As 1 of 7 billion voices, I write about what is obvious to me. Most of what I think about stems from my frustration with humans. The words that spill onto my laptop come from my gut feeling that more needs to be said about the human condition. My 10 out of 70 billion fingers fly across the keyboard as my dog relaxes close by without a care in the world; half asleep, dreaming about his next meal, the next time I throw him a ball or hand him another chewy bone.
I will never come to grips with the truth that most people either don't care about the world or don't think for themselves. There are many reasons that humans don't notice, explore, or research the expanding issues on Earth. Humans as a whole are submerged in crisis, but individually their emotions, short-sightedness, and brainwashing leave them small minded and self absorbed, with a remarkable lack of personal accountability. If I give more credit than is deserved, and say that 7% of humans are open minded, interested, and involved, that leaves a very scary number of 6.5 billion people who have limited education, limited experiences, hardly read, never travel, and numbly go through life as if their tiny life is all that matters.
The world has changed in huge ways since I was born in 1951 and I set out this week to compile a top ten list of the things that have impacted us since I was born in 1951. As I began this exercise, I was thinking that this list would be about things that have positively changed the human experience, expanded opportunities, and stretched the horizons of possibilities. Unfortunately, as I brainstormed with myself and three friends, compiled, reviewed, and shaped my lists, I began to realize 2 things.
A. Almost all of what has drastically changed since 1951 is related to technology.
B. What on the surface seems like remarkable advances, have actually contributed to the truth that humans are less connected and more brain dead (it is not a coincidence that there is an ever-increasing fascination with zombies) .
(I want take a moment here to interject that their are people very close to me who say I am too negative, that I choose to see things in darkness, and that I should just ignore these aspects of reality and look at life as a gift and keep my rose colored glasses on all the time. Sorry, I will NOT.)
While putting together this list, I realized that more than half of the things that are having a huge impact on humans are not new since 1951. I also realized I could not get the total under 11. So I split my top 11 list into two lists. For example, the explosion in communication has a significant impact on humans, but is not a new phenomenon. Cell phones and computers have changed the ease, speed, and portability of communication, but the truth is there have been equally significant leaps in communication; the telegraph, radio, and telephones come to mind (and a shout out to smoke signals and paper cups attached by long pieces of string).
Another example is climate change. It may be on the rise since 1951, and it is possible humans are impacting the planet and its atmosphere more than ever, but the fact is Ice Ages have come and gone for millions of years and natural events like tornadoes and floods have killed hundreds of thousands of humans for tens of thousands of years.
So communication and climate change head list #2, but clearly they are impacting us as much as everything on List #1. (Note: History repeats itself and humans go around in circles; but that is a topic for another article.) As you look through the two lists, consider how these things have impacted you, your family, your finances, your health, your outlook, your plans, your happiness, etc.
At the bottom of the page, you will see a quote I saw on a bumper sticker last week that got me going down this road in the first place. Let me know if you think of significant things I have missed. Just "Post a Comment" below and I will respond.
#1 - The top 5 new things that have affected humans since 1951:
Credit Cards
Obesity/fast food
Computers/smart phones
Chemicals/genetic engineering/drugs
Oil prices
#2 - The top 6 old things still impacting humans
Communication explosion
Climate change
Religious fervor
Fraud/dishonesty/corruption/politics
Hollywood/Sports/Music
War
OK, now I have to tie this all together in a neat package with a bow on top, because my
9th grade English teacher might still be alive and reading this.
In spite of escalating advances in technology, humans attentions spans are shorter, education is weaker, pollution is rampant, crime has increased, social skills have diminished, health is declining, dependency on drugs has exploded, mindless/pointless stimulation appears on screens in every home and every theater. Consumption and debt have created personal and global economic crisis, the rich get richer, the poor get poorer, the zealots are influencing billions of people, there is an epidemic of Autism, more incidents of cancer, there is more hate, more class struggle, more weapons, more murder, and more war. 100's of millions of humans waste their time on Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook exchanging ridiculous, unimportant information like "I am at Starbucks drinking coffee," "I am buying jeans at Kohls", "I just broke up with that cheating bastard" and watch streaming porn, videos of cats, and endless loops of tragedies around the globe." Yikes!
"The more people I meet, the more I like my dog."
Footnote: Before you get crazy about the obvious things that are impacting us, in a huge way, but did make my top 11, here are a few of the things that did not make the cut:
Bigotry, Education, Cheap labor/outsourcing, Anxiety/Fear, Immigration, Transportation/Travel, Food sources, Clean Water, Clean Air, Haves/Have-Nots, Space Exploration
This is supposed to make you think and hopefully you'll make your own top 10 list and share it with us.
I will never come to grips with the truth that most people either don't care about the world or don't think for themselves. There are many reasons that humans don't notice, explore, or research the expanding issues on Earth. Humans as a whole are submerged in crisis, but individually their emotions, short-sightedness, and brainwashing leave them small minded and self absorbed, with a remarkable lack of personal accountability. If I give more credit than is deserved, and say that 7% of humans are open minded, interested, and involved, that leaves a very scary number of 6.5 billion people who have limited education, limited experiences, hardly read, never travel, and numbly go through life as if their tiny life is all that matters.
The world has changed in huge ways since I was born in 1951 and I set out this week to compile a top ten list of the things that have impacted us since I was born in 1951. As I began this exercise, I was thinking that this list would be about things that have positively changed the human experience, expanded opportunities, and stretched the horizons of possibilities. Unfortunately, as I brainstormed with myself and three friends, compiled, reviewed, and shaped my lists, I began to realize 2 things.
