboy]

this is the way the world ends
this is the way the world ends
this is the way the world ends
not with a bang
but a whimper

in the 60's humans went to the moon

today we have to explain that the earth is not flat

we appear to be embracing a post-truth era

one where people don't even want objective truth. tired of being lied to? not a chance. most are desperate to be lied to and to lie to others.

 

[belamyi]

this is the way the world ends
this is the way the world ends
this is the way the world ends
not with a bang
but a whimper

in the 60's humans went to the moon

today we have to explain that the earth is not flat

Because democracy finally triumphed and people who had always remained silent now have a voice... a very resounding one, since they are the majority or, else, the mover-and-shaker part of everyone.

 

[belamyi]

we appear to be embracing a post-truth era

one where people don't even want objective truth. tired of being lied to? not a chance. most are desperate to be lied to and to lie to others.

We appear to be embracing the consequences of what had always been defended without having considered EVERYTHING that it implied.
One where it becomes evident that people never wanted "objective truth", or be better, wiser, and what being "happy" and "fighting for one's beliefs" really entails.

Even in fables lies and deceit are considered a "moral" or "desirable" option by those who would attack "post-truth": take the ending of The Dark Knight... in the attempt of making Mr. Batman a tragic hero and a martyr, the scripts craps diarrhoea on EVERYTHING that the people, in America like elsewhere, is supposed to stand and strive for: holding the truth, enlighten people, free their minds, blablablablanlanla... they ultimately just treated like the feeble-minded children that old-time oppresors always knew that they always were and would remain... because "born that way". The mass who would fight the gift of the opportunity given to become suffering and self-standing martyr heroes like that "Batman"

 

[Peloso]

I mean, the changes that are usual and more or less momentuous as we have lived during the past decades, are reaching now a major turning point, more THAN less disruptive?

All I hear is a ticking sound getting louder.

 

[Rickrock]

I think that it is too early to know if we are peaking right now. In ten years we will know if we peaked now. What I do know is that things tend to go in cycles and circle around and come back. The other thing I think about is that other generations have faced troubles and worked through them, such as the great depression or a world war. This generation hasn't had to bear down and work through a real trauma yet.

 

[belamyi]

I think that it is too early to know if we are peaking right now. In ten years we will know if we peaked now. What I do know is that things tend to go in cycles and circle around and come back. The other thing I think about is that other generations have faced troubles and worked through them, such as the great depression or a world war. This generation hasn't had to bear down and work through a real trauma yet.

OMG you almost managed to say it all in just two lines

 

[belamyi]

The "peaking" term derives more from the feeling I get from the "irrational exhuberance" around, when relative well-being and happiness is trickling down to the less-favored neighborhoods, and people in general seem enjoying what they, on the other hand, feel is being threatened politically, socially and economically...

 

[belamyi]