The First Critics of Modern Life

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  • เผยแพร่เมื่อ 30 ก.ย. 2024
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ความคิดเห็น • 313

  • @ThenNow
    @ThenNow  ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Script & sources at: www.thenandnow.co/2023/07/01/the-first-critics-of-modern-life/
    ► Sign up for the newsletter to get concise digestible summaries: www.thenandnow.co/the-newsletter/
    ► Why Support Then & Now? www.patreon.com/user/about?u=3517018

    • @susanwilliams4953
      @susanwilliams4953 6 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Then & Now Insighting, thank you I learn from all your videos.

  • @armchairecon
    @armchairecon ปีที่แล้ว +38

    Bro I hate modern life so much, I’m from the Caribbean and every time I go back it’s such a contrast from my job as an analyst in London, so much of it is simply intentional obfuscation and information overload and you pay to be unconfused and that’s called our service industry. It’s a normative statement taken for granted that the advancement of technology has made us better off. This is just ridiculous at this point.

  • @valk5045
    @valk5045 ปีที่แล้ว +469

    I hate modern life. I am a government employee. I wanted to help make society better, but now I just long for a simple life, without the hectic information barrage of email, internet and all other mediaforms. Not simple stupid, but simple slow. I don't mind a busy environment, but modern life isn't busy it's continuous information overload.

    • @wmgodfrey1770
      @wmgodfrey1770 ปีที่แล้ว +23

      One aspect that's weighing ALL of us down, which this Professor also covers in another of his fascinating videos, is the phenomenon of Bureaucracy.

    • @DogmaticAtheist
      @DogmaticAtheist ปีที่แล้ว +18

      If you were born a thousand years ago would the contempt go away or simply transform to another aspect?

    • @valk5045
      @valk5045 ปีที่แล้ว +16

      @@wmgodfrey1770 yes, but there is no easy alternative. Society has become so complex, there are so many mechanisms needed to keep it glued together, it"s more a symptom than a cause.

    • @valk5045
      @valk5045 ปีที่แล้ว +15

      @@DogmaticAtheist I don't know. I know every period has its issues to be bothered by, I can only comment on my experiences.

    • @TennesseeJed
      @TennesseeJed ปีที่แล้ว +5

      I resemble this remark.

  • @richardbuckharris189
    @richardbuckharris189 ปีที่แล้ว +148

    “The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way. Some see nature all ridicule and deformity... and some scarce see nature at all. But to the eyes of the man of imagination, nature is imagination itself.”
    ― William Blake

    • @rhetoric5173
      @rhetoric5173 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      Nature is your lord's creation.

    • @stephen200005945
      @stephen200005945 ปีที่แล้ว +10

      tysm for this but why leave out the dope maxim?
      "As a man is, so he sees."

    • @go_all_the_way
      @go_all_the_way ปีที่แล้ว +3

      Dear stranger, thanks for sharing this with me. Adding this to my collection of all-time favorites

  • @M4ruta
    @M4ruta ปีที่แล้ว +18

    I never watch a 'Then & Now' video as soon as I see the upload and that's a compliment because I need to pick a quiet moment where I can watch it with full attention.

  • @ezm4729
    @ezm4729 ปีที่แล้ว +48

    I found your channel only recently, but I'm awed by your videos. Both in content and production. With great thoughtfulness, you clearly put into words ideas which have been loosely swimming around my mind forever. How lucky are we to have access to this quality education resource.

    • @ezm4729
      @ezm4729 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      also, your writing is like poetry.

    • @Micscience
      @Micscience ปีที่แล้ว +1

      I to have been thinking of these ideas as well. His videos are amazing. Good comment btw.

  • @Mineav
    @Mineav ปีที่แล้ว +44

    It's always a great day when there's a new Then & Now upload.

  • @svang1013
    @svang1013 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    The Amish were right all along. They are more intelligent than us all combined.

  • @amazingspectator8675
    @amazingspectator8675 ปีที่แล้ว +35

    This is a great tone piece and a reflection on modern life. Keep it up!

  • @guzgrant
    @guzgrant ปีที่แล้ว +17

    I can see that finally I have found a channel with commonality. A echo chamber I’m happy to be stood within . Great videos and the thoughtful content is right up my street .

    • @Anglo_Saxon1
      @Anglo_Saxon1 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      That's a good way of wording it.
      Really well put together aren't they.👍

    • @totonow6955
      @totonow6955 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Precisely.

