Young & Feeling Old

Ahoy mates!
It's been many moons since I've posted on ATS or BTS. However, for some reason, I feel compelled to rant today. My absence from these boards has been of my own choosing; I know what you're thinking: "what kind of idiot would willingly avoid the best forum on the web?" Well, to start, I have come to find the Internet, as a whole, a wearying and vampiric entity. I have grown tired of social media sites and blogs, forums and news sources. I no longer care to see or hear incessant whining and aggression or waste my time reading rubbish. I find the pettiness maddening. I recognize that there are many wonderful things online and the advantages it brings about but I also recognize the Internet as the bane of meaningful personal existence. Let me explain that a little. I loathe the Internet because it takes the fun out of life. When I want to meet someone - I talk to them. With my mouth. And yes, I listen with my ears, not my eyes. I find it much more satisfying. A satisfaction that I cannot attain online - the infinite expanse of material and people online makes it seem as though there's always more or better, denying any satisfaction of feeling we've seen or experienced anything substantial. When I want to know something, then I consult the oracle that is the Internet. The vast archives of knowledge at our fingertips is awesome. I can find information pertaining to almost any facet of life by typing a few words. However, this too takes the "fun" out of the task. Learning feels useless because memory is becoming unnecessary.

Why should I waste space in my brain with mathematical formulas, names of authors, geographical locations, recipes, or any other number of trivial things when computer servers do it for me and will summon said knowledge for me on a whim. If any of you out there were wondering why the younger generations seem lazy and lacking in work ethic - computers and the Internet are the roots and trunk that connect our minds to the planet we live on. We live globally, not locally. Our knowledge is not limited to what is relevant; we're bombarded with every fact constantly without being taught how to process anything. North American educational institutions emphasize the importance of social conditioning over personal learning through the very fabric of their structure. We cannot focus on the here and now because we know that there's too much going on out there.

This is troublesome though. I am a measly 25 years old and I already fear the future. There is civil unrest occurring in countries worldwide, economies withering, corruption and conspiracy rampant, corporations becoming governing bodies, exploitation of natural resources happening on a grand scale, and so many other atrocities occurring EVERY DAY. Technology is only accelerating the rate at which we kill ourselves and our host, Mother Earth. It sickens me to get engrossed in the train wreck of thoughts that inevitably follows reading a news article today. Everything is heinous, obscene, violent, hateful, spiteful, or, more commonly, just outright ignorant. I cannot be bothered any longer to read the propaganda that is presented to us as global news. And really, what is the point? Have you ever tried discussing current affairs with your run-of-the-mill 20-odd year old? They have no idea. Everything you tell them is met with a blank stare and a response of "Oh really?". I am sad to say that my foundation of doling out respect has come to be based on whether or not my listener even asks a question beyond "really?". "No, I'm just pulling this out of my poop hole for you." This relates back to the point about the internet I made earlier - if they wanted to know. they would search it on Google. Not many even do that though. It feels as though my counterparts are as lost as I am but they don't even have the will to try and figure it out.

I blame much of this on the older generations. You left us with quite a mess... though in all honesty I do understand that a mess is all anyone has ever been left on this Earth of ours. I think the thing that infuriates me is that nothing ever gets fixed. Patches are put in place to cover holes in a rotten hull. Political nonsense and corporate lobbying ensure that nothing can get done in a lifetime and as a result, nothing gets done. We continue on our way to demise, yet sadly we don't even have the excuse of being blind to it. What really gets my gears going is watching the filth on television such as Dragon's Den. The attitude of "give me money, make me money or get the hell away from me you scum" is appalling. To the core awful. Do not even try to justify this to me as "that's reality" because that's nonsense. If you're a realistic person then you can acknowledge the fact that we all govern our own reality. I am a reasonably intelligent human being and I am more satisfied with doing flooring for my mother than I ever would be with money in my pocket. The less than 5% of the 7 BILLION people on this Earth who prioritize power and money over empathy and compassion are controlling all of us. No one who seeks power can be trusted. Plain and simple. I know plenty of very intelligent, very compassionate people who could very well lead a country and do a damn good job of it. They don't want to because they know that everyone else in power is just playing a game. While my peers dreamed of being scientists and doctors as a child - I dreamed of being a revolutionist. Changing the world into my utopian dreamscape. I have grown much since then and see the odds stacked against me in every way. You may say that you can't make a difference without at least attempting to make your stand but my retort is that I am not willing to shed blood and for that reason I will not enter into a political battlefield. The farts sitting comfortably in governance right now do not care to listen to an idealist or a dreamer and as one of the latter I do not have the desire to squander my days on fruitless debate with pigs and donkeys.

