Evolution of Society or Basics of Society

[LizyMarie]

(The following is mainly creating opinions based on the American lifestyle, as I do not know enough about other countries to give a good opinion)

This may not make sense so I will explain:

 

I have sat and thought about the idea of where our world is today, how we strive to have electricity and running water in every room. How we can't live without phones and computers, and how we shut out the world with our iPods. But have you ever thought about if we just reverted back to the basics, and lived a greener, healthier life without all of the advancements we have today? I think about this a lot. I am not saying this in a hippy manner, saying we should go green and natural. I am saying what if our life was instead like this:

 

Making our own homes with simple tools, having our days go by in your homes just taking care of your family and community. Where the jobs in your neighborhood are services; homecare, creating products(clothing, tools, ect), and other basic jobs. The simple living, that we are not allowed to have today.

 

Today, we are not allowed to have a life this simple, because we are always pressured to have a high paying job in order to provide even the basic needs for our home, and not to mention the taxes! We are not allowed to live simple, and in most places, it's frowned upon!

 

So my question for you is this: What do you believe is best? Evolution of our culture into a more efficient society, or living in a basic life where It's you and your village/town of people, working together as a small society to make a living?

 

Please answer in a manner that would display your feelings, not giving us statistics on "this is better because this says so". I want to know what you think you would enjoy more, and why. And I welcome all beliefs, so if you would like to give reasons with religion or other culture, please do so.

[behemothrules]

I believe that there are good sides to both arguments, for example, if we lived in a completely basic society what would we do if there was an emergency and we didn't have a way to get help? Or if somebody has a bad illness and we don't have the resources to help them? On the other hand we would probably be alot healthier if we did have a simple life, and we would life in a safer world. But who knows? In 100 years, our society could work out to become better than any society we could ever hope for, or it could become worse than we could ever imagine.

 

Also, I can't live without my ipod.... :rolleyes_anim:

[Nataluna]

i think its all about work/life balance :) where i live, it is very community minded and i can safely walk about with my ipod (and i also like my ipod, at one stage i had 7) i wouldn't do that when i lived down closer to the city, not safe.

 

generally people will have hobbies, and i think this provides the stress relief outlet needed for todays lifestyle.

 

i believe development is necessary, and has benefits you can see already, longer lifespans etc. also there are new sorts of jobs being created all the time, specialist niche roles just being recognised, if we didn't develop in that way, we would be limiting the expansion of knowledge and understanding.

 

but at the same time, i really love camping ;)

[LizyMarie]

We will always have the want to be better, do better, and have better things to be more efficient, but I want you guys to take a second and think about something. (This is my purpose in life, to make people think)

 

You see a rich family: They have a big house and family, they pay other people to take care of all their belongings and children. And they hardly have to work because we have made our world to the point that you can get rich of off demanding other people around. (I am speaking of gang and mafia type of dealings)

 

You see a middle-class family: They have made a living working 5 days a week or more, have a couple kids in a small apartment. Struggling to get by, but still able to put food on the table. They have an average life of paying bills and taxes, and public education.

 

You see a poor family: Living out of shelters, or in a shack in the middle of nowhere. Growing food for themselves, or living off of what they find as scavengers. They become educated by way of common sense and street smarts. Having to deal with the world on a different level.

 

These people all have a silver lining that you and I do not have. (It may be different for you than it is for me) Everyone is different and will live their life different. But we do see these three types of families out there. These have become because of trying to make a better society and making everything grand and booming our population to control more people, ect..

 

I get the feeling that if we were allowed to just go back to simple lives, protecting just ourselves, we will have a better chance of creating a more equal population. (Yes, a lot of the population will die, but I actually wish for that. But that is another debate entirely)

 

And my version of simplicity is just simple homes and fixtures, growing our own crops and animals for food, hunting for ourselves, able to have our own weapons to defend ourselves and our people, and able to do what we will with the land we choose to live on.

 

All in all, I'm just SICK AND TIRED of this world, and the power hungry people who have chosen to sit on their chair and control us. I don't want to control anyone, i don't want a position of power. I just want to make a simple living for myself, AND I CAN NOT! I can't even make a good enough living off of doing what I like most: Being a homemaker.

I do blame this a lot on the American Revolution. >.>

 

EDIT: Woh I sorta wrote a lot there. I am sorry, this topic frustrates me so I tend to vent at times.

[rockyxroad]

My sister feels like alot like the poster above me so I can understand where you're coming from.

My opinion is that it is people's own responsibility if they feel pressured to buy the iPhone, iPad, Mercedes, maybe even living beyond-your-means way of life. I can understand how people can feel sad and a small sense of hopelessness that other people don't have as much as they do and I definitely try and volunteer and donate if I think the charity is worthy, but I would hope for everybody that the first thing that they are is happy with themselves, and not looking at others and wishing they had what they had. My background is that my father has worked hard for his money and I love him and respect his work ethic but at the end of the day I wish he could have spent more time with my sisters and I when we were children. I've seen the toll it's taken with the relationships in his life and I don't wish that amount of success on myself because I want to enjoy life and not be married to work. With that said, he's also the most frugal man and has taught us to enjoy simple things in life. My mother has a job that provides enough and is a gold digger in a sense. So I hope anyone who reads this can understand how I look at my parents and take a little of both and want something different for myself.

 

Money doesn't equal happiness and I think everyday a few people in the world realize it and change their life. A simple life? I think is what ever people define it for themselves and not necessarily cut off from electronics. And there will always be evolution because the world creates new problems to solve, even if the problem is how do you google on your phone while talking on the phone. Petty, but that's why I don't have a fancy phone. Just one that is quality (bc a lot of them break easily). This is a really good topic! Make ya think =)

[Yuika]

I think it'd be a sad world if we weren't all connected, with the means to travel and live in large cities where everyone lives on top of one another. I'm by no means rich (at least not yet, har har), but I completely support technology and urban living, because that's what I personally prefer. New York City is my favorite place. : ) If you want to live in the country, it's completely your choice, and I actually know people who do so on a very small amount of money. It's possible, and I think it's great that people can choose the life they want to live.