    • @Anglo_Saxon1
      @Anglo_Saxon1 ปีที่แล้ว

      @Alex Lawson ???

  • @josephlee4001
    @josephlee4001 ปีที่แล้ว +7

    The fin-Market have underperformed the U.S. economy as fear of inflation hammers the prices of stock;s and bonds. My portfoliio of $250k is down to $192k any recommendation;s to scale up my return;s during this crash will be highly appreciated.

    • @stevenjuan259
      @stevenjuan259 ปีที่แล้ว

      The stock markett rally is still in force, but the major indexes, sectors and especially leading stocks are prone to reversals. I recommend you seek the guidance a broker or financiaI advsor.

    • @bendickson9414
      @bendickson9414 ปีที่แล้ว

      I agree, having a brokerage advisor for inveesting is genius! Not long ago amidst the pandemic crash in March 2020, I was really having inveesting nightmare prior touching base with a advisor. In a nutshell, i've accrued over $550k with the help of my advisor from an initial $120k investment thus far

    • @denisdavid342
      @denisdavid342 ปีที่แล้ว

      that's impressive!, I could really use the expertise of this advsors , my portfoIio has been down bad....who’s the person guiding you.

    • @stevenjuan259
      @stevenjuan259 ปีที่แล้ว

      I just looked up the broker you suggested on Google and I'm incredibly impressed with his credentials, so thank you for sharing. I'm going to send him an email right away.

  • @ceased2care
    @ceased2care ปีที่แล้ว +3

    30:04. Says it all. A grim, but now daily sight

  • @uHiblubnan
    @uHiblubnan ปีที่แล้ว +55

    I love the introduction of play into the concept of creativity. I work in housing/urban planning and it is so depressing seeing places for creativity being "designed". There is little understanding of how humans come to create. I get the human cognitive impulse to collate, organise, simplify, but you also need that dynamic process of failure, experimental, accidental, play in order to be creative. I would recommend Peter Hall's Cities in Civilisation if you have not read it already. He looks at cities throughout history during their creative peak and asks why then, why there.

    • @tomasviane3844
      @tomasviane3844 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Just the playgrounds for children, nowadays. We use to make our own swings, create our own games, found an old rusted car and played driver and passenger,... but, it was a lot more dangerous!!!

    • @Micscience
      @Micscience ปีที่แล้ว

      @@tomasviane3844 The way I look at it is that danger amplifies meaning into life.

    • @totonow6955
      @totonow6955 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      The play things were covered in moss.

  • @scottandcoke1342
    @scottandcoke1342 ปีที่แล้ว +8

    I wash myself with a rag on a stick

  • @akmzahidulislam2764
    @akmzahidulislam2764 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    What we all are running for? Is it only because someone is moving in front of us? Alas, that's not life, nor even worth these fuss!

  • @vitalgreenspace
    @vitalgreenspace ปีที่แล้ว +12

    This is brilliant. After walking through Paisley and East Kilbride town centres today at wondered about the parallels between early stage capitalism and those who commented on it with what lies ahead for the traditional town centres

  • @petereissing5070
    @petereissing5070 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    I feel the general issue is stability with complexity. Things seem and often are much more complex (mostly administratively in companies and governments) than they need to be, yet society and most are comfortable enough there's no big push to simplify methods of existence. Then new methods and inventions get slapped on top of the old and systems become even more complex.

  • @MediaFaust
    @MediaFaust ปีที่แล้ว +7

    "Art is the goal. Craft is how to get there." (Robert Fripp)

  • @livpeake8108
    @livpeake8108 ปีที่แล้ว +8

    please put the quotes and citations on screen next time! fab video

  • @sophiaisabelle01
    @sophiaisabelle01 ปีที่แล้ว +47

    This is an informative video that can enlighten us about other things that do matter in this lifetime. We appreciate all your hard work and effort into producing these types of videos. Keep up the good work. May this channel be blessed.

    • @rehmans3656
      @rehmans3656 ปีที่แล้ว

      sussy

    • @jose.montojah
      @jose.montojah ปีที่แล้ว

      Oh, that last "like and subscribe" sure hit different this time.

  • @Mineav
    @Mineav ปีที่แล้ว +8

    Your videos have been transformative for me. Thank you.

