| Author |
Message |
The7thScribe
Grand Poster
Joined: Jul 22, 2003
Posts: 1445
Location: The Deep-Fried South
|
 Posted:
Tue Sep 16, 2008 7:38 pm |
 
|
I realize this forum is for discussing history, but I think this is the best place for discussing this topic. Based on as far as you'd like in history, what do you think the future is for the United States? For Europe? For the world as a whole?
To keep this from becoming a thread for baseless speculation, I ask that you base any predicitons you have for the future on historical facts.
I've got some ideas of my own, but I'll wait to see if this thread gets hot before I post any of them. |
_________________
"If we believe absurdities, we shall commit atrocities."
-Voltaire
College Students + Motorcycles = Awesome
|
|
 
|
|
MockingGods
Master of Logic
Joined: Nov 14, 2002
Posts: 5691
Location: Planet Earth
|
| Posted:
Tue Sep 16, 2008 8:06 pm |
|
I'm not sure our historical past will be an important indicator to our future as many of us might think. Human civilization is under pressures that it has never experienced before, mostly due to sudden and dramatic technological advancement. I find it reasonable to suggest this new paradigm will bring about a radical shift from our historical roots and these roots may not be the powerful indicator as they were in the past. |
|
|
|
|
|
Cygnus
Graduate Thinker
Joined: Mar 26, 2008
Posts: 581
Location: Caught Somewhere in Time
|
| Posted:
Thu Sep 18, 2008 2:26 am |
|
That is an incredibly complex question that no one can answer. I think that there will be a resurgence in radical Islam when Pakistan collapses and falls under control of the Taliban. The future of Iraq is uncertain- the US may retain a presence there depending on future decisions by the president. If left alone, Iraq would fall into deeper violence, most likely with Shiites oppressing Sunnis, and another dictatorship will arise or Al-Qaieda will gain more power in the region. Terrorism may increase, with violence increasing in Europe and fueling Islamophobia. But this is all speculation. It is currently not possible to draw any insight from the past because the world has so radically changed. The world has never seen radical Islam before recently, technology has changed the economy and everything related to it, and trying to predict the future is difficult. It is more tempting to think up scenarios like V for Vendetta. |
_________________
"Buddha says: "Do not flatter thy benefactor!" Let one repeat this saying in a Christian church: it immediately purifies the air of all Christianity."
-Friedrich Nietzsche |
|
|
|
|
GateWatch
Newbie
Joined: Nov 07, 2009
Posts: 10
|
| Posted:
Sun Oct 03, 2010 2:44 pm |
|
| MockingGods wrote: |
| I'm not sure our historical past will be an important indicator to our future as many of us might think. Human civilization is under pressures that it has never experienced before, mostly due to sudden and dramatic technological advancement. I find it reasonable to suggest this new paradigm will bring about a radical shift from our historical roots and these roots may not be the powerful indicator as they were in the past. |
Just two comments;
Those who fail to learn from the past tend to relive it...
If we don't know where we came from, how can we know where we are going...?
Maybe the Mayan calendar ends at 2012 because it was discovered that history begins to repeat itself and they decided.. "Why Bother...?!?"
But if indeed that is the case then that means we'll have another five thousand years of monumental discoveries, calamities, triumphs and tragedies to look forward to... |
|
|
|
|
|
MockingGods
Master of Logic
Joined: Nov 14, 2002
Posts: 5691
Location: Planet Earth
|
| Posted:
Sun Oct 03, 2010 8:08 pm |
|
| Bob wrote: |
| Those who fail to learn from the past tend to relive it... |
This is how we advance understanding. We assimilate the past and build upon it. If we don't use this information, we must go through the process of trial and error again. The question is, how much detail do we need to understand. Take for instance war and it's much lauded position in human history. Do we only need to understand that war is horrific to stop doing it, or do we need to grasp its finest specifics to accomplish this end?
I think we over-emphasize history's finest details and miss the larger lessons. |
_________________
Believing Yahweh could send someone to hell is just like believing Zeus could strike someone with a lightning bolt.
Religion: Born of human imagination, sustained by unapproachable dogma. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
