Is life getting better, or are we on a downward spiral?

zootfloot

zootfloot

zootfloot

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After reading Nix's thread about the future it got me thinking about the above question.

If you listen to the media, watch TV or even speak to friends/family all you ever hear is doom and gloom, no money this, no money that, environmental issues, some crazy fool in asia is just about ready to drop a nuke blah blah, you get my drift.

I appreciate that we get to hear about more events in the world due to the internets, satellite communications etc, but honestly is there any good news on the horizon.?

Is life really getting better, yes i suppose we all have a better standard of living, this i suppose is proven by greater life expectancy, but are things really getting better, is the future really going to be rosy for the next generation, or even 3 or 4 generations down the line.

I heard a chap the other day remark about how he was glad that he wouldnt live to see the next 75 years because nothing good can happen!

I really worry about what life is going to be like for my kids or grand kids, especially after the start that kids are given nowadays....they sit their exams then everyone pulls their results to pieces because the exams are 12 billion times easier now than they were 25 years ago.

How do you feel about the matter?

Sorry about the rant :p
 
This country has apparently been 'going down the pan' for as long as I can remember. People love to talk doom and gloom, always have and always will.
 
When we run out of petrol it will be. I live for cars, and by the time i can afford a supercar, it will be lithium powered. Might aswell shoot myself instead!
 
Life is much better today for the majority of people in this country than at any other period in history.
 
Bit of a side note, just got back from holiday and was so refreshing to have no phones, no internet and no TV to constantly check and see updates.
 
Clipsey said:
Bit of a side note, just got back from holiday and was so refreshing to have no phones, no internet and no TV to constantly check and see updates.
Click to expand...

I agree. It's such an amazing feeling, not having to use computers, TV and phones for entertainment! I could definitely go without if the opportunity came up to live abroad or in a beautiful environment.
 
twoblacklines said:
When we run out of petrol it will be. I live for cars, and by the time i can afford a supercar, it will be lithium powered. Might aswell shoot myself instead!
Click to expand...

The electric vehicles are actually one of the few things I look forward to in the future! Electric motors have long been known to be far superior technically than petrol engines, we've just been waiting for the batteries and control electronics to catch up. Massive torque, instantly :cool:. Some current experiments and production EVs are already beating petrol vehicle performance (in 0-60 acceleration times):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsGeQby7Jnw
http://www.teslamotors.com/roadster

Not all bad :)
 
People would far happier if they didn't read papers / watch the news all the time.

Honestly apart from the odd paragraph of something funny happening papers are just full of depressing stories of how everyone is screwing each other over and how messed up society is.

I stopped reading papers ages ago as I found myself getting worked up by the stories and only read the bbc website for big events, I don't care about all the other nonsense that going on as there is nothing that I can do to fix it.

I've tried to get my dad to stop reading them as well, as he's constantly moaning about the state of the country but to be honest I think some people just like to moan. :(
 
OP - try a little experiment. Do not read ANY news for two weeks and see if your outlook changes after that time. This means no bbc.co.uk, no papers, no News at Ten, NOTHING.

I did it a few years ago and I can tell you that "news" is something you can easily go without and brings very little benefit to your daily life. Far better to not know that some muppet up north is running around with a gun, or people on the other side of the planet are dying of hunger or some new american report reckons Iran is going to nuke us all.

The only news you need is anything that directly affects your life or quality of life.
 
Clipsey said:
Bit of a side note, just got back from holiday and was so refreshing to have no phones, no internet and no TV to constantly check and see updates.
Click to expand...

My Dad lives in Kiev and doesn't have any TV. He stayed with me for a few days last week and was explaining how lucky that I have TV.

I think it's great that we have such easy access to information and data about issues all over the World. Yes, some of it can be overpowering and there is the problem of information overload but as long as you keep on top of it and don't take everything in - only the things that you are interested in - then it is a great beneficial thing in having such readily accessable information.
 
Dr.EM said:
The electric vehicles are actually one of the few things I look forward to in the future! Electric motors have long been known to be far superior technically than petrol engines, we've just been waiting for the batteries and control electronics to catch up. Massive torque, instantly :cool:. Some current experiments and production EVs are already beating petrol vehicle performance (in 0-60 acceleration times):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsGeQby7Jnw
http://www.teslamotors.com/roadster

Not all bad :)
Click to expand...

Unless a major part of wanting a car is to listen to the howling v8 it makes.

Not a noise a vibrator would make lol
 
twoblacklines said:
When we run out of petrol it will be. I live for cars, and by the time i can afford a supercar, it will be lithium powered. Might aswell shoot myself instead!
Click to expand...

If they manage to get a power source (lots) better than a lithium battery electric could be fun.

If not then the sports cars will need to be some sort of fire breathing hydrogen / oxygen rocket car :D
 
twoblacklines said:
Unless a major part of wanting a car is to listen to the howling v8 it makes.

Not a noise a vibrator would make lol
Click to expand...

Seems to be the standard response among petrol heads. Is the noise really that important? I tend to think it's something people have just got used to, if it were the other way round and new vehicles were making the noise I think people would be quite turned off by it. Would rather be able to hear the radio or have quiet whilst driving myself. You could always make yourself a disc of engine noises to play whilst driving :D

It's not really an issue anyhow, there will basically always be petrol for the few petrol vehicle obsessives, if you can afford it, as it can be synthesised :)
 
Things have improved since the election, I hope they continue to do so. The increases in social and fiscal freedom give me much more confidence for the future, as does the desire to stop borrowing and start paying back meaning I won't be quite so penalised later on to pay for those who have extracted money from my and my children's future...
 
The way we avoid disaster is to anticipate failure. So doom & gloom should be an important part of life and planning. Not that you'd believe this looking at the way overpopulation, resource depletion, and a world economy based on who can borrow the most are all seemingly ignored by those at the helm of global affairs.

On balance the ostrich method is probably best. The future will look after itself, right? And nobody ever looks back on previous generations and thinks "how did they not see that coming?"

Andrew McP
 
Dr.EM said:
Seems to be the standard response among petrol heads. Is the noise really that important? I tend to think it's something people have just got used to, if it were the other way round and new vehicles were making the noise I think people would be quite turned off by it. Would rather be able to hear the radio or have quiet whilst driving myself. You could always make yourself a disc of engine noises to play whilst driving :D

It's not really an issue anyhow, there will basically always be petrol for the few petrol vehicle obsessives, if you can afford it, as it can be synthesised :)
Click to expand...

Someone i know has a porsche 911 and a porsche boxter, and he prefers the boxter as because its slower he can drive it harder without the speed factor just so he can listen to the noise it makes.

Sums it up pretty well for me.

The industry for exhausts to make your car louder is massive. Just off the top of my head i can list

Tubi
Akrapovic
Miltek
Jetex
Remus
Scorpion
Magnex
Magnaflow
Peco
Ashley
Borla

etc etc all massive corps that make louder exhausts for all sorts of cars.
 
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