  • @farzadfazeliani3958
    @farzadfazeliani3958 ปีที่แล้ว +20

    Phenomenal video as always. There is something about this video, that echoes the one the author did on Baudrillard, which suggests that as society advances, it's population feels increasing removed from a life that feels connected and real: to the earth, to each other, to one's work etc. i.e. As we scale population, production etc., we individually feel more atomized, and alien to the whole. I'm a corporate worker bee in my early 40s, and I find myself increasingly fantasizing about moving to smaller city than LA, where I can buy some land, have a craft and build a shop, know the people in my community, and my neighbors, adventure with my dog, walk and bike to places instead of driving a car, and reflect, write, teach and help others, whose identity and persons are physically known and meaningful to me. The hyperreality that is my world now, digital, distant, and yet omnipresent, feels wholeheartedly unsatiating, like consuming mounds of sugar for the dopamine rush, only to find myself feeling increasingly nauseous, and then crashing soon after.
    If nature and culture shouldn't be antithetical, but one and the same, then these feelings - which I suspect are not limited to me alone - suggest we have not figured it out at scale. And if the author argues that "play" is central to this harmony, then I don't know where & how that does/can exist, within the current dominant utilitarian paradigm that we call 'free market capitalism'; corporate PR propaganda such as 'Google's 20% time,' notwithstanding.
    Curious if anyone knows a city/town wherein I could pursue this dream, and/or, if anyone has ideas on how this problem could be solved more globally? Curious what's inspiring Lewis to move from London, and if he'd care to comment?

    • @averayugen7802
      @averayugen7802 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      The smaller cities have followed the same pattern of atomization and dehumanization, its wherein the mindless system to let that happen, also if you have saved up, its your choice how to dispose of it, better places for advice than this

    • @farzadfazeliani3958
      @farzadfazeliani3958 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@averayugen7802 There are resemblances, sure. But I'm not sure what you are proposing instead, and why? My question is about where to live and work, grow, develop, and contribute; not where to go shopping.

    • @alexxx4434
      @alexxx4434 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      You know, that it is an idealized escapist fantasy. The reality is never like that. Especially now.
      "If you really want to escape the things that harass you, what you're needing is not to be in a different place but to be a different person."
      - Seneca
      If modern life is atomizing, then we ourselves should strive to connect. If we don't have free time from work to be creative we must fight for better working conditions. Basically, it's fight or flight situation, except it's nowhere to flight.
      The problem is not in the vague "modern life", the problem is in the current dominant exploitative soicio-economic system, that increasingly leaves no room for deep human needs - offering surface level consumerism instead as the point of life.

    • @farzadfazeliani3958
      @farzadfazeliani3958 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      @@alexxx4434 I'm not playing the same games as Seneca or the majority of historical figures we've learned about growing up - nobles & generals. Maybe other people want surface level consumerism or don't care enough to change it, and my job is not to change them. And I don't believe we can achieve a higher order of humanity if its orientation is born out of fight or flight. I'm just looking for others with whom I can "inquire & create". IFF that exists nowhere now, then I'll be willing to more seriously consider your cynical proposal.

    • @13hehe
      @13hehe ปีที่แล้ว

      @@farzadfazeliani3958 If you're fortunate enough to work from home and financially capable, you could seriously look into purchasing countryside property provided there is reliable internet access?
      I know many people who work in university, and are fortunate enough to own countryside cottages. It'd not a fix for society and obviously very privileged, it's more of a coping mechanism to keep oneself from losing your mind. Many go to the countyside like it's an escape.
      I totally understand how you feel, I feel the same way. I have friends in the city, but they are totally caught up in it and don't see it, and I feel disconnected from them. I'd rather live in a small community...

  • @johncooley9920
    @johncooley9920 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    What was it about the Baroque era that produced such beautuful music ? Recorders became oboes, harpsochords became pianos. Something about how societies were structured ? Was it the competition of power between church and state ? Was it a right balance of rebellion and submission ?
    Can we see something similar in the music of the 1960's ? Or maybe 1940's to 1970's ? Yet at the same time, architecture suffered. It became less human.
    Perhaps while something is new and changing, there's a good balance of freedom and structure. But soon it becomes too formulaic and needs a paradigm shift. Perhaps art, science and belief beat at different rhythms, while responding to eachother.
    Quality of life seems the ultimate goal. Yet there always seems to be a huge disparity between rich and poor. Always a disconcern for the suffering of the lost. Those who've given up.

