Been a while, but in several US states where the free report was mandated, they also allowed a request to be mailed in, of even faxed. Old school, but I would be surprised if they don’t still have some of those methods, and probably don’t require web form consents to privacy invading terms.
Indeed! Find yourself. Only then can you really connect with others authentically.
Disagree. It’s a tool that in it’s current form changes our way of processing and way of perceiving. It literally changes the way your brain seeks pleasure as well as intakes facts. One that individuals have to have a the money, knowledge, and social/legal/cultural power to take control of otherwise it will modify your decision making in such a way that you don’t feel, see, or believe there is a change. It’s so ubiquitous, pervasive, and disruptive, that contact and at least minimal acceptance is required to function in the global society.
The isolation, cognitive disrupted, physiological change that the internet has wrought through the smartphone, social media, and the apps is huge and yet not well discussed in anything but academic studies and other rarified forums.
Fair point, well played.
Just because history is idealized doesn’t mean it was actually better. Hans Rosling said it really well describing his standard of living improvement.
With that said, the world has not adapted to technology in it’s current incarnation yet, along side the other challenges it’s a tough world for all but the very wealthy and even they are showing signs of increased anxiety, stress, and depression.
Being ruled by our evolved cognitive biases through our technology, requires external regulation before the vast majority of the humanity can cope with the change.
I’m over this technological improvement of our lives, and it’s manipulate existence. My hope is that we and I can put our fucking phones down and actually connect with each other again. We aren’t getting out of this economic takeover unless we actually talk to each other like the adults we are supposed to be. Be passionate, but listen. Act with compassion, but defy the fascist ideals. Realize that we are biased and make mistakes, but can learn from those mistakes… Even when as you get older.
Look to history for some answers.
The Denver Post had a opinion piece that talked about how America has seen something like this before.
The Gilded Age, the tumultuous period between roughly 1870 and 1900, was also a time of rapid technological change, of mass immigration, of spectacular wealth and enormous inequality. The era got its name from a Mark Twain novel: gilded, rather than golden, to signify a thin, shiny surface layer. Below it lay the corruption and greed that engulfed the country after the Civil War.
The era survives in the public imagination through still resonant names, including J.P. Morgan, John Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie and Cornelius Vanderbilt; through their mansions, which now greet awestruck tourists; and through TV shows with extravagant interiors and lavish gowns. Less well remembered is the brutality that underlay that wealth — the tens of thousands of workers, by some calculations, who lost their lives to industrial accidents, or the bloody repercussions they met when they tried to organize for better working conditions.
Also less well remembered is the intensity of political violence that erupted. The vast inequities of the era fueled political movements that targeted corporate titans, politicians, judges and others for violence. In 1892, an anarchist tried to assassinate industrialist Henry Clay Frick after a drawn-out conflict between Pinkerton security guards and workers. In 1901, an anarchist sympathizer assassinated President William McKinley. And so on.
As historian Jon Grinspan wrote about the years between 1865 and 1915, “the nation experienced one impeachment, two presidential elections ‘won’ by the loser of the popular vote and three presidential assassinations.” And neither political party, he added, seemed “capable of tackling the systemic issues disrupting Americans’ lives.” No, not an identical situation, but the description does resonate with how a great many people feel about the direction of the country today.
It’s not hard to see how, during the Gilded Age, armed political resistance could find many eager recruits and even more numerous sympathetic observers. And it’s not hard to imagine how the United States could enter another such cycle.
Good fill-in on that. i think I’d add some context to each which is worth discussing.
Political instability and weak governance are present.
There are deep ethnic, religious, or sectarian tensions.
The economy is declining with high inequality.
Persistent social unrest and widespread protests occur.
External powers are interfering or supporting different factions.
There is significant resource scarcity and competition.
Militarization and proliferation of arms increase.
Systematic human rights violations and repression take place.
Society experiences strong ideological polarization.
Demographic pressures such as rapid population growth or urbanization exist.
The rule of law and justice systems are breaking down.
Historical grievances and unresolved conflicts resurface.
So I talked to a PhD who’s work covered civil wars across the world, and asked about this. Turns out there are several signs you need to see which makes a civil war more likely. Most of which we haven’t even gotten close to, because many of them are economic related and right now the US is still the single largest economy in the world where peoples standard of living is still very comfortable.
I asked ChatGPT to describe this and these are the highlights, in order of historical priority?
Note that the US does have some of these, but not to the evident level that you saw in Rwanda, Sudan, Yugoslavia, Syria, Burundi, Eritrea, Somalia, Libya, Myanmar, Haiti, and others. In short, if you look at the indicators, although the US is indeed troubled, it’s not troubled enough for people to hot the streets with more than riotous intent.
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