Has society become too materialistic and risk averse to advance?

[CmdrShep2154]

It seemed like from the 2000s-early 2010s there was an great increase of risk aversion.

https://practicalfreespirit.com/2011...ty-and-beyond/

"Sometime in the last few months, I read someone’s Tweet about space travel. I don’t remember who it was, but they said something to the effect of how science fiction set in space felt irrelevant or dated to them. Like it was nostalgia and nothing more."

Human spaceflight and space themed sci fi, a anachronism? What a sad mindset!

The events of the 2000s has given society the right to be risk averse and more cynical for the future but is this risk aversion holding humanity back?

There also seemed to be an increase of materialism as evidenced by the reality show craze of the late 2000s/early 2010s. Interesting it happened during the financial crisis.

Large portions of society still struggle after the 2008 crash but it seems like there is a portion of society that is well off and doesn't seem to care.

Nice house in a safe suburban neighborhood, German made car, cushy office job, nice vacations each year, etc.

Life is good enough already, so why dream of a "Star Trek" like future?

That is the reality show demographic.

[Unholyground]

Nope, I have been going the other way, I plan to be energy neutral in about 5 years and many of my friends are doing the same. Solar, Wind, and Hydro are more than enough to meet anyone's power needs. About 10 chicken and a pond of self regulating fish and a greenhouse is more than enough to offset eating costs.

[Evil Midnight Bomber]

That's some deep toilet philosophy you got going on there...

[Endus]

It seemed like from the 2000s-early 2010s there was an great increase of risk aversion.

https://practicalfreespirit.com/2011...ty-and-beyond/

"Sometime in the last few months, I read someone’s Tweet about space travel. I don’t remember who it was, but they said something to the effect of how science fiction set in space felt irrelevant or dated to them. Like it was nostalgia and nothing more."

Human spaceflight and space themed sci fi, a anachronism? What a sad mindset!

The events of the 2000s has given society the right to be risk averse and more cynical for the future but is this risk aversion holding humanity back?

There also seemed to be an increase of materialism as evidenced by the reality show craze of the late 2000s/early 2010s. Interesting it happened during the financial crisis.

Large portions of society still struggle after the 2008 crash but it seems like there is a portion of society that is well off and doesn't seem to care.

Nice house in a safe suburban neighborhood, German made car, cushy office job, nice vacations each year, etc.

Life is good enough already, so why dream of a "Star Trek" like future?

That is the reality show demographic.

Blame capitalism.

The workers can't afford pie-in-the-sky dreaming other than as pure escapism, since hoping for a future that can never happen is only a recipe for either depression or delusion.

The capitalists have no interest in such dreaming unless they can find a way to monetize it for their personal gain. And given the scope of current technology, that largely puts it outside the scope of capitalist enterprise other than intergenerationally, and capitalists aren't selfless enough to plan that way.

And government has willingly shackled itself to the capitalists, to serve their interests first and foremost, so it's useless if you're expecting anything significant.

See why NASA's lifetime budget (lifetime, since it was created, covering literally ever mission ever run) comes to somewhere around $22 billion USD in current dollars. Literally, we have multiple billionaires who could fund that themselves, in a single year, and they'd rather spend their billions on megayachts or pissing contests. Because NASA is a largely scientific/exploratory venture, not a profit-making one, so as a society nobody really gives a shit and it gets a fraction of the spending it could really use. If they'd funded NASA as they fund the military, we'd have megastations in orbit supporting populations in the thousands if not tens of thousands. The issue there isn't technology, it's just funding and focus. If it doesn't make the uber-rich even richer, it's not getting done.

People forget that even Star Trek's naive look at a possible future was predicated upon a capitalist society that expanded into a cyberpunkish dystopia before collapsing in on itself first, before the post-socialist Star Trek society we see in the films and shows could rebuild itself out of the ruins.

It has nothing to do with people being "comfortable enough". It as to do with all the real wealth in society being put into the hands of a tiny minority of exploitative greedmongers who'd rather Scrooge McDuck in their vaults than contribute meaningfully to society.

[PC2]

Has society become too materialistic

No, society will need to create vastly more material wealth if it wants to keep surviving and thriving in the future. But materialism isn't everything, ideas and non-material stuff like morality are also important.

and risk averse to advance

Sure society is a little too risk averse and we need to get rid of some things such as the precautionary principle. But there are people like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos who are taking risks in space.

The events of the 2000s has given society the right to be risk averse and more cynical for the future but is this risk aversion holding humanity back?

Cynicism is mostly just the result of paranoia.

Life is good enough already, so why dream of a "Star Trek" like future?

In 2022 it seems like more people are interested in space though. There's an entire community based around SpaceX where people watch the latest tests/launches and talk about the future, it's fun.