  • @jagirkaur6216
    @jagirkaur6216 6 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    Only the fool will scorn the wonders which Science has given man, though we do well to pause and remember Diseraeli's perceptive remark that; The European talks of progress because by the aid of a few Scientific discoveries he has established a society which has mistaken comfort for civilization. " ______ Paul burton, "The Secret Path".

  • @Quadr44t
    @Quadr44t 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    26:36 What's this song? I have heard it in many of your videos now, and, well I like it!
    Edit: It's only two (arpeggiated) chords too! Less really is more. I guess it really relies on the timbre and dynamics (i.e.. gain/filter ADSR in synthesizer speak).

  • @lonepheasant3489
    @lonepheasant3489 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Modern life isn't better it's worse time to reverse the curse

  • @firstimperator5523
    @firstimperator5523 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    The more we have capitalism instead of social democracy, the more we gonna suffer from modernity.

  • @holeshothunter5544
    @holeshothunter5544 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Pretty good at 1.25 speed. That's the problem with life, too.

  • @dylanlanham-cook2706
    @dylanlanham-cook2706 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    As beautiful ,poetic and thought provoking as usual, this channel always reminds my favourite things in life are a synthesis of feeling and thought, genuinely my favourite channel on TH-cam , Ty for the amazing content!

  • @heekyungkim8147
    @heekyungkim8147 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    I can’t stand modern life that we have become money making machine to survive…. It’s killing me inside slowly….

  • @raffacasting
    @raffacasting 7 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    A love this kind of videos because although they dont give solutions they still infuse us with sense-making inspiration, re-ignite the fire of our hearts that there is a different way or a third way of seeing modernity where we can merge the progress with beauty

  • @pierrelabounty9917
    @pierrelabounty9917 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    I am against heartless capitalism, guided age principles,; but I am even more against heartless socialism, and that economic heresy, communism. All ways to divide up the loot. What do you expect In materialistic and "scientific" civilization, that idolized meaninglessness ignorance in its intellectual pursuits. Reminds me of Pollock tossing paint on his canvasses and dying of alcoholism. Well, there is meaning for our lives , and may God give people the grace to find it in Christ.

  • @f1r3hunt3rz5
    @f1r3hunt3rz5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    The older mode of living before modernity suits the human nature better. I don't know if you can even call the modern lifestyle as "living", in the true sense. "Modern", to me, is synonymous with "fake" and "plastic". It's become a filthy word for me now.

  • @BauAuslese
    @BauAuslese ปีที่แล้ว +1

    You should never, ever, idealize "the past". It might give us some advice, but never the solution to things we perceive as wrong or unjust. Peoples all over the world embraced modernism, the only alternatives are "reservations" or "protected areas" which are kind of curated out of the modernized world and heavily dependant on its good will.

  • @endofmidnight
    @endofmidnight ปีที่แล้ว +1

    fascinating arguments on modernity whether it be in acceptance or objection. keep your objective outlook because there are so few sources and thinkers to trust to do just this.

  • @beneddie6592
    @beneddie6592 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    ...... it's not even that they should coexist, they should be one and the same, the same side of one coin 👌 well said, and overall well done mate. Thank you for all your efforts and hard work.🙏 ( Living in accordance with nature should not be a reminder, but a rule; for we are a product of nature and going against it would mean, going against the fundamental nature of what it is to be a human beings and that in my opinion will soon or later lead to our own distraction and possibly demise!!! 🤔🙏

  • @markohudler9149
    @markohudler9149 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    great video, what do you think about the modern life? Obviously it comes with many positives nowadays for artists because of the internet, but is it worth it?

  • @maxschoon2470
    @maxschoon2470 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers?

    • @alanmcbride6658
      @alanmcbride6658 3 หลายเดือนก่อน

      We are God they say.
      We are the centre of
      the universe.

  • @quentinvalentingualberrena8127
    @quentinvalentingualberrena8127 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Not only have the industrial revolution and its consequences been a disaster for the human race, but the agricultural revolution and its consequences have been the source of all disasters.

  • @subcitizen2012
    @subcitizen2012 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    We need like 3 or 4 hours of this haha

  • @kenhiett5266
    @kenhiett5266 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    We live in a time in which words mean more than actions. This results in corrupt leaders and dysfunctional governance unaccountable to a manufacturing consent press.

  • @classyalien9722
    @classyalien9722 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Does someone have a list of all the authors that he cites in the video. I'm extreamly interested in learning more about the topic.

