I understand that the premise of this thread is probably faulty because it presumes that the world as a whole can get better or worse in ways we can measure (that might be true in the case of huge things like global warming or hypothetical nuclear war), but it does seem like after a long series of crises upon crises that seemed to be going without answer, the last few weeks have seen a lot of partial reversals and a lot of international commitments.
Here's what I mean.
Global warming--addressed in my other thread.
The Ukraine crisis--The ceasefire has been holding despite (frequent, but minor) violations on both sides, and while the separatists are still gungho about independence and the Western Ukrainians hate the idea of compromising with Russia, it seems that the peace process is going ahead in a way that might satisfy Russia without necessarily preventing Ukraine from joining the EU (NATO might be another matter)
Syria--this is a very contentious one because lots of people are skeptical of the American airstrikes, both in their intentions and in their eventual effects, but in the short term at least hitting ISIS where it hurts and easing the pressure on the Syrian Kurds is a good thing
Ebola--Nigeria has all but contained its minor outbreak, and recently there's been a huge international reassessment of the situation. It's no longer something concerning far far away, now it's being treated as a global health risk and the UN and USA are giving it more priority
Nigeria--Boko Haram's apparent leader (it's heavily suggested he's an impostor for the real leader who was killed in 2009) has been killed, and it appears that hundreds of Boko Haram militants are surrendering as a result. That's far from suggesting that the conflict is close to over, but it does suggest that the group's morale has taken a huge hit.
I'm not saying these things are connected, what I am asking is if anyone else feels like we might be easing back from what was one of the most crisis-filled years in memory.
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“Where the longleaf pines are whispering
to him who loved them so.
Where the faint murmurs now dwindling
echo o’er tide and shore."
-A Grave Epitaph in Santa Rosa County, Florida; I wish I could remember the man's name.
Granted, this is the sort of question that I'd probably snark if someone else had asked it, but I didn't mean to ask if the world as a whole was getting better, but rather if people thought that the international community's attempts at addressing crises is catching up to the proliferation of those crises.
__________________
“Where the longleaf pines are whispering
to him who loved them so.
Where the faint murmurs now dwindling
echo o’er tide and shore."
-A Grave Epitaph in Santa Rosa County, Florida; I wish I could remember the man's name.
I think that the global community has become more of an actual community than ever before, out of ease due to technology and out of necessity due to globalization. For the first time in our history, we live in an environment where something that effects one country can have profound consequences for many other countries in the World. Thus, there's an incentive for trying to hash things out with other nations, and the advancement of communications technology and logistical support has made this sort of global cooperation more feasible.
I think that collectively this does mean that things are getting/will get better for us.
The bigger question, to me, is "what's it gonna take to **** it all up?" Scarcity of resources as a result of climate change or overpopulation, maybe? Dunno. I think another World War is inevitable, though it seems unlikely to occur in most of our lifetimes.
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"The Daemon lied with every breath. It could not help itself but to deceive and dismay, to riddle and ruin. The more we conversed, the closer I drew to one singularly ineluctable fact: I would gain no wisdom here."
Last edited by Tzeentch on Sep 24th, 2014 at 10:57 PM
Another World War in our lifetime could happen. It really depends on your definition of World War, in past instances it was an european conflict inducing and enhacing an asian conflict, right now Europe is at peace and despite what many would say, I think it will be a lasting internal peace.
If there was a full continental war, it would be to fight for resources, which pretty much forces China to be central in the conflict on one side, with India probably playing an important part. Russia has resources but lacks population, their animosity against the EU and the US plays no part in such conflict.
The more immediate war is happening at the Middle East, they are probably going to have their own full-scale international conflict very soon, as the stability in the region has been bonkers for a while.
Which is cute, but Kangooroos cannot understand the planet either and they'd also die if any of those planetary shifts happened. So unless our science is to blame, such a catastrophic outcome is just what it is: massive death.
Better? Yes and no. Many a generation, prior to the most current, has typically thought their times the worst, though, offhand, I would think growing up during WW2 would've been the most justified.
Having said this, while today we have some great pluses (medical advancements, immense communication/information availability, a whole slew of civil rights that were absent 50 yrs ago), some things, I feel, have definitely gotten worse per our daily lives: Space - the world is far more crowded; Time - the world moves at a more frenetic pace; and Money (proportional to middle/lower-class salaries) - things have gotten waayyy more expensive (homes, college, etc).
[Climate change is another factor which appears more dire than it did a generation or so ago, but these effects, for many, are somewhat "distant." If climate change does become our eventual terminator, it won't be for a while yet, and that generation will have something to clamor about ("phucking greedy ancestors"). And with regard to the "war on terror": yes, this will be around for at least the first half of this century, but it will hardly bring about the end of modern civilization. Only the poor, religionistic barbarians will eventually become extinct, at least on a mass scale, and after they've done a lot of unfortunate, unnecessary damage. But the modern world will go on.]
So essentially, while the international/political scene is probably, actually "calmer" than it's been in a while, the personal daily struggle appears to have become tougher.
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Last edited by Mindship on Sep 25th, 2014 at 12:39 PM
^i hear what you are saying and yet i would still much rather live now than back then. yea there is less economic equality but at the same time you can live a lot better being poor these days than you could back then. the only thing that got really worse was crime... probably thanks to the introduction of drugs into american pop culture.
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