I think we can have a lot of dreams, and make the world a better place, without space exploration.I really appreciate, and like, some technologies. But I think we have to start questioning and increase our awareness of the effects of these technologies. I think we have to question whether many of these technologies are really making our lives better, and whether there are any harmful side-effects, and whether the side-effects are "worth it."
Instant communications for example. What exactly is the benefit of being able to communicate instantly? There are obvious implications in the financial sector, and in terms of efforts toward economic domination. But economic domination is wrong. It is bad.
Look at the effect of industrialization on the environment. Hundreds of thousands of species driven to extinction by human activities. Climate change, climate disruption, global warming, ocean acidification. You name it. The list is long.
The problem is that human beings have been doing harm for a long time. I believe it is wrong for human beings to hurt each other. I believe it is wrong for human beings to hurt the environment. When we hurt the environment we hurt each other.
When we add industrialization and technology into the mix of harmful/abusive/violent patterns of human behavior, then we get a dangerous and highly undesirable mix.
Does technology really make life better for all of us? Or does it only seem to make life better? Are there harmful consequences that we are unaware of?
Does technology make life considerably worse for some of us? Consider the effect of gun technology. Consider the effect of extractive technologies on miners around the world - and on the environment.
I think there is a very strong argument that technology actually has made life worse for all, or at least many, of us, in many ways!
I prefer a cooperative, caring, kind and compassionate social ethic, rather than one rooted in dominance and oppression, violence, cruelty, hate and fear.
Love and Harmony!
Cheers,
Berd
Hello,
ReplyDeleteI've been reading you on olyblog for a few years, and I just spent about an hour on this site...
Thank you.
Yesterday, after reading a little Derrick Jensen, forgetting it was Earth Day, and perhaps some low blood sugar, led me to a very gloomy place. Powerless to stop the blind grinding of our senseless culture, I was really in the mood for some direction - a more tangible reassurance that I was doing my best to be less of a perpetrator. I was doing my best to regain my usual optimism and hope - despite the grim realities.
Your blog, not just the title, but the evidence of your existence as someone who doesn't blind himself to the grim things and retains his optimism, is inspiring.
That said, I do have a comment on space which grows out of many childhood scifi books. What if humankind needs to go into space because it can't get its act together on this little marble?
im on your side believe me
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