Generations After You Will Not Perceive Life As You Do
Human perception of life has been changing a lot in the past 100 years. The first huge change was the idea of nationalism. You might date this as far back as the French Revolution (I'm not saying this in reference to the first sentence, so don't try to be clever and point out the time difference) when the french people viewed themselves as "french" and not the king subjects as the king viewed them.
Technology increased this view point more and more and it culminated in WW1 and was perfected in WW2. Because of technology, people were able to get a very good idea of what it "meant" to be a member of their community, state, country, whatever. This view point was not possible a thousand years before where "neighbors" were the people living around you and NOT everyone kind of like you that shared a lot of traits with you. A thousand years prior it was more an issue of distance and geography, maybe language. Around ww1 and ww2 it became more an issue of "culture."
Things have continued to change, and noticeably so, in our life time. I'm sure most have you have noticed how polarized people are in the industrial world. How people compromise less, people are more extreme in their opinions, and etc. We are growing apart.
In the 80s we all received the same media. Rich or poor, we all ultimately had the same news papers and the same cable tv to watch.
The world is moving away from this.
We already see some of it. There are news channels to support each political view. To coddle every opinion. A channel for everyone that will confirm that no one is wrong, and everyone is right. And web advertising is getting smarter. You see it on TNL now. Software figures out what it is you are doing and what you like, and advertises to you based on your perceived interest.
Well, TV is moving in that direction. Advertisers want to be able to show different commercials based on where you live, interest, and income. When the rich man on the hill watches tv he might see nothing but commercials about boating and nice boats. But the college student watching the same show might see nothing but commercials of current popular movies and the newest sport cars. (this isn't me making shit up for conversation btw, this has already been done in some states on some shows).
Eventually this might be taken to its logical conclusion with tv shows and movies. Maybe in the future a show might be edited with more TNA for young men, and a little more drama for young ladies, etc.
All of this will probably have a lasting impact on how people view life. I imagine it will further divide the nation and people of different economic standing will misunderstand each other even more. People will not know how others think and live. You will be able to live in a bubble if you choose. Or at least receive a lot more encouragement that your way of living and thinking is best.
And it is also interesting to think about how the generations under us view privacy. How they think nothing about sharing their wholes lives online. How they don't understand why us "old" people make such a big deal about the government and companies logging information about us. How long will it be before some of our freedoms fly out the window because those younger than us perceive them from a fundamentally different perspective than we do?
So, what are your thoughts on this? I've given a few examples, but I'm sure there are others. How does it make you feel to know that you lived a brief moment of human development that no other generation before us or after us will experience? That there will never be another "80s?" That no generation will know what it was like to have that level of privacy and tech development at the same time? That in the future people are going to die because of battles fought over outlooks born as a consequence of new technology. That people are going to believe strongly in shit, and die for it, and these ideals are things we can't even dream of or understand because the technology hasn't been made yet and impacted us.
in before TLDR, PROF BTCHKS, THS TRD SCKS, and the discussion cop out "hurr durr, things always change, nothing to see here, move along folks"
sigh, I don't know why I made this thread. Half of you will just shit it up. I know many of you know what I'm talking about and have opinions, but being cock suckers is a lot more fun I guess.
