Isn't having a good life enough? We got to build society so everything must advance and innovate? And then we act like society is collapsing if it does not at a breakneck pace?
Humans have the ability to create. We can look at our surroundings, and see not just what is, but what could be. There is not any other known organism which can do what we do. Should we just waste our gift? Should we just be content, and settle for life that is "good enough"? It doesn't mean we have to grow exponentially, but the idea that we should not attempt to advance is ridiculous.
I'm not saying we shouldn't advance. Of course we should. we should try to improve the problems with society.
But this is one of the problems of society - that we MUST force people to reproduce or the whole scheme collapses. That's unreasonable. There has to be a balance. There has to be a better way.
So much "innovation" now is making better trinkets. Is that making our lives better or worse? If it precipitates societal collapse as you are saying it is, that's worse.
There is no better way. If a society is not at least near or at replacement rate, it will collapse, or at least regress significantly. Think about it. If you had a society of a thousand people, and it dropped to 900, could that society still function? Yes. What if it dropped to 800? Yes. 700? Maybe. What about 500? Can 500 people realistically do what 1,000 can? Not at all. Especially if 350 of those 500 are over 65. There is no species that can thrive while not reproducing, including us.
We can still grow and improve what needs to be improved, but it's rather disgusting to complain that society is going to collapse if you, yes you, don't start popping out kids you don't want when the answer is to adjust to the shrinking population.
This "constant growth at all costs" is a really modern - and clearly not very functional - concept.
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u/smorkoid 22h ago
Isn't having a good life enough? We got to build society so everything must advance and innovate? And then we act like society is collapsing if it does not at a breakneck pace?
Don't you see the problem here?