Why our society is doomed

The reason that our society is doomed is simple:

Humans are, by nature, a social species. The problem is that the very things that keep a complex social order running, things like empathy and the concept of interdependence, have been all but destroyed in today's society.

This seems to be true in most, if not all, of Western civilization. This also seems to have spread to many of the Eastern ones as well.

It could be because there are just too many of us. It could be because our technological evolution has vastly outpaced our spiritual evolution.

My view, though, is that it simply has to do with the sociopathic degradation of modern civilization. If you work in a modern business, I don't have to tell you that it is the people who get ahead tend to have sociopathic traits. If you watch politicians and many business leaders...well, I'm sure even the Devil has a hard time keeping up with some of them.

And it's not even really that we have a bunch of people with sociopathic tendencies running things; that is often how people became successful even in the past. The problem is that people have gone so far in this that we are losing touching with reality. We've become a society of "every man for himself" to the point of being suicidal, even up to the point of messing over our own children.

This is why I believe that modern society will ultimately fail. We've lost touch with the natural impulses that make a society possible in the first place.

reply to post by AnIntellectualRedneck


I think you're right. And I might add that I think the very same thoughts every time I see a couple sitting at a table together and they are each on a cell phone talking to someone that's not there. Or in a car together, but not. We can't even be with the person we are physically with anymore. We've lost that aspect of humanity.

Very good points. I agree that something very basic is askew. I think it has to do with being out of touch with nature in a lot of ways. When I think of how a human might naturally exist on this planet, I see them foraging for food, working on the land for their shelter and other needs. In today's society, we sit behind a box and "work" our brains to get money to pay for our needs. It's such an unnatural existence... And what we've done with corporations, pollution, food, racism, war... It's a real mess, if you ask me.

I think it gets exponentially worse as time goes on, too. The phenomenon of hand-held communication devices has exploded some sort of weirdness that I can't even begin to explain. I mean, there's something VERY wrong (in my mind) when people sitting around would rather poke buttons and "talk" with a device than talk with the people in the room... The constant need for the stimulation of the brain through electronic devices (even music players) is an odd and frightening thing to me. It's like people are forgetting how to communicate unless it's through Skype or they're using their thumbs to do so... Who knew our opposable thumbs would bring us to this???

I made a decision not to own any of these devices and I haven't.

Yep, I think it's spinning out of control. We live in "interesting times"...

,

Yup, totally agree.

Not all of us, but most of us have lost the ability to be connected to all living things on a spiritual level.

Sometimes I wish all technology and electronic communication would go down. Just long enough for humans to have to stop and re-learn how to listen and really hear, how to look and really see and most importantly how to communicate with each other and every living thing on the planet without the aid of email, cell phone, computer...

reply to post by Benevolent Heretic


You are the only other person I've heard about who has chosen not to own one of these communications devices. I made the same choice and am happy for it.

reply to post by AnIntellectualRedneck

I agree 100%. The lack of empathy and compassion in our society is disturbing and I believe it will only get worse. I believe this process has been going on since the invention of television but has had a noticeable increase in recent years with the explosion of internet and mobile technologies. A child cannot learn empathy and compassion when they are staring at a screen, you need human interaction to achieve that. Although I recognize positive advancements from these technologies, they are worthless if we all forget basic human principles.
S&F to you.

What is "society"? I know of the society one keeps, of talk of "primitive societies", or of societies like the RSPCA, but what is meant by "society" here? You and I don't even live on the same continent, let alone do we have any social interactions with one another. Your "modern society" is not only an abstraction of abstractions the use of which is an abuse of the English language, but it is a ridiculous concept at that.

Originally posted by PoeteMaudit
What is "society"? I know of the society one keeps, of talk of "primitive societies", or of societies like the RSPCA, but what is meant by "society" here? You and I don't even live on the same continent, let alone do we have any social interactions with one another. Your "modern society" is not only an abstraction of abstractions the use of which is an abuse of the English language, but it is a ridiculous concept at that.

edit on 13-12-2011 by PoeteMaudit because: (no reason given)

I think number 5 would apply since you're both members here.

society (səˈsaɪətɪ)

— n , pl -ties
1. the totality of social relationships among organized groups of human beings or animals
2. a system of human organizations generating distinctive cultural patterns and institutions and usually providing protection, security, continuity, and a national identity for its members
3. such a system with reference to its mode of social and economic organization or its dominant class: middle-class society
4. those with whom one has companionship
5. an organized group of people associated for some specific purpose or on account of some common interest: a learned society
6. a. the privileged class of people in a community, esp as considered superior or fashionable
b. ( as modifier ): a society woman
7. the social life and intercourse of such people: to enter society as a debutante
8. companionship; the fact or state of being together with someone else: I enjoy her society
9. ecology a small community of plants within a larger association

[C16: via Old French societé from Latin societās, from socius a comrade]

Also, I think he was talking "in general". Really? you have to be that up-tight?

Originally posted by Skorpiogurl
I think number 5 would apply since you're both members here.

Writing a few sentences now and then on the internet qualifies as social interaction? My, my, the things one hears become stranger and stranger.

society (səˈsaɪətɪ)

— n , pl -ties
1. the totality of social relationships among organized groups of human beings or animals
2. a system of human organizations generating distinctive cultural patterns and institutions and usually providing protection, security, continuity, and a national identity for its members
3. such a system with reference to its mode of social and economic organization or its dominant class: middle-class society
4. those with whom one has companionship
5. an organized group of people associated for some specific purpose or on account of some common interest: a learned society
6. a. the privileged class of people in a community, esp as considered superior or fashionable
b. ( as modifier ): a society woman
7. the social life and intercourse of such people: to enter society as a debutante
8. companionship; the fact or state of being together with someone else: I enjoy her society
9. ecology a small community of plants within a larger association

[C16: via Old French societé from Latin societās, from socius a comrade]

Also, I think he was talking "in general". Really? you have to be that up-tight?