  • @timkbirchico8542
    @timkbirchico8542 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    43 years ago, I saw the cities with people stacked on people, streets after streets of people packed together. I imagined billions of chimps in the same circumstance. we wouldn't allow other primates to live in such a crowded and exploited state. we are apes also.
    I have lived in the Sierra Nevada since I left the city 34 years ago.

  • @averagecitizen4122
    @averagecitizen4122 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    That closing sentence was really powerful. Great work 👍

  • @superduperjew
    @superduperjew ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Throw me into the amazon. I'm done with this concrete nightmare of exploitation

  • @JB-uc1yx
    @JB-uc1yx ปีที่แล้ว +8

    Love everything about your videos, fantastic style, commentary and content. Sound quality is superb now compared to your older videos. Can't wait for more!

  • @nguyenkhoi8745
    @nguyenkhoi8745 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Thanks!

  • @dorithezencat
    @dorithezencat ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Thank you for the thought provoking, reflective and beautiful presentation.

  • @Karaolos
    @Karaolos ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Discovered this channel today... Top tier content! Really hits where it matters. Thank you!

  • @iberomagazineiberomagazine9251
    @iberomagazineiberomagazine9251 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Great Video !! Albert Camus !! that is what I want, a full video

  • @5ivearrows
    @5ivearrows ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Beautiful. Your work brings tears sometimes, Lewis. Thank you.

  • @jonathansalter5477
    @jonathansalter5477 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Enjoyable video! Although the closed captions differ quite a bit from your spoken script.

  • @alphamorion4314
    @alphamorion4314 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    *Victorian England teacher:* "FaCtS dOnT'CaRe AbOuT YoUr FeElInGs!"
    - Dickens

  • @sherirobinson6867
    @sherirobinson6867 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    I wonder what they would have thought of the invention of plastics?

  • @DPRSashatown
    @DPRSashatown ปีที่แล้ว +1

    The Separation of Town and Country is one of the fundamental contradictions along with the same process for natural systems, the Metabolic Rift. Our cities only exist as products of pillaging the countryside, and the uneven development of the countryside only intensifies as the cities demand more. There's no hope of solving that without some sort of reintegration of the two.

  • @GlobeHackers
    @GlobeHackers ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Lovely. Thanks again. This one really touches me. Best

  • @maxwaller734
    @maxwaller734 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    *¿when did modern life begin, and according to whom? ¡asked at 11:11 pm Pacific Standard Time on Tuesday, 8 November 2022!*

  • @raystargazer7468
    @raystargazer7468 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    And what about love?

  • @Bguitarney
    @Bguitarney 6 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Lol ur awesome host man! What a beautiful and awe inspiring subject matter and thoughts on deep and introspective stuff. Bee and ants. They’d be, no pun, who’d have make and ability to ufo and walk through walls and travel this universe. Well I imagine other. Here my thoughts, to be advanced and mind wwharpingly able the,level of understanding and we’ll love for all life and knowledge. It’d have to be, no pun , together and no jealousy no hate no struggle. Only opportunity and probably a better word or mindset of viewing having to learn or do something not intended. Well then it have to be work and doing what they like and wouldn’t do anything different. Not like some ppl, dad, cussing cause a part need changed on the car or figured out. I enjoy working on cars. I love it. I don’t want shit to break and cost me. But that too. Money couldn’t be a thing to these advanced civilization of Bee people. Ever time they go to fridge that plant ten times more food than they just took when they get nectar. lol they love that shit. They Bee all up in that pollen like oh yeah hmmm, no pun intended with bee, haha yes there was. I done that totally intentionally. A gray alien? Big eyes and triangle shape head. THAT A DAMN BEE YOU ALL! Or and ant. But get this image you fly naturally it’s embedded in ur dna in ur very essence. Now how might that give perspective on flying and traveling via space ship 🛸 over us walkers and runners crawlers and flopped dashers and swimmers? It be a massively helpful in having the natural aptitude and insight for what alll is……. Hell idk cause its that different and awesome than what I can actually perceive. I mean I can put my self in another’s shoes and really get down to it with a lot to truly understand and open mindedness to kniw just what how and all but damnt. I’m have to ask a Bee then yo bruh mentor me in being the bee 🐝 to better help my fellow earth life thrive and get of this one sphere with no insurance in if this one gets rocked by a planet killer rock 🪨 zipping around like a wild man out there. We fight our selfs and we don’t see that if we populate the stars that we can, that’s abundance for real there will always be enough for every thing and one. Now going around stripping a whole world of everything it had and taking its own beauty and look, lol bad way to say, but we can’t do that now just cause it can be done and personally may not ever be effected by that. Unless u thoughtful and with love, yeah then ud feel some type of way bout trashing that one planet and leaving it a shriveled up shadow of it former beautiful aweome self. Like a negative Mackey hateful lost one be draining naïve and loving positive one. Robbing or depleting their own unique birth right to be. Lol THAT SHIT HAS TO STOP. LOOK you all have the ability to be better than Jimi Hendrix on a guitar if that’s what u want to do. Do it! He did. Made Eric Clapton feel like a simp amd hack not even meanng to be all look how good i am he just was like man I’d like the play a set hopefully they’ll like it and that’d make my day! Imagine

