From: buzzbomb@yabbs
To: all@yabbs
Subject: new thread
Date: Sun Mar 27 14:31:35 1994

  I've been thinking lately (please spare any stupid jokes...) and maybe
it's just me, but does society seem to be getting MUCH too complicated
for its own good? There seems to be a natural balance of activities and
ways that people spend their time that is necessary to keep your
sanity, and that balance seems to still be there, but things are piled
higher and higher on each side of all the axes, so that it's coming
close to collapsing altogether. (did that make any sense?)
   to simplify a bit: lets say that one of the axis is between recreation
time and working time. people come up with all these ways to decrease
working time (mostly through technology), so that there will be more
recreation time. but then because of all these new things being invented,
it takes more working time to develop them... and then this turns into an
industry that didn't exist before, which has to maintain a balance of its
own, which takes more working time to complete. And then people figure
out ways to reduce this, and the cycle continues.
   so many things are artificial - economy, industry, fashion, many types
of modern entertainment... and they are all interdependent. if people
could just "peel off" all these layers, we could return to a much simpler
way of life, possibly without sacrificing many of the benefits of 
technology. As long as the things we discarded were on opposite sides of 
the axes, the balance would still be maintained, but we would be one
level closer to a much simpler lifestyle.
   if you have any clue as to what i mean, lemme know. this is just an 
idea
that i've been throwing around. i have a strange relationship with 
technology - i love playing with it and learning about it (i'm a comp 
sci major), it fascinates me, but the direction that it seems to be 
taking in society just doesn't appeal to me. a strange dilemma!