The Obstacles We Face
We are certainly living in a very exciting yet very troubling time. I am an American and a passionate believer in this wild and crazy idea of individual LIberty.
Are you conservative , liberal , socialist ,communist , marxist , anarchist , libertarian and what do those words even mean to most people today? These different ideas of what direction society should be driven in and could we ever reach a point of agreement? I believe we can , I have to believe there is hope otherwise what are we fighting for? Can we at least agree that most individuals share a common desire to be free? Ah yes , Liberty , something worth living for , fighting for and in extreme cases worth dying for. Have we been doing it all wrong? Is there a better way? 7 billion people on earth , is it possible for so many to agree? I don’t pretend to know the answer. Perhaps sometimes the best we can do is to ask the question. 7 billion minds on earth and each of us headed in different directions and most wanting a common goal , liberty. Perhaps that should be our focus , perhaps we should rally around this wild and crazy idea of individual liberty. Is it fair to say that there will always be crime , that there will always be evil? Should we dare to dream of a world of peace and harmony? Is it so dangerous to dream? “You may say I’m a dreamer ; but I’m not the only one” ~ John Lennon. Maybe the divide is that each of us are so arrogant that we think that we know best which way things should go and if only everyone would just listen to me then we could have progress. Perhaps , there have certainly been individuals that have helped to steer society into a better direction. Martin Luther King Jr comes to mind , he did dare to dream and what a magnificent dream it was. I too have a dream , I have a dream of liberty for all. An escape from the grasp of evil and powerful men that seem to hate us for some reason that I do not understand. Admittedly I don’t know how to get us there so I’m asking for your help. 7 billion minds working together could be a powerful thing , if only. Ah yes , I do dare to dream but what a magnificent dream it is.
Found your link in a comment on Timcast... I appreciate the sentiment. I don't see how we find liberty in a society that has highly centralized power nexuses. That would include powerful governments or global multi-national corporations. They are all bad, imo.
It seems to me that liberty can only be found by bringing the economic power and decision making closer to the people. This would be the opposite of the trend that is occurring and I don't know how to reverse it or even slow it down. People want their "stuff" and material wealth is abundant even as we are spiritually impoverished. We are cut off from the world, our neighbors and ourselves to a great degree. But we have smartphones (the new opiate of the masses) and the promise that the government will take care of us.
I, for one, am soon going to be opting out of the city and finding a simpler life in a much smaller community. I am going to become involved in politics and encourage an agenda of self-sufficiency and local consumption. I am definitely going to advocate for an education system that challenges students to learn and think critically. No participation trophies and no "you're perfect the way you are" platitudes. As much as possible, I want our children to be self-aware, humble in the face of what they don't know and appreciative of what they have inherited at least as much as they are critical. That will be my contribution to the cause.
Anyway, the problem is not simple. Perhaps technology will be our savior. AI systems will continue to evolve. If their purpose continues to be, as is the case today, to maximize profit, I believe we are headed for a new dark age. If their goal becomes the maximization of human potential and satisfaction, it could be a very different story. We'll see, my crystal ball is cloudy.
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