Do you think about how lucky you are to be living now and here?

Internet Hero

so many people that have lived were born in such sucky times and places. like bein born in some medevil town with rotten food for lunch and scary stuff and no medicine. Or even born today but in liberia in poverty and get killed by warlords? any problems in life we have how bad can they be when you can have any food and have a hot bath and sleep in a lovely bed without fear of soldiers killin you in ur sleep?

It puts thing in perspective. we shouldn't worry so much about traffic or coffee too hot!

Cee-Jay-Cee

No.

corktina

yes, I'm lucky to be living...so much better than not being living

FatherLen

Internet Hero wrote: »

coffee too hot!

mcdonalds coffee is hotter than the sun

I surely do. Life is so much better when you have a little perspective.

leonidas83

Internet Hero wrote: »

so many people that have lived were born in such sucky times and places. like bein born in some medevil town with rotten food for lunch and scary stuff and no medicine. Or even born today but in liberia in poverty and get killed by warlords? any problems in life we have how bad can they be when you can have any food and have a hot bath and sleep in a lovely bed without fear of soldiers killin you in ur sleep?

It puts thing in perspective. we shouldn't worry so much about traffic or coffee too hot!

You love asking random questions dont ya which are about as interesting as a hard sh** on a sunday morning

Senna

In a hundred years time people could be horrified to think what life must have been like in 2012.

Internet Hero

Senna wrote: »

In a hundred years time people could be horrified to think what life must have been like in 2012.

Unless aliens are using us as slaves by then! as miners

Drakares

Usually not a facebook type quoter but I read this recently in a book: A short history of nearly everything, by Bill Bryson. Amazing read:

“Consider the fact that for 3.8 billion years, a period of time older than the Earth's mountains and rivers and oceans, every one of your forebears on both sides has been attractive enough to find a mate, healthy enough to reproduce, and sufficiently blessed by fate and circumstances to live long enough to do so. Not one of your pertinent ancestors was squashed, devoured, drowned, starved, stranded, stuck fast, untimely wounded, or otherwise deflected from its life's quest of delivering a tiny charge of genetic material to the right partner at the right moment in order to perpetuate the only possible sequence of hereditary combinations that could result -- eventually, astoundingly, and all too briefly -- in you.”

im invisible

i'd rather be living back in the day when there were dragons and sh!t...

DyldeBrill

im invisible wrote: »

i'd rather be living back in the day when there were dragons and sh!t...

feck that! be grand looking at them, but it'd be no crack getting the arse burnt off you!

1ZRed

Internet Hero wrote: »

so many people that have lived were born in such sucky times and places. like bein born in some medevil town with rotten food for lunch and scary stuff and no medicine. Or even born today but in liberia in poverty and get killed by warlords? any problems in life we have how bad can they be when you can have any food and have a hot bath and sleep in a lovely bed without fear of soldiers killin you in ur sleep?

It puts thing in perspective. we shouldn't worry so much about traffic or coffee too hot!

They had far less social problems and pressures then we have now, which are only mounting as time progresses and our lives get more hectic and society becomes more demanding.

They had big problems and lived lives of fear in the past, which we don't have in our developed countries, but in a way they all just morphed into different types of problems with a similar sort of severity.

We might not be likely to get axed in the face or die of a flu but there are people who struggle so desperately like failing to support a family and provide in an ever more competitive world.

I think people had more physical problems and strains in the past, now it's mostly mental.

Sea Sharp

Meh,
First world problems: A sedentary lifestyle causes depression. People are by no means the happiest they've ever been.

Madam_X

Absolutely. Life is a lottery. Could have been born in horrific places, like Taliban country, Burma, North Korea, the Congo, Somalia, Haiti. Something the "Ireland is a third world sh1t-hole" and "Britain is becoming a dictatorship" merchants can't seem to grasp.

Drumpot

Friend of mine always says I should be thankful for living now instead of in other times whenever I give out about the corrupt nature of society.

I live more comfortable then a king 300 years ago, but I am considered to be on the lower scale of society financially. Yes, I am thankful for that, but in 100 years time they might look back at now and ask the same question. Cancer might be curable like the common cold and Ireland might actually have proper laws to send corrupt people to jail!

For me, the only way society progresses is by a desire for better. Being thankful for what you have is fine, but it shouldnt hinder your want of better (not necessarily more - there is a differance).

For me the most important aspects of human progression are in medicine, learning more about the earth and space exploration. But thanks to our narcistic tendancies, most money will be spent on 100 differant versions of TV/Phone or some crap like that and we will continue to act like the universe revolves around us.

Theres a good argument to be made that consumerist capitalist has made people even more unhappy and more prone to depression.

