Thoughts about the way we view the Future
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Over some sushi, a good friend told me that as a society, we have undergone a radical change in the way we view the future. It was not until recent times that we looked at the future as something that will be better than the past. It used to be that people feared the future, worrying about what would happen next.

The past used to be revered with ancestors, past deeds and tradition. There used to be this feeling that the past was what made us who we were. There was this idea of a kind of fall from grace, that things were not, at present, as good as they used to be.

Ahh, the human memory is blissfully selective. Since the dark ages, this was true. There was a dramatic fall from grace, and I'm not talking about the Garden of Eden. I am talking about the Roman Empire. After the breakup of the Roman Empire, Europe was plunged into the dark ages.

War, strife, turmoil, a halt in psychological, technological and sociological procession persisted almost 1000 years until the Renaissance. So when people looked back, there was some fondness for the civilizing force that was Rome. The Romans built roads, brought sanitation, irrigation, medicine, order and education. So of course the old days were indeed "good".

But now days, we look at the past as darker times, where people were less tolerant, life was harder and people less happy. We do have many takings to look forward to that our post-industrial society will produce for our comfort and long life.

Interesting.