I was recently reading an article that dismissed the idea that human beings might be perfectible and that history is generally moving in the direction of civilization away from barbarism, so I thought I'd share this short talk by the delightful Hans Rosling.
It's no proof that we'll end up with the Federation, or even the Culture, but it would be pretty stupid if, for the sake of cynicism, we didn't even bother to try. So my resolution is to do more in 2021 to combat injustice, superstition, prejudice, intolerance and ignorance. I hope you'll join me on the march to humanity's bright future. If we can't get there, don't let anyone say it was for want of effort.
In the meantime I want to wish all the blog's readers a very happy New Year. May your own personal trajectory be ever upward and onward. Let's leave the world a better place in January 2022 than we find it today: more civilized, more rational, more generous, and more compassionate. And if you're looking for a resolution for 2021, how about: get the jab?
I kind of like the future of the TV-series The Expanse. It seems grudgingly hopeful but it also seems like something that actual humans could achieve. Earth is overpopulated and climate-change damaged but a large portion of the population is on Basic. They get crappy food, crappy paper clothes a place to live and low-level medical care. It still sucks, but one could imagine an Earth where the skilled/wealthy/"useful" are full citizens while the "useless eaters" are starved or just murdered.
ReplyDeleteStar Trek always struck me as "Humanist Heaven." I don't think it's possible that we'll somehow technology and social engineer our way out of lust, greed or other general human character flaws - all of which are present to varying degrees within The Expanse universe.
I'm not convinced we can't do better than that. The Expanse looks to me like a cynic's view of a good future, while I'd sooner aim for an idealist's view. That ST humanist heaven might not be achieved by Humanity 1.0 but, as James Lovelock and Martin Rees and others have pointed out, we're no longer limited to remaining moderately smart apes forever.
DeleteA friend has just reminded me of Bobby Kennedy's plea "to tame the savageness of Man and make gentle the life of this world." That's still the future that gets my vote, not "Man is a wolf to Man".
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2kWIa8wSC0
Honestly I think wolves tend to treat each other better than humans tend to treat other humans occasionally.
DeleteI think that's what the Roman proverb is saying, ie "Lupus est homo homini, non homo, quom qualis sit non novit" = "Man behaves as a wolf would to somebody else until he knows what he's like." So they were thinking of how a wolf would treat a lone human, not how a wolf treats other members of its pack. Of course, we're also massively more cooperative than most other animals (even outside our "pack") and far less aggressive than any other ape, so the potential is surely there to create a more appealing future than "laissez-faire capitalism in space" -- I hope!
DeleteA very happy New Year to you too, Dave. Thanks for all the posts over the last year, both here and on Patreon.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome, Simon. Happy New Year.
DeleteI routinely use Prof. Rosling's video in my medical statistics lectures. It is indeed comforting to think that, despite all, we are improving overall.
ReplyDeleteLet's hope so, Antonio.
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