I am unwilling to shed blood for the simple fact that I do not wish to have mine spilled. Killing in the name of anything is seriously ridiculous; I could make a peaceful protest but I think the time for that has past. In Ghandi's day it was plausible. Today we see what protest brings - limitations, policies, laws, police intervention, crowd dispersal, violence, and the cloud of negativity the media then associates with your cause. Protests are no longer just. They are depicted as a hobby for losers and lowlifes which is one of the most absurd things I've encountered. If you cannot believe that the media is brainwashing you - their coverage of civilian protests should clue you in. They speak for their investors and you do not put that money in their pocket. Never forget that.

Anyways, I'll wrap this up here. I apologize for any offenses that may be taken from this post, that is not my intent. I had no real purpose with this writing, just to vent some steam. I'm looking at purchasing property but am dismayed at the idea of being a quarter of a million dollars or more in debt, not to mention saving up a deposit while staying afloat putting myself through university. It is scary and sad trying to establish oneself in this crazy world of ours. This is what led to my melancholic rant but I do thank you for your time in reading my rambles today!

Sincerely;
Scurvy

So is there a common thread in your rant? If you can find it, that's a major step towards finding a solution. Remember the Internet only carries data and information (there's a difference between the two), and you must still exercise your critical and sythesis skills to gain knowledge from that.

reply to post by XeroOne


I completely agree. The internet can provide knowledge but it can only give you a definition of wisdom. I am generally a happy person and am satisfied with the life I have created. Today feels... odd. No idea what provoked this rambling except an inner sense of wanting to put my thoughts out there today. I'm not sure that I seek a solution so much as a dialogue with people I don't need to trust to divulge my frustrations to.

Edited to add:
My significant other and family members are all bogged down with drama and negative vibes and so my frustrations would do naught but trouble them further.

Originally posted by Scurvy
Ahoy mates!

Well, to start, I have come to find the Internet, as a whole, a wearying and vampiric entity.

I recognize that there are many wonderful things online and the advantages it brings about but I also recognize the Internet as the bane of meaningful personal existence.

When I want to know something, then I consult the oracle that is the Internet. The vast archives of knowledge at our fingertips is awesome. I can find information pertaining to almost any facet of life by typing a few words. However, this too takes the "fun" out of the task. Learning feels useless because memory is becoming unnecessary.

Why should I waste space in my brain with mathematical formulas, names of authors, geographical locations, recipes, or any other number of trivial things when computer servers do it for me and will summon said knowledge for me on a whim. Our knowledge is not limited to what is relevant; we're bombarded with every fact constantly without being taught how to process anything.

Have you ever tried discussing current affairs with your run-of-the-mill 20-odd year old? They have no idea. Everything you tell them is met with a blank stare and a response of "Oh really?"

I blame much of this on the older generations.

You left us with quite a mess...

I think the thing that infuriates me is that nothing ever gets fixed.

Political nonsense and corporate lobbying ensure that nothing can get done in a lifetime and as a result, nothing gets done.

The attitude of "give me money, make me money or get the hell away from me you scum" is appalling. To the core awful.

You have a lot of good ideas there. First of all, the internet is changing the way we think. It caused me a lot of headache at first, but I changed my view of the world from processes / temporal to facts / spatial. I spend a lot of time learning about facts and building a mental "fact network" instead of a "process network" that I used to have.

Also, I am working hard to understand the universe and how it is supposed to work to achieve healthy existences for everyone. I think we are making a lot of progress. I don't think that corporate lobbyists and elites are going to be around for much longer. In fact, I think we are winning. A lot of the fight is going to be done on the internet in forums just like this one.

I'll continue to monitor things and try to push them in the right direction when I can. After all, just because we are winning does not mean that we should give up early.

Originally posted by Scurvy
reply to post by XeroOne

 

I completely agree. The internet can provide knowledge but it can only give you a definition of wisdom. I am generally a happy person and am satisfied with the life I have created. Today feels... odd. No idea what provoked this rambling except an inner sense of wanting to put my thoughts out there today. I'm not sure that I seek a solution so much as a dialogue with people I don't need to trust to divulge my frustrations to.

Knowledge is actually much different, and it's not something that could be gained from the Internet directly. You get data from the Internet, derive information from several data sources about whatever subject, and over time you abstract, synthesise and process that information to gain knowledge.
In my profession, I use basic wiki software as my knowledge base, which I built up over a couple of years. Although much of the initial data came from the Internet, the synthesised material it contains cannot be found online.

Unfortunately 99.99% of people don't recognise this. They take whatever from the Internet at face value, often unaware that information is only coming from the 'filter bubble' around them. This might be what's giving you a negative perception of reality.