[Kokolums]

it certainly feels like the elites are utterly desperate to promote the notion of climate change and global warming, but only as a means to find a way to reduce the population of Earth by 99%. And that means the elites live, you and me die. Whatever it takes to kill us off really. ANY excuse. So...

1. Capitalism is bad, kill the bottom 99% to fix it.
2. Robots can do all the work, kill the bottom 99% to get rid of useless people.
3. Climate change is real, kill the bottom 99% to fix it.

A lot of sheep don't seem to understand why the elites are totally in love with pushing Climate Change.

Explore space? Colonise space? Hah. That doesn't give the elites more power, not like killing the bottom 99% off.


Infracted.

[Edge-]

it certainly feels like the elites are utterly desperate to promote the notion of climate change and global warming

Actually...that's scientists. The "elites" have been downplaying it because it risks their short-term profits.

but only as a means to find a way to reduce the population of Earth by 99%.

Ex-fucking-cuse me? Citation needed.

And that means the elites live, you and me die. Whatever it takes to kill us off really. ANY excuse. So...

Who's gonna make them food and drive them around? Who's gonna grow and harvest the food? Who's gonna ship it? Who's gonna make their luxury goods? We don't have an automated workforce yet dude, they still need us poors.

1. Capitalism is bad, kill the bottom 99% to fix it.

Where on earth did you conjure up this notion?

2. Robots can do all the work, kill the bottom 99% to get rid of useless people.

Yet this future is decades off, at the very least.

3. Climate change is real, kill the bottom 99% to fix it.

Again...citation needed here.

A lot of sheep don't seem to understand why the elites are totally in love with pushing Climate Change.

They're actually, quite literally, not. Most of them are downplaying it because it's potentially damaging to their wealth if we actually thought about doing something about it.

Explore space? Colonise space? Hah. That doesn't give the elites more power, not like killing the bottom 99% off.

Welcome the left, comrade. We too would like to see less money poured into commercializing space and more into trying to save this planet and help people.

Can we get a definition on "elites" btw? It's a super squishy, vague, nebulous term that really needs a definition to be meaningful in a discussion.

[Spectral]

See why NASA's lifetime budget (lifetime, since it was created, covering literally ever mission ever run) comes to somewhere around $22 billion USD in current dollars.

Egregiously false.

[PhaelixWW]

Egregiously false.

I feel like this deserves a "whomp whomp".

I mean... this alone:

In 1973, NASA submitted congressional testimony reporting the total cost of Project Apollo as $25.4 billion (about $158 billion in 2020 dollars).

From that link, the total lifetime budget of NASA is 1.41 trillion... with a "t".

Of course, that being said, NASA is hugely beneficial to the economy, so it's really the gift that keeps on giving.

[Spectral]

I feel like this deserves a "whomp whomp".

I mean... this alone:


From that link, the total lifetime budget of NASA is 1.41 trillion... with a "t".

Of course, that being said, NASA is hugely beneficial to the economy, so it's really the gift that keeps on giving.

Right, I'm in favor of spending quite a bit on basic research and applied sciences! I would have no objection to a larger budget for NASA, but let's not act like they've been run on nothing but sweat, grit, and improvisation.

[Ivanstone]

That doesn't give the elites more power, not like killing the bottom 99% off.

What’s the point of having power if you can’t use it against other people?

[Endus]

Egregiously false.

Fair enough, I can't recall where I pulled the data point from but it was clearly using the annual budget amounts when I'd gone looking for lifetime, and either the source I used got it wrong or I read it wrong.

Still, let's not pretend NASA's budgetary allotment isn't an embarassment for how little it is.

[PhaelixWW]

Still, let's not pretend NASA's budgetary allotment isn't an embarassment for how little it is.

As I recall, that was the one thing that... well:

Uhhh, what are the good things Trump has done as the president?

Trump pushed for more funding for space exploration.

...

That's all I've got.

[Elegiac]

As I recall, that was the one thing that... well:

Broken clock and all that, lol.

[Flarelaine]

As I recall, that was the one thing that... well:

Trump wanted more money for his Space Farce, not scientific exploration.

[PhaelixWW]

Trump wanted more money for his Space Farce, not scientific exploration.

No. Space Force is funded entirely separately.

Trump asked for a big 12% increase to $25.2b in 2021, though they only ended up getting $23.3b.

Of course, Trump also apparently thinks the moon is "a part of Mars".

[Flarelaine]

No. Space Force is funded entirely separately.

Trump asked for a big 12% increase to $25.2b in 2021, though they only ended up getting $23.3b.

Of course, Trump also apparently thinks the moon is "a part of Mars".

Well... I stand corrected. Though your own linked tweet indicates he meant at least part of the money for defense.