Before anybody has a go at me, I have an Iphone and a HD TV, you dont have to be a tree hugging hippy and can even be a hypocite, but still see the falacy of mankinds short sightedness.

itac

Drakares wrote: »

Usually not a facebook type quoter but I read this recently in a book: A short history of nearly everything, by Bill Bryson. Amazing read:

Methinks that's where Mr. Mike Skinner got his idea for the ocasionally rhyming lyrics for "on the edge of a cliff"...

"For billions of years since the outset of time,
every single one of your ancestors survived,
every single person on your mum and dad's side,
successfully looked after and passed on to you life....

what are the chances of that like?
it comes to me once in a while,
and everywhere I tell folk,
it gets the best smile...."*

OP, if traffic and coffee that's too hot are your biggest worries, can we swop lives for a bit? ta muchly!

*except in AH where it will be dissected for some thinly veiled reason involving yore ma, an atari jaguar and something else that I can't quite think of right now...

A Primal Nut

1ZRed wrote: »

We might not be likely to get axed in the face or die of a flu but there are people who struggle so desperately like failing to support a family and provide in an ever more competitive world.

I think people had more physical problems and strains in the past, now it's mostly mental.

Tell that to someone who lived in Ireland in 1845. Or anytime before the 1990's. Levels of starvation and poverty were always MUCH higher than they are now. If people put this into perspective then maybe they wouldn't have those mental problems. I doubt people living in Ireland 160 years ago would sympathise with the pressures of today.

TeddyTedson

Drakares wrote: »

Usually not a facebook type quoter but I read this recently in a book: A short history of nearly everything, by Bill Bryson. Amazing read:

Ah that's bull**** I would have been here regardless.

kfallon

I have absolutely nothing to complain about....so I won't!

flutterflye

Internet Hero wrote: »

any problems in life we have how bad can they be when you can have any food and have a hot bath

I don't have a bath

Little Acorn

Drumpot wrote: »

Friend of mine always says I should be thankful for living now instead of in other times whenever I give out about the corrupt nature of society.

I live more comfortable then a king 300 years ago, but I am considered to be on the lower scale of society financially. Yes, I am thankful for that, but in 100 years time they might look back at now and ask the same question. Cancer might be curable like the common cold and Ireland might actually have proper laws to send corrupt people to jail!

For me, the only way society progresses is by a desire for better. Being thankful for what you have is fine, but it shouldnt hinder your want of better (not necessarily more - there is a differance).

For me the most important aspects of human progression are in medicine, learning more about the earth and space exploration. But thanks to our narcistic tendancies, most money will be spent on 100 differant versions of TV/Phone or some crap like that and we will continue to act like the universe revolves around us.

Theres a good argument to be made that consumerist capitalist has made people even more unhappy and more prone to depression.

Before anybody has a go at me, I have an Iphone and a HD TV, you dont have to be a tree hugging hippy and can even be a hypocite, but still see the falacy of mankinds short sightedness.

Brilliant post.

TeddyTedson

Also just think of in 300 years time how much better everything will be. We're unlucky to be so close yet so far away from the robots doing all the work.

Some little fecker is probably showing this message to his friend now in space camp on his digital watch. Pricks.
Please bring me back to life! I dyed waaay too young. Just like Marty Whelans

Internet Hero

flutterflye wrote: »

I don't have a bath

have a warm shower with love soaps and a nice towel for after if somebody from 1273 did that once it would probably be the best day of there life!

shopaholic01

1ZRed wrote: »

They had far less social problems and pressures then we have now, which are only mounting as time progresses and our lives get more hectic and society becomes more demanding.

They had big problems and lived lives of fear in the past, which we don't have in our developed countries, but in a way they all just morphed into different types of problems with a similar sort of severity.

We might not be likely to get axed in the face or die of a flu but there are people who struggle so desperately like failing to support a family and provide in an ever more competitive world.

I think people had more physical problems and strains in the past, now it's mostly mental.

Spot on, Redzer! Unfortunately, our flight or fight survival mechanism is sometimes more of a hindrance than a help today.

I don't think most of it have it too bad though - most of us can afford food, shelter, fuel etc. It must be pretty miserable for those who can't.

af_thefragile

Why does everyone tend to believe everything will become much better than today in the future?
I think the people who have lived the best lives are Americans and Europeans in the 60s-80s. They had everything, lots of wealth, everything was cheap, didn't have to worry about saving the planet or anything, they could go about living in excess without any conscience.

The future will probably only get worse with more economic collapse, increasing population and wars. Once we start running out of oil (which isn't gonna take that much longer considering we've managed to burn away most of it in under a century!) then **** will really hit the fan. We've become too dependent on oil and without oil nations would completely shut down unless we soon find alternate energy sources which by the looks of it we're not going to find before we experience the economic crunch of oil shortage. Maybe if you we're from among the top 0.01% life would get better for you as science would have provided you with new toys to play with but for the rest the future looks pretty grim.


And yeah even the poorest people living on the dole here live better lives than the middle class people in third world countries. Most people here don't even know what it's like to live without clean running water or living without supermarkets and a fridge in the home which always has some food in it.