  • @PetrGladkikh
    @PetrGladkikh ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Could have been twice as short.

    • @gulagwithahumanface4471
      @gulagwithahumanface4471 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      If ironic, this is a genius comment considering the video’s musings on utility. If not, well…

  • @gabrielbickerstaff4361
    @gabrielbickerstaff4361 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Hello Lewis! Please make a video essay about Emmanuel Levinas' ethics and encountering another person. That would be great!

  • @maytons
    @maytons ปีที่แล้ว

    The consequences of overshoot are far more eminent and dire than ever. Unfortunately we are still seeking political "solutions", but government is what enabled the very destruction we are witnessing today. The concept of money itself is a plague on this planet, and even further upstream is the concept of ownership. Possession is a universal reality which is easily proven with empirical evidence. The concept of ownership on the other hand requires a legal system and is therefore a legal fallacy. And to go back upstream even further is to discover the original "sin", which we need only to observe our own anatomy, physiology and biology to prove. By far the longest period of human existence was as tropical and subtropical frugivorous primates. Just as we can observe that all life on this planet has a species specific environment and diet, so too do humans. When an invasive species is introduced to a symbiotic environment chaos ensues. Yet we are too smart for our own good. Wisdom has been chasing us, but we've always been a little faster.

  • @BCBell-fj2ht
    @BCBell-fj2ht 4 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Taoism 2500 B.C. But, China almost lost the continent because they failed to militarize with the rest of the world. "Two sides of the same coin."

  • @robertdegruchy160
    @robertdegruchy160 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Excellent big picture ideas and review of historical commentaries which are still relevant today. Industrial society is all about maximum efficiency and utility- today the algorithm rules for this utility and a kind of 'sinister surveillance.It is all about the spreadsheet, the buying & selling and the ever watchful lens everywhere. Interesting to see some people going off grid, raising thief own food...but unless we want no contact with others at all, we still might. want to communicate with someone somewhere sometime. Our technology is a boon but also a burden.Enjoyed a poetry slam. Some of the readers where computer specialists...people like to have a creative outlet.Among others, Russell explored such ideas...Recently saw a short book about 'unplugging' going to read it, but the topic is very telling..well, gotta finish this spreadsheet...interesting. how we can create our own apps. without extensive traong..the question is - to what ends

  • @jose.montojah
    @jose.montojah ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Oh, that last "like and subscribe" sure hit different this time.

  • @pauldusa
    @pauldusa ปีที่แล้ว

    during the 1800's and early 1900"s over 50% of the UK population was in debtors prison

  • @swashbukk
    @swashbukk ปีที่แล้ว

    those old geezers in black and white may be right, but to me, first thought went to some talented londonian musicians who made a whole album around that topic: modern life is rubbish. And that was waay back in the 90s.

  • @thelostcosmonaut5555
    @thelostcosmonaut5555 8 หลายเดือนก่อน

    I worked on ambualnces for most of my twenties. If you want to see the downsides of modernity, be an ambulance crew member. There, you will have a front row seat to the overdoses, car crashes, homelessness, suicides and social diseases.

  • @zwatwashdc
    @zwatwashdc 10 หลายเดือนก่อน

    It’s a cliche to say your goal in life is to make the world a better life. Why is that what young people aspire to? Where does that come from? What would people have said in other centuries. I find it weird that everyone feels that responsibility - as if they could even if they wanted to.

  • @TheOtherMwalimu
    @TheOtherMwalimu ปีที่แล้ว +9

    Have you considered the concepts of Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft? I'm thinking about doing a video essay on it. Whether thoughtful, education or controversial, always look forward to a new video from Then and Now. Thank you!