A. Almost all of what has drastically changed since 1951 is related to technology.
B. What on the surface seems like remarkable advances, have actually contributed to the truth that humans are less connected and more brain dead (it is not a coincidence that there is an ever-increasing fascination with zombies) .
(I want take a moment here to interject that their are people very close to me who say I am too negative, that I choose to see things in darkness, and that I should just ignore these aspects of reality and look at life as a gift and keep my rose colored glasses on all the time. Sorry, I will NOT.)
While putting together this list, I realized that more than half of the things that are having a huge impact on humans are not new since 1951. I also realized I could not get the total under 11. So I split my top 11 list into two lists. For example, the explosion in communication has a significant impact on humans, but is not a new phenomenon. Cell phones and computers have changed the ease, speed, and portability of communication, but the truth is there have been equally significant leaps in communication; the telegraph, radio, and telephones come to mind (and a shout out to smoke signals and paper cups attached by long pieces of string).
Another example is climate change. It may be on the rise since 1951, and it is possible humans are impacting the planet and its atmosphere more than ever, but the fact is Ice Ages have come and gone for millions of years and natural events like tornadoes and floods have killed hundreds of thousands of humans for tens of thousands of years.
So communication and climate change head list #2, but clearly they are impacting us as much as everything on List #1. (Note: History repeats itself and humans go around in circles; but that is a topic for another article.) As you look through the two lists, consider how these things have impacted you, your family, your finances, your health, your outlook, your plans, your happiness, etc.
At the bottom of the page, you will see a quote I saw on a bumper sticker last week that got me going down this road in the first place. Let me know if you think of significant things I have missed. Just "Post a Comment" below and I will respond.
#1 - The top 5 new things that have affected humans since 1951:
Credit Cards
Obesity/fast food
Computers/smart phones
Chemicals/genetic engineering/drugs
Oil prices
#2 - The top 6 old things still impacting humans
Communication explosion
Climate change
Religious fervor
Fraud/dishonesty/corruption/politics
Hollywood/Sports/Music
War
OK, now I have to tie this all together in a neat package with a bow on top, because my
9th grade English teacher might still be alive and reading this.
In spite of escalating advances in technology, humans attentions spans are shorter, education is weaker, pollution is rampant, crime has increased, social skills have diminished, health is declining, dependency on drugs has exploded, mindless/pointless stimulation appears on screens in every home and every theater. Consumption and debt have created personal and global economic crisis, the rich get richer, the poor get poorer, the zealots are influencing billions of people, there is an epidemic of Autism, more incidents of cancer, there is more hate, more class struggle, more weapons, more murder, and more war. 100's of millions of humans waste their time on Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook exchanging ridiculous, unimportant information like "I am at Starbucks drinking coffee," "I am buying jeans at Kohls", "I just broke up with that cheating bastard" and watch streaming porn, videos of cats, and endless loops of tragedies around the globe." Yikes!
"The more people I meet, the more I like my dog."
Footnote: Before you get crazy about the obvious things that are impacting us, in a huge way, but did make my top 11, here are a few of the things that did not make the cut:
Bigotry, Education, Cheap labor/outsourcing, Anxiety/Fear, Immigration, Transportation/Travel, Food sources, Clean Water, Clean Air, Haves/Have-Nots, Space Exploration
This is supposed to make you think and hopefully you'll make your own top 10 list and share it with us.
Ok XOQ, well-written. I've thought about your list and compiled my own with some duplicates and some new ones. Here is my top 11 things currently affecting the mindset and behavior of human beings (especially Americans), in no particular order:
ReplyDeleteAnxiety About Everything
Green Thought (Organic food, etc.)
Pop Culture (Hollywood, Professional Sports, Music)
Fast Food
Reality Television
The Internet
Terrorism
Credit
Oil
Coffee
All-In-One Devices
Lucky me! I spend most of my time with dogs! It never hit me so hard as the week after 9/11 and i was staying in a cabin in the mountains with no electricity or running water. I sat out listening to the wind in the trees with some dogs and tapped into their reality. Nothing had changed. They were still present, pleasant and enjoying every breath. This is why I only read the SchwartzReport and when some other news sneaks in I shake my head and say, Wow, their still doing THAT? How silly.
ReplyDeleteThanks Landrus and Gabrielle; you are each so unique and observant. Your perspective and awareness are deep, and I appreciate you both so much. I write because I am. I think because I am. I observe because I am alive. Knowing you are out there, listening and reacting, makes it all more than worthwhile to keep on keeping on. Namaste, Robby
ReplyDeleteI will never post a long comment again without copying it from somewhere else - I just lost the whole thing!
ReplyDeleteHow our small circles of connection can endure. . . . !
I just saw the Hubble IMAX (new invention!) for the 2nd time, and came away thinking about how most of our human problems are problems of scale and perspective. We think we’re so important, but we are just barely a speck in this unimaginably vast flux of universe upon universe. . . . which I believe is only a fraction of the multiple dimensions that exist. Almost no one thinks in terms of the Big Picture or thinks long-term in relation to time. There is always change, nothing but flowing shifting endless change – and yet the rate of change in this particular earth cycle does seem to be accelerating. Maybe the Hindus are right when they talk about cycles of expansion and collapse. . .
By the way, the graphs I have seen on climate change do seem to indicate that the rate of change has really really spiked in recent years compared to what can be learned from carbon dating etc. etc. about earlier cycles of change.
Oh, and – what dog?