... and your point is, miss copy and paste?

Clearly you have missed the point. "Society" can't be "doomed". It can't "collapse". It's can't do anything, because it is an abstraction, a mere ill-defined concept with no existence outside of the this kind of chatter amongst humans. People may die, relationships may fall apart, villages may be abandoned, cities fall into ruin, or entire cultures be left forgotten by those who were meant to inherit them, but nowhere in this grand play of life does one find this universal "society" of which everyone here believes he is meaningfully speaking.

Originally posted by AnIntellectualRedneck

My view, though, is that it simply has to do with the sociopathic degradation of modern civilization. If you work in a modern business, I don't have to tell you that it is the people who get ahead tend to have sociopathic traits. If you watch politicians and many business leaders...well, I'm sure even the Devil has a hard time keeping up with some of them.

This is true in some aspects, indeed. I don't know if it is still the case today but in the late 1980's and early 1990's, people with "disorders" such as Mania, or people that were just a little bit off their rocker would actually get hired in companies that were trying to make big money.

These people had a more extreme emotional state which would actually give them a drive and make them more passionate about what they were doing. Also, it made them risk takers that could land them some big scores. I wouldn't call those people "members of the Devil", I'd merely say they had a misunderstood state of mind.

reply to post by Skorpiogurl


Thank you. I wasn't looking to do a philosophical dissertation or something, as you seemed to have noticed. Also, you put it more coherently and concisely than I could have.

reply to post by PoeteMaudit


I would say society is based on the idea of community. A community, is somewhere we try to look out for one another. Where even the weakest and most vulnerable are valued members of that community and that the community will help those members and not leave them stranded. Society to me is just community on a larger scale.

reply to post by PoeteMaudit

What?
I think you should take that argument back to Philosophy 101.
There exist(ed) an American society for many years. Certainly it has changed over the years, and as the OP illustrates, for the worse.
Do you not think that the World War II vets believe they lived in a free republic? A unique society that was worth fighting for?
How about the Amish? Are they a fiction?
There was a politician from Russia that said something to the affect, The difference between the propaganda in the Soviet Union and the propaganda in America, is the Americans believe it.
People congregate based upon religious affiliation, skin color, social standing...these are societies within a society.
I agree with the OP. Something is horribly wrong. People are disconnected from their neighbor and society at large. Narcissistic, and perhaps mentally ill. Only time will tell what it really means.

reply to post by AnIntellectualRedneck


I hear you. I don't know why people can't just be real.
Too bad we can't all be so smart and perfect huh?

Anyway, I get what you were trying to say... and I agree. Thanks

Originally posted by AnIntellectualRedneck
This is why I believe that modern society will ultimately fail. We've lost touch with the natural impulses that make a society possible in the first place.

I think you're wrong. I think the very things that make us get along so well in social groups, such as our love for our close family members and tribesmen, and our desire to make sure our offspring are protected and well fed and have a better life than we did, those are the things that will ultimately drive us to destruction, because in small doses, we can reasonably work and make those things happen. However, if there are too many of us who all want these things, then we put way too much strain on our environment and destroy our resources. We also devise ways to wage protective war that end up destroying or poisoning our world.

It's not because of our badness and evil. It's because of our love.
And there's nothing much you can do to stop that.

reply to post by PoeteMaudit

but nowhere in this grand play of life does one find this universal "society" of which everyone here believes he is meaningfully speaking.

Maybe that's part of the problem.

Sincerely,
Ms. Copy/Paste

reply to post by AnIntellectualRedneck


Actually, I would say that this is another form of natural selection. The folks who are sociopaths don't have time or money to waste on families, thus their genes will [eventually] be weeded from the gene pool. The kind, decent, hardworking folks will continue to raise kind, decent, hardworking children. Everyone else will be a mix of the two... some will be compassionate, some will be hardhearted.

It all evens out, eventually. We're overdue for a bottleneck at any rate. :-/

Originally posted by wtbengineer
reply to post by Benevolent Heretic

 

You are the only other person I've heard about who has chosen not to own one of these communications devices. I made the same choice and am happy for it.

Same here. I have a basic cell phone which I use only for business calls and calling home when I'm at work. It doesn't even have text messages enabled. I don't have any mp3 player or tablet or similar items, either. I just don't think it's necessary.

It bothers me when I see people with small children trying to get their attention and all they want to do is tap away at their phones.

reply to post by ottobot


I don't even have a cell phone. I just don't need one. I'm with you as far as watching all those people tapping away on their little keypads. It just seems like insanity to me.

Society is just fine and is the same if not better.

The world is worse scenario is getting played out and people say this without any real historical reference.


Crime is down, its at a 30 year low.

If you look at newspapers from 100 years ago, the news reports are just the same. Nothing has changed.

Think society has gotten worse?

Take a trip to the Coloseum in Rome and tell me things are worse. No one is watching gang rape for entertainment.

Look how much technology has been invented to keep people safe at work.

Look how far medical technology has come.

Women have been given the right to vote.

Minorities have been given the right to vote.

Everyone has a right to education.

There is now compensation for families if you are killed on the job, instead of leaving a destitute widow.

OSHA. There are now safety standards for the workplace so your not killed, leaving a destitute widow.

The Humane Society

Homeless Shelters

The American Red Cross

Domestic Violence Shelters and Help

Teen Pregnancy Help

Food Pantries

So many things that people take for granted and say society is worse.

It is an insult to those who have started these organizations for the sake of helping people.