    • @alexanderfuchs8742
      @alexanderfuchs8742 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      based on the Ferdinand tönnies book? nice we had a seminar on that dichotomy at the university of Jena :)

    • @Gorboduc
      @Gorboduc ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Check out Jane Jacobs' book Systems Of Survival. It nicely parallels that concept.

  • @balsarmy
    @balsarmy 8 หลายเดือนก่อน

    For me surveillance and protests became a start point to notice changes in reality. And I started to think that even minimalistic design we have is so close to the design of asylum

  • @KonyCurrentYear
    @KonyCurrentYear ปีที่แล้ว

    No mention of Thomas Carlyle? Disappointing.

  • @aaronnix4291
    @aaronnix4291 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Please start listing the music in the description. I know most of it is royalty free muzak but some of it is so beautiful.

    • @aaronnix4291
      @aaronnix4291 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Even if its just a list without timestamps or anything i can do the work, pls man. love the content.

  • @chrisrosenkreuz23
    @chrisrosenkreuz23 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    insane production value

  • @kevinnolan6579
    @kevinnolan6579 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    This was just what I needed, Love it!!!

  • @JonathanB00K3R
    @JonathanB00K3R ปีที่แล้ว

    I'd be interested to hear what you have to say about animal rights.

  • @gonzalvedecordoue5486
    @gonzalvedecordoue5486 8 หลายเดือนก่อน

    I' m floating while listening to this. Thank you .

  • @ann-ri4ch
    @ann-ri4ch ปีที่แล้ว

    Does anyone know the title of the Ernst Hoffman book mentioned at 13:00?

  • @danielnwadike6763
    @danielnwadike6763 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    By far my fav yt channel

  • @MorphingReality
    @MorphingReality ปีที่แล้ว

    Hoping for a mention of Jacques Ellul and Neil Postman :)

  • @hanskung3278
    @hanskung3278 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    I don't know, I kind of like modern life, things like electricity or antibiotics.

    • @AllahIsTheOneAndOnlyUnity
      @AllahIsTheOneAndOnlyUnity 7 หลายเดือนก่อน

      You are confusing technology with lifestyle. The modern delusion that progress is technology, when in fact technology is always evolving, because usually it is discovered by chance.
      The very proof in this is the modern persons need to take a break to get out in nature. How ridiculous to think that you are seperate from nature.
      It’s like a child that sits in a sandbox and builds a sandcastle and then calls themself king. The reality is that they are a child in a sand box.
      One day someone might laugh at your electricity and antibiotics. The same way you might laugh at a caveman’s fire and moss.
      It doesn’t make the person in the future better than you, or you better than the caveman. Each of you have or had their own challenges to come and should appreciate that there could not of been one without the other.
      And that I believe is what is lacking in the present, instead the modern person has a disdain for the past and a contempt for the future.
      Never can the modern person imagine that it could have been better or could be better.
      Maybe that actually makes the modern person the worst?

  • @nestorgutierrez4533
    @nestorgutierrez4533 7 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Thank you for your incredible work.

  • @TIm_Bugge
    @TIm_Bugge ปีที่แล้ว

    @17:20... Notice... If the individual is an interchangeable unit of the 'we', then mystery and play, that which is ONLY available to the individual, is deprioritized.

  • @slammesh
    @slammesh ปีที่แล้ว

    top 5 things i've watched. thanks.

  • @Ohyeah100100
    @Ohyeah100100 ปีที่แล้ว

    I would subscribe to patreon if you paid for a narrator

  • @enzorocha2977
    @enzorocha2977 9 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Well this wasn't a depressing watch; not at all.

  • @VerehrterPrinz
    @VerehrterPrinz ปีที่แล้ว

    People… just open your damn eyes, very wide open. Open your heart, think with your heart and MAKE USE of your own mind. Beside of all that endless stress and stream of bullsh*t captivating us every day everywhere.

  • @YourCapyFrenBigly_3DPipes1999
    @YourCapyFrenBigly_3DPipes1999 ปีที่แล้ว

    Another brilliant anti-capitalist destruction.
    Always on the money, T&N.

  • @os3990
    @os3990 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    I live in UK, work in London, also finding something missing. Love the video. I'm hoping 4 day work week, and removal of cars from cities and town centres will help slow this mad pace of modern life. Thoughts?

