There are so many examples throughout history of things that were, in retrospect, unconscionable, but that were unrecognized at the time. I often think about what practices we are currently engaged in that will be judged by future generations as absurd or morally wrong or just plain sick. But its difficult, because, of course, we can only see with the moral and historical perspective that currently exists. Hindsight isn't possible in the present. What do you think? What is the worst thing about now that we accept as common, everyday practice?
I was talking with recently, and he suggested that our food delivery system is probably the most accepted, but most morally corrupt thing in our modern world. I can't disagree. This question bothers me a lot, however, so I am very curious for any thoughts.
I like the idea... :) http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/38827...
On a lighter note, perhaps they will find it quaint (or horrifying) that people used to drive their own cars. Maybe one day I'll tell my grandchildren of a time when huge box-like machines rushed by each other on massive expanses of concrete, separated only by painted white lines and contained by crude metal guard rails, killing a million people a year in fiery collisions caused by human error. Additionally, they ran on fossil fuels and pumped out poisonous gases from the rear. Almost everyone owned one!
No-liability ownership of imaginary legal properties called corporations required to compete with each other for growing profits by chewing up resources at a rate that's created the greatest mass extinction since the Cretaceous period. Pollution from industrial processes that threatens entire oceans and the climate of the whole planet. Sweatshops populated by people working around the clock for starvation wages who churn out disposable, meaningless, goods which we end up burying in the ground after a few days or years. Middle class debt slaves running around and around in a rat race to avoid bankruptcy. Colonization, warfare, and coerced "free trade" treaties to force the system on everyone on the planet and create bigger markets. Our economics has to be the most depraved thing to come out of the Enlightenment.
Yeah, it all seems pretty bleak when you put it that way. The system will NEVER CHANGE itself though, it needs to implode or be over-run by force. What do you think the catalyst will be? Will there be one or will we just run that rat race right in to our own annihilation?
We've made the economy our dominant institution. If we wish to regain control over it, or replace it, we'll have to strengthen our other institutions, which will mean making them independent of the economy first. It'll happen, but who knows what will spur the change or when it'll occur.
Also, spacefaring. People saying humans should "spend the money down here", as if we were not already part of the universe, makes me nuts. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kardashev_scale And guns. People say "sometimes, war is the only way." I have a gut feeling that's just not true. If you have to resort to violence, even through intimidation, then you're not resolving a conflict, you're imposing a solution. I don't think this method has a long-term duration. http://www.ted.com/talks/peter_van_uhm_why_i_chose_a_gun.htm...
Anyways, to give a couple of answers to your question What do you think? What is the worst thing about now that we accept as common, everyday practice? 1. "Can you believe they didn't know how to prevent all cancers and that they used to irradiate the body to treat cancer?... even HEALTHY cells"? 2. "Can you believe they used to only have 2 parties and that money played a role in politics"? 3. "Can you believe that Hockey wasn't the most popular spot in the United States"? 4. "Can you believe that people were called "minorities" based on things such as sexual preference, skin color, and ethnicity? 5. "What was cash? Why didn't people just use their credit ring?" -That ones for you 6. "Intelligent design? WTF was that all about" Panel, if any of these things come to pass... you'll hear about it on wait, wait don't tell me, the NPR news quiz. ;) That was fun.
I get the lure of meat. Thing tastes fucking good! I didn't become a vegetarian on my own account. Most of it was because of my girlfriend. Sometimes it was hard - not like detoxing in Trainspotting (http://youtu.be/OaSuSnUJm3E), jesus, no - but it was a hard habit to break. Only after I cut down on red meat, I realized how the goddamn thing is everywhere and how it comprised most of the food on my plate. So, if I may, I don't think you're addicted, I think it may just be the habit. "Custom is the great guide to human life." -- David Hume
Although it's already controversial, I can imagine that unmanned drones killing people will not be judged by history very well. In fact, the act of nations waging war altogether looks less and less reasonable when we can have conversations like this one with people from all over the world. Wars are becoming more ridiculous but no less tragic. Unfortunately we in the US are not a nation at war. Our nation is doing some war, but I couldn't personally tell you how well or badly it's going from my own experience. Drones help take that to an extreme, and that's why I think they will be judged poorly. Aside from factory farming, I have to look at the urban ghettos in the US that are almost completely ignored by middle class and upper class society. So much that goes with this, especially the racial disparity and incarceration rates, this is going to be judged with horror. Look at the public schools in Detroit Michigan. IMO the mindset of slavery is alive in the US. It will be asked how something like that could occur in the 'wealthiest nation' without a genuine moral deficit.