What should society look like?

tony

What should our society be like?

Not like it is, isolated, every one selfish, uncaring, busy, and engaged with their mobile devices more than with those arround them.

Talking face to face, kind, helpful would all be nice things to have in our society, .....

SteamyTea

It should look like it is, not how we wish it to be.

Triassic

I tend to measure society by the number of neighbours you know by name.

I've lived here for two years and there are 8 neighbouring homes and I know 7 of the families by name, the other home is a single person who lives a very fast life, is never home due to work and when they are, they never interact with anyone.

owlman

Go to the pub more.

I do agree with the mobile technology bit though tony.
I have real difficulty in understanding what is so important that it requires constant monitoring and immediate attention, and gawping at a little screen.
A sad life as far as I'm concerned. or maybe I'm missing out.
I wonder what conversational skills they pass onto their offspring.:sad:

Triassic

Posted By: owlmanI wonder what conversational skills they pass onto their offspring.

I thought they simply texted each other :sad:

Seret

"Should"? That's not how society works.

You can only influence those in proximity to you, telling society at large what they should or shouldn't do is a waste of time IMO. As the saying goes: "Be the change you wish to see in the world", it'll have an impact on this within your circle of influence. Don't waste worry cycles on anybody whose behaviour you can't actually influence.

SteamyTea

Posted By: SeretDon't waste worry cycles on anybody whose behaviour you can't actually influence.

Does that mean that public education and healthcare are not worth worrying about :wink:

fostertom

What a cool topic title - the most fundamental question that ever faces humans on a practical level - just like that!

The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know is Possible (Sacred Activism) by Charles Eisenstein
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Beautiful-Hearts-Possible-Sacred-Activism/dp/1583947248/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1416387674&sr=1-1&keywords=the+more+beautiful+world+our+hearts+know+is+possible

The Open-Source Everything Manifesto: Transparency, Truth, and Trust by Robert David Steele
http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_4_11?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=open+source+everything+manifesto&sprefix=open+source%2Cstripbooks%2C178&rh=n%3A266239%2Ck%3Aopen+source+everything+manifesto

Seret

Does that mean that public education and healthcare are not worth worrying about?

Depends entirely on the scale of the problem. For nationwide policy issues or the kind of behavioural changes that Tony was talking about, no, most of us have very little ability to have a significant impact. Best you can do is work at a local level and hope it adds up. A bit like voting really. Your vote is a drop in the bucket, but if there are enough drops...

That's why I don't like discussions about wanting to force society to change and adopt your viewpoint. You can't. All you can do is change yourself and try to influence those proximate to you. If you want to have more impact you need to work to expand your influence, which generally means getting political with all the compromises and pitfalls that involves.

fostertom

Posted By: Seret"Should"? That's not how society works.

There have been plenty of 'shoulds', the imposition of pure philosophy or ideology, which have changed world history irrevocably,
most notably the French Revolution 1789 on (pure philosophy),
also for example Maggie's coup (ideology) aimed at reimposing a Victorian ideal that the world rightly thought had had its day, but which Ronnie and the corporates hijacked to accelerate their hideous New World Order which rules us all today.