    • @Micscience
      @Micscience ปีที่แล้ว +2

      I kind of agree with you. I have never gave removal of cars much attention and I could see how much enjoyment I would get from a group bike ride. Though I really think computers such as smartphones have a negative effect on people. I like the access smartphones bring to the world but I feel like we are becoming more disconnected. We are being over entertained by content about life rather than life itself. Idk just my two cents.

    • @hellouser5498
      @hellouser5498 ปีที่แล้ว

      Remove cars, bring more migrants for cheap labor and plant more trees

  • @carloshacer4440
    @carloshacer4440 ปีที่แล้ว

    BRAVO! Let's make art, nature, and play mandatory directions. Add more pre-modern to our modern world. If the wheel is the symbol of modernity, then postmodernism and poststructuralism is that wheel run off of its axle. Off the tracks. Our Mind is in abstract play in its natural state of the divine art of life. Postmodernity is just modernity out of control, let's put it back.

  • @readthetype
    @readthetype ปีที่แล้ว

    Have a cup of coffee before work next time.

  • @pierrelabounty9917
    @pierrelabounty9917 ปีที่แล้ว

    How can you have a city, of true interpersonal commerce with surrounded by the same franchises. Are you in your in hometown or somebody else's. MacDonalds is down the street, and walmart is around the corner. The streets look about the same everywhere. We used to have family run stores, of every kind. Now we live in a practically a food desert, but for walmart and Save a nothing (a lot). Culture, if any, is reserved to touristy neighborhoods, just beyond the environs of gangs and drugs. Amoralism is a plague both in entertainment and buisness. Where people care, about each other, creativity rises not in protest, but in wonder and interest. There is no such thing as art for arts sake. That Nihilistic drible the arts and crafts crowds like to emulate with mindless entertainment, gambling and societal gatherings for their particular class. A mayor might show up with a surgeon, a lawyer, and a musician, while infrastructure rots. Yea, I am a critic, unfortunately. I just want people to care. And the power hungry politicians take the lead; the more able are stuck in the swinging doors, waving their hand. Lots of times the artist, like the poet, can show the level of our times.

  • @amulyamishra5745
    @amulyamishra5745 ปีที่แล้ว

    One of the many things I hate most about modern life is widespread sexual promiscuity. People sleeping around and cheating on their partners in the name of "individual liberty" and "choice".

  • @nichlallen
    @nichlallen ปีที่แล้ว

    where is that quote about "crooked lines representing the inexhaustibility of play" from? around 17:00

  • @songcaller
    @songcaller ปีที่แล้ว

    a man receives a letter in the mail stating : "this is a message from a foreign government requesting your response on the matter of your environment...we have reason to believe other countries desire your land & we are not able to confirm our ability to defend it...if you have questions, send it to - blah blah obscure p.o. box"
    ::cue the strange camera stress & ultra future macgyver music::

  • @angledcoathanger
    @angledcoathanger ปีที่แล้ว

    Amazing how constant these ideas are. People have been saying this about whatever era of modernity they live in for centuries. It never occurred to me that something so ancient looking as St Paul's Cathedral would have been spoken about as a modern abomination, but I can completely understand what Blake meant.
    What's really weird though, is that Westminster looks extremely symmetrical to me, and I'm sure it was constructed with a lot of practical concerns in mind, just with older technology. Seems that there's always a utilitarian concern for humanity, but that it's just jarring for us when we get too good at realising it too suddenly.

  • @brohikhondker9669
    @brohikhondker9669 ปีที่แล้ว

    Excellent video. However, I thought the sound of you breathing in is a little too distracting. This was probably done to make it feel more human and not robotic but still found it odd.

  • @aidencahill2664
    @aidencahill2664 ปีที่แล้ว

    Before you leave London we must utilise our time optimally by having a coffee ;) For only in consumption can I satiate the frantic depthlessness of my modern condition.

  • @Game_Hero
    @Game_Hero ปีที่แล้ว

    Even if I respect the critics of modernity, I enjoy it, especially my internet and the access to information and knowledge that I get starting with my education that I would probably never had got two centuries ago. Nostalgia shouldn't blind people on how many people devoted their lifes to for what they can enjoy now.

  • @robertdegruchy160
    @robertdegruchy160 ปีที่แล้ว

    That was poor grammar replete with typos.The second to last item in my spiel. is about being able to create something without extensive expertise- another tangential effect...