[ExI] Societal evolution

[spike at rainier66.com]

-----Original Message-----
From: extropy-chat <extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org> On Behalf Of
Stuart LaForge via extropy-chat
Subject: Re: [ExI] Societal evolution

On 2024-04-24 07:20, Nuala Thomson via extropy-chat wrote:

> We all know every 10 years technology makes a leap.
> I theorise society does the same, and I would like confirmation or 
> contradiction.... Nuala

Nuala, here's something cool not directly related to your question.  When a
new ExI-chatter comes along, we get a flurry of activity, new questions and
ideas.  We old fellers have been hanging out here for a long time and know
each other well, so there are few new ideas.  So thanks for coming to our
decades-long party and tossing new stuff into the pot.

Regarding your notion: technology leaps come along, but not on any regular
or predictable interval as far as I can tell.  Some of them are foreseeable,
others not.  When the generative pretrained transformer showed up in 2018,
it came outta nowhere.  It surprised most of us, who spend a lotta time
thinking about the future. 

>...I tend to agree with you, Nuala. Technology is affecting human evolution
both biologically and societally.  As a teacher, I can see how technology is
starting to shape our society especially with regard to our youth.
Adolescents these days are much more reclusive and socially awkward than in
my youth, with texting, posting to Instagram, and playing Fortnite largely
replacing hanging out and going to the mall as the kid's notion of
socializing...Kids these days seem to be much more socially awkward than
they used to be. ...Stuart LaForge
_______________________________________________


Stuart, thanks for that.  This is an idea that needs way more study: whether
our tech toys are somehow contributing to autism and ADHD.  I am compelled
to agree, from what I observe: a lot of teenagers carrying themselves in
ways that make it difficult for other generations to interact with them.
They do fine (or seem to) in interacting with each other.  But... standard
social behavior is definitely changing.

spike