03-23-2020, 02:55 AM
(03-21-2020, 04:55 AM)Blazkovitz Wrote: I am Bill the Piper, but I lost my password and e-mail needed to login, so I created a new account. Anyway, this is the username I use elsewhere on the Net.
Politics 4/10
A large number of countries became democracies, especially in Europe and South America. Bolshevism was eliminated from the global political scene and discredited intellectually. Two reasons to rejoice. Otherwise, the saeculum was quite disappointing. Democracy did not progress, we are still doing 18th century politics rather than switch to something more advanced like liquid democracy. Reagan and Thatcher reversed the economic progress of the last saeculum. Even more worrisome is the growth of identity politics, both on the right and the left.
In the last saeculum there was strong interest in global unity. Anationalism and cosmopolitanism were hot topics among the Missionary generation. The UN was meant as a means to further this end, but it soon become a shiftless bureaucracy with no moral clarity. The 1950s and 1960s saw an explosion of nationalism in Africa and the Middle East, and the 2010s saw the same thing happening in the West. Overall I think there is less cosmopolitan sentiment in today's politics than during the previous cycle.
Culture 2/10
This was a very bad saeculum for culture. I'm afraid this cycle was mostly about popularising casual sex, drugs, junk food, rampant nudity and everyday use of vulgar language. It gave us some exciting entertainment, but I think very little will be remembered in 2100. Personally I would save Star Trek, Rocky movies and Tolkien's mythology, as well as classic rock music from the 1980s. Rap, heavy metal and techno need to die!
Racial prejudice and sexism lost moral acceptance, and I don't need to convince anyone it's a good thing.
Technology 7/10
Here I have some kind words for the Millennial Saeculum. It failed to produce a breakthrough comparable to what Isaac Newton or Albert Einstein have done, but few eras experience one. Practical application of principles discovered the previous cycle allowed enormous progress in computing. Everyone can afford a pocket computer, known as a smart phone. Space related tech also started very well, and the landing on the Moon was a success that will be remembered forever. Unfortunately spaceflight came to a halt in the 1970s. By 2020 we should have first colonies on Mars.
Hi Blaz...
Welcome back
I mostly agree, although of course I would substitute 1960s and early 70s for your 1980s reference. Rock, folk and pop music reached amazing heights in those years (along with offering the usual crap), but such greatness in a pop field is not saying a whole lot. The psychedelic, new age and human potential cultures had great promise to produce art and spiritual culture like the great mystical arts of the past around the world that are so revered today. But the modern culture of commerce and indulgence eroded that potential away. The prestige of science over culture, and the unwillingness to do hard work such as building and decorating great temples as compared with computer software, did not lend itself to great support and enthusiasm for creating great culture. I might give it 3 points instead of 2, but then again, maybe I wouldn't
I doubt culture per se has ever sunk as low as rap and heavy metal, unless you want to talk about human sacrifice or the nazis or something far worse like that. But there are some hidden gems from throughout this saeculum.I think the best thing about this saeculum is that at least in The West and the anglosphere life was more comfortable, lawful and peaceful for most of its people, and democracy did make some advances. There was no world war and no holocaust in these areas. You could call this saeculum the second Elizabethan Era, since a rather benevolent if stodgy queen has ruled for virtually the entire time as the titular head of much of the region. All that was not so true in most other places, though, for much of the time. Violence, disease, poverty and tyranny has prevailed in these other places on almost the same scale as before. China has become prosperous, but is still a tyranny.
