When envisioning a future wherein people get unending pleasure, I think of Idiocracy and Wall-E. In both cases, future people seem to have regressed pretty majorly, as they seem to have prioritized pleasure above all else. Over time, things we see as basic abilities atrophy, to the point that neither the people in Wall-E nor the people depicted in Idiocracy can even maintain civilization. Indeed, the people in Wall-E ride around in floating recliners such that they cannot even stand.
Yech.
Once again, I enthusiastically appreciate the benefits of internet technologies, but only as I see those as part of a broader lineage. As an example, I appreciate that I can learn all about, say, the history of medieval era artwork online: I can read about social norms around that time, the colors that were commonly used and where, the subject matter involved, whether the people we see as “famous” now were well-known during their lives, and then I can trivially look at pictures of the artwork. What might have taken me days or longer 25 years ago can be done in just a few minutes now. What’s not to love?
The accompanying challenge is that 25 years ago, if I wanted to know something, I had to deliberately engage with it. Yes, my breadth of knowledge was certainly narrower. However, I knew the things I knew. By contrast, knowledge itself is treated as fleeting and ephemeral now. I am a forty-something adult now, so I benefitted tremendously simply by being an adult before folks ever even saw Wall-E or Idiocracy, but the practices I commonly see described as legitimate business now were considered scams just two decades ago. I would say that up until ~covidish, the web was essentially regarded as like a neutralizer, which served as an entity to tilt the balance of power from large multinational corporate broadcasters toward individuals, who were less monied and powerful. At some point, the power balance was corrupted such that monied interests were able to spread their priorities and interests similar to how they used broadcast media to shape cultures and perceptions.
Returning to the original point, something that really grates on my nerves is that people talk about wanting to live to like 150, but those same people seem utterly disconnected from the actual Earth on which they live. For purposes of this discussion, I am able to overlook national politics. Done. However, we all live _on_ Earth. And hype aside, that seems quite inevitable. While we’re here, it seems like nothing could possibly be more important than making the quality of life on Earth paramount. I am all for maximizing health. However, without maximizing the quality of life on Earth, a long life seems quite undesirable.
*Sigh* I really gotta find my way back to the point of this site, I know. The truth is out there, I just know it. Right now, however, I am at a bit of an impasse, because I was effectively restating Wikipedia, which is not a good use of energy.