> This is by far the most prosperous time in human history. It's not like we are living in some dystopia
Believe me, I don't disagree with that. Maybe I should emphasize that, even though I live in the Silicon Valley now, I grew up under communist dictatorship in Eastern EU. So I think I know a thing or two, from a practical standpoint, about Dystopia - the indoctrination, the forced labor, the rationing of electricity, fuel and food, the permanent fear of the secret police. That - I have not forgotten, for how could I.
All I'm saying is - this golden age could be even better, far better, if it weren't for the constant skimming of the cream that goes on all the time at the top.
If anything, it's the relative prosperity that makes it unlikely that the situation will ever be fixed. People don't rise as one, in anger, unless they are literally hungry and cold, in a physical sense. That, too, I know from first-hand experience. I've lived the incandescent emotions of the rioting mob while being one of them, out on the streets, 25 years ago, back home, in the dead of winter.
But when they are more or less sated, and provided with adequate (if not highbrow) entertainment, people will allow astonishing amounts of corruption, bribery, and downright theft to keep going at the top of the pyramid of money.
Is my belly full now? Yes. Am I more or less free to do most of the things I want? Yes. But do I still see corruption and injustice at the top, to the benefit of Big Money? Yes.
I guess I'm one of those people who are strongly motivated by principle. Injustice remains injustice no matter how pretty the makeup.
Believe me, I don't disagree with that. Maybe I should emphasize that, even though I live in the Silicon Valley now, I grew up under communist dictatorship in Eastern EU. So I think I know a thing or two, from a practical standpoint, about Dystopia - the indoctrination, the forced labor, the rationing of electricity, fuel and food, the permanent fear of the secret police. That - I have not forgotten, for how could I.
All I'm saying is - this golden age could be even better, far better, if it weren't for the constant skimming of the cream that goes on all the time at the top.
If anything, it's the relative prosperity that makes it unlikely that the situation will ever be fixed. People don't rise as one, in anger, unless they are literally hungry and cold, in a physical sense. That, too, I know from first-hand experience. I've lived the incandescent emotions of the rioting mob while being one of them, out on the streets, 25 years ago, back home, in the dead of winter.
But when they are more or less sated, and provided with adequate (if not highbrow) entertainment, people will allow astonishing amounts of corruption, bribery, and downright theft to keep going at the top of the pyramid of money.
Is my belly full now? Yes. Am I more or less free to do most of the things I want? Yes. But do I still see corruption and injustice at the top, to the benefit of Big Money? Yes.
I guess I'm one of those people who are strongly motivated by principle. Injustice remains injustice no matter how pretty the makeup.