Pop Tart wrote:
> On Mon, 03 Mar 2008 17:35:15 -0800, Evenbit wrote:
>
>> On Mar 3, 2:04 pm, santosh > wrote:
>>> What is needed is individual enlightenment (and I don't mean that word
>>> in the spiritual sense). People need to educate themselves and, more
>>> importantly, make their own choices. I believe that given a good
>>> upbringing nearly everyone would make most of the right and sensible
>>> choices.
>>>
>>> It's rather a chicken-and-egg situation. For society to change,
>>> individual need to change. But then most individual changes are
>>> themselves heavily influenced by the state of the society, directly or
>>> indirectly.
>>>
>>>
>> Things have changed so much that mankind finds him/herself no longer "in
>> touch" with his/her environment and understands little about the
>> necessary steps to co-exist with this new environment.
>>
>> In the past, we had a largely agrarian society and multi-generational
>> living... where children learned by working alongside their parents &
>> grandparents. Knowledge easily passed from one generation to the next.
>> Now, nearly ALL work is done away from the home... it is hidden from
>> sight locked away in factories ( where most of it is being replaced by
>> machinery and automation ) and offices. Children are sent away to
>> schools and the elderly are sent to 'care' facilities.
>
>
>> I think that technology (and how we have chosen to make use of it) has
>> gone a long way toward changing the very nature of society .... and has
>> definitely changed what it means to be human.
>
> true. your assessment is interesting. I've pondered along the same
> lines.
>
> I tend to think this is more of 'how we have chosen to make use of it',
> though.
>
> I think our 'spiral-downward' started with the WW2 generation in my
> country (USA). They endured the Great Depression and were the 'great'
> generation that bravely accepted the call to help defend Europe, then
> they came home and spoiled their children. Perhaps they didn't want
> their children to know the hardships they had known. The children had no
> basis of strong work ethic or morality, then they became the "counter-
> culture" hippies, and then they evolved to the "me-generation" ie, "I
> have to do what's best for me!" This means "divorce" when things get a
> little tough at home; it means "send mom and dad to adult daycare so I
> don't have to mess with them"; it means "it takes both parents to work
> these days - especially when we have a 5000 sq. ft. house with a 3 car
> garage, a lexus, an infiniti, a harley, and a boat, and nice wardrobes,
> and a bunch of other things - so who in their right mind has time to take
> care of the children! Isn't that why we have TV?", etc ad infinitum.
>
> To bring the off-topic theme of God back here - we have a new god whom we
> serve: ourselves. There is a new trinity - the unholy trinity: Me,
> Myself, and I.
>
> Of course, there are many other dynamics that coincide. As communities
> become larger, people become anonymous. The more anonymity, the more
> cruel we are with one another. Look at the Internet newsgroups! People
> rarely speak to one another the way they communicate so often on the net
> with flaming. Perhaps because it is easier to fear repercussion when we
> know one another, or when we can identify one another.
>
> So what's this thread about anyway? I never did find out the price of
> eggs in China
>
I'd suggest this to be OT for alasm; also for afc and afv.

Yup, I'm doing a bit of trolling! But I feel it's a concern to all my
correspondents.

mesaage so x-posted.

On Mar 4, 1:58 pm, Esra Sdrawkcab > wrote:
> Pop Tart wrote:
> > On Mon, 03 Mar 2008 17:35:15 -0800, Evenbit wrote:
>
> >> On Mar 3, 2:04 pm, santosh > wrote:
> >>> What is needed is individual enlightenment (and I don't mean that word
> >>> in the spiritual sense). People need to educate themselves and, more
> >>> importantly, make their own choices. I believe that given a good
> >>> upbringing nearly everyone would make most of the right and sensible
> >>> choices.
>
> >>> It's rather a chicken-and-egg situation. For society to change,
> >>> individual need to change. But then most individual changes are
> >>> themselves heavily influenced by the state of the society, directly or
> >>> indirectly.
>
> >> Things have changed so much that mankind finds him/herself no longer "in
> >> touch" with his/her environment and understands little about the
> >> necessary steps to co-exist with this new environment.
>
> >> In the past, we had a largely agrarian society and multi-generational
> >> living... where children learned by working alongside their parents &
> >> grandparents. Knowledge easily passed from one generation to the next.
> >> Now, nearly ALL work is done away from the home... it is hidden from
> >> sight locked away in factories ( where most of it is being replaced by
> >> machinery and automation ) and offices. Children are sent away to
> >> schools and the elderly are sent to 'care' facilities.
>
> >> I think that technology (and how we have chosen to make use of it) has
> >> gone a long way toward changing the very nature of society .... and has
> >> definitely changed what it means to be human.
>
> > true. your assessment is interesting. I've pondered along the same
> > lines.
>
> > I tend to think this is more of 'how we have chosen to make use of it',
> > though.
>
> > I think our 'spiral-downward' started with the WW2 generation in my
> > country (USA). They endured the Great Depression and were the 'great'
> > generation that bravely accepted the call to help defend Europe, then
> > they came home and spoiled their children. Perhaps they didn't want
> > their children to know the hardships they had known. The children had no
> > basis of strong work ethic or morality, then they became the "counter-
> > culture" hippies, and then they evolved to the "me-generation" ie, "I
> > have to do what's best for me!" This means "divorce" when things get a
> > little tough at home; it means "send mom and dad to adult daycare so I
> > don't have to mess with them"; it means "it takes both parents to work
> > these days - especially when we have a 5000 sq. ft. house with a 3 car
> > garage, a lexus, an infiniti, a harley, and a boat, and nice wardrobes,
> > and a bunch of other things - so who in their right mind has time to take
> > care of the children! Isn't that why we have TV?", etc ad infinitum.
>
> > To bring the off-topic theme of God back here - we have a new god whom we
> > serve: ourselves. There is a new trinity - the unholy trinity: Me,
> > Myself, and I.
>
> > Of course, there are many other dynamics that coincide. As communities
> > become larger, people become anonymous. The more anonymity, the more
> > cruel we are with one another. Look at the Internet newsgroups! People
> > rarely speak to one another the way they communicate so often on the net
> > with flaming. Perhaps because it is easier to fear repercussion when we
> > know one another, or when we can identify one another.
>
> > So what's this thread about anyway? I never did find out the price of
> > eggs in China
>
> I'd suggest this to be OT for alasm; also for afc and afv.
>

a.l.a has been predominately OT for quite a while now -- the asm
conversations have migrated to other venues. Nothing wrong with that.

Nathan.

Evenbit wrote:

<snip>

> a.l.a has been predominately OT for quite a while now [ ... ]

No it has not. Most of the recent threads that I can see are to do with
assembler or something very closely related like hardware architecture.
As long as we can keep OT posts within threads that are obviously for
it, then that's okay. This is way better than the situation we had some
months ago when "you-know-who" were dragging their feud into every damn
thread.

<snip>