I guess its all relative. People in wealthy countries become too dependant on the luxuries they take for granted and feel their lives aren't complete when they look at the super rich in their big homes and fast cars. People in poorer countries learn to live with not having clean water 24x7 and barely having enough food to feed their family and then they look upto the west and wish they could live like the people here who have nice homes and enough wealth to not worry about food, water, shelter etc.

I once read about a guy who was in a village in Sudan and the people there were absolutely amazed when the person told them back home in USA you could get a "diet" coke with zero calories. The Sudanese people just couldn't grasp the concept of a "diet" drink. Like why would anyone want to drink something just for the sake of drinking it and not for getting any nutritional value out of it. When you think of it, it is quite ridiculous that society has reached a point where now you consume beverages which have no (or very little) nutritional value and you consume it only for the sake of consuming it.

Casillas

Yeah, I do think that OP.

Dives me mad, when people wished they lived in the past - in simpler times.

Aghh - the complexity of human emotion and relations would still exist, only coupled with higher infant mortality, shorter adult life-spans and rampant disease, starvation and the constant threat of violence.

Shatters the romanticist image when I tell people that

kasper

axed to death or taxed to death it still ends in death

ronan45

say like 800 years ago ..sleepin on hay in no electricity no power showers no interwebz no tesco 24 cans for 20 euro:(
freaks me out

ScumLord

im invisible wrote: »

i'd rather be living back in the day when there were dragons and sh!t...

Dragons are just as imaginary today as they were in the past so technically you are still living in the age of dragons.

I'm always thankful and amazed with the times we live in. I'd be dead by now if it wasn't for the marvels of modern medicines, I'd be way more ignorant of so many things, even if I had the best education in the world I'd still be ignorant because they had little to go on back then. Today I get to marvel at modern technology, like today I watched a truck drive down the road and I'm still gobsmacked that we can make something like that never mind the new massive jumbo jets.

I think over the next 100 years the human race is going to plateau, art is already reached it's limits and is starting to go around in circles, technology will get to the point it's as powerful and integrated as it can get and we'll just be wandering around the universe filling our extremely long lives looking at very similar planets.

Ush1

It's all just luck really isn't it?

To be born good looking or to a rich family or in a warm, nice country...

ScumLord

Ush1 wrote: »

It's all just luck really isn't it?

To be born good looking or to a rich family or in a warm, nice country...

No, it's not luck. If you weren't born with all those things god hates you for some reason.

dd972

maybe the debate would be better put as ''when do you wish you were born'' for instance the baby boomer generation born in the late 40's early 50's.

the types who bought semis in Santry or Sandymount in 1979 then sold them in the 00's for something ridiculous, also ( if in the right job ) pensioned up to the eyeballs in a way nobody today could imagine.

Agricola

Yeah we are extremely fortunate. Ok more of us have to shop at Aldi, drop our health insurance, or cant buy a car for the forseeable future. But neither do any of us live in grinding poverty where we have to wonder about how we're going to feed and cloth ourselves.

Lando Griffin

Well I know the OH is happy not to have lived 100+ years ago as she probably would have pushed out between 10 and 20 kids by now with no end in sight with Lando about.
Unlike today where the burden of childcare is spread around the parents and grandparents she would have to graft on her own as I like most fathers would have been disconnected from my off spring bringing home the bread and drinking myself to an early grave.

ScumLord

Lando Griffin wrote: »

Unlike today where the burden of childcare is spread around the parents and grandparents

Childcare has been spread around the parents and grandparents (and neighbours) since humans were around, it's one of the defining characteristics of human social behaviour.

It's likely ye would have stayed close to home as traveling wasn't as easy, if ye did move it would have been a permanent move but with no TV to distract ye and regular social activity around sunday mass it's likely ye would have known your neighbours quite well.

golden lane

there are very few people who have the same life as other people........

but, whatever it is.....enjoy it the best you can......it will not be repeated....

Celly Smunt

to progress from here another cold war space race is needed.NOW!

Daveysil15

I came across this list online of the happiest countries for 2012:

1 Costa Rica
2 Vietnam
3 Colombia
4 Belize
5 El Salvador
6 Jamaica
7 Panama
8 Nicaragua
9 Venezuela
10 Guatemala

You can see the rest here:

http://www.nowpublic.com/world/happiest-countries-world-2012-happy-nations-complete-list-2946693.html

Ireland is 73. I've no idea how they come up with these statistics.

1ZRed

im invisible wrote: »

i'd rather be living back in the day when there were dragons and sh!t...

https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSZHQFzynV9_XZiXfCeptroryqUbfaQ_VVslLb75hW5ZKPKKYLv

kowloon

Modern medicine and refrigeration are entirely responsible for my continued survival. Come the zombocalypse I'm screwed.