@BruceCM That would be the unrealistic ideal. Not no police, as there will always be the criminally insane, the desperate, and so forth. But rather that they would be scarcely needed as the overwhelming majority would choose to adhere to the rules regardless of the presence of said police.
While that's an unrealistic ideal at large, it would seem we're heading farther and farther away from that idea rather than closer to it, as a movement away from religion that previously bound the population to "choose" good behavior as a result of their deity always watching and waiting to punish them. The belief they were being watched and could be judged later kept them choosing good behavior without human intervention far more than with modern society. They were still responding to thread of punishment of course. Just a less immediate and corporeal punishment.
In the modern system, you expect people to violate any rule if they're not being watched by one who can punish them, and that applies to the majority of the population. It's a population of children and savages, not reasoning adults.
Well, a proper adult understanding of, say, Christianity is rather more complicated, @NEStalgia .... It'd be more along the lines of your choices eventually leading to the end result, really
But either way, it did seem to have some effect on people's behaviour!
@BruceCM Tremendously so. In reality it's no different than the same simple low level reasoning of "punishment/reward", the only difference the widespread belief that they are indeed being watched, judged, and eventually punished for their actions at all times by a completely non-corruptible, infinitely just, all powerful ruler.
The problem is that was the glue that bound the ethics of society. By and large in modern Western society religion has been mostly expunged, and that glue that bound the ethics no longer exists to the bulk of the population (with some geographic exceptions.) In place of that has been the expanding need for surveilance, privacy intrusion etc by corporations and governments to replace "God" as the ever watching eye. Except as institutions become the new "gods" they are corruptible, possess ulterior motives, infinitely unjust, and equally all-powerful. And that leaves only three societies. One that develops widespread high level reasoning beyond reward/punishment and runs its own just society, one that somehow forces religion into dominance again to create an all seeing incorruptible eye that everyone is aware of and obedient to, or to accept that warring factions of men will be vying to become living gods and knowing they will always use that position for self gain at the expense of others, but without them society degenerates into disarray.
The first would be the ideal but is least likely, the second would require a New Holy Roman Empire, basically, seems unlikely but maybe preferable, and the third is the one we are developing into and is effectively the gospel according to the Stasi, which likely degenerates into the dark ages, then returns to the second option after all.
Well, yeah, @NEStalgia .... The 2nd option would never last, since the religions they use actually rebel against being controlled that way I certainly don't see society heading towards the 1st option anytime soon, sadly
@BruceCM The sad remaining alternative then, is an enhanced form of totalitarianism and/or return to ancient Egypt with a land of living "god emperors" is humanity's only future...only this time with the actual powers of gods in terms of being able to control aspects of the earth itself, and seeing and knowing all things at once thanks to technology.
@BruceCM Nukes are so 1955. They're big, clunky, and expensive. Great deterrents. Not effective. The modern world would use man-made viruses, poisons, and chemical attacks. Much cleaner, and you can use the land of your target much more quickly. Cheaper, more clandestine to dispense, easier to mass produce, and much faster.
Well, everyone has nukes now, @NEStalgia .... But, yeah, if not them, biological & chemical warfare achieves the same end result & is also quite likely
Calling nuclear warfare old-fashioned, and subsequently naming a solution that has already been in use ever since World War 1 as a more "modern" means of global warfare...
'The console wars are like boobs: Sony and Microsoft fight over which ones look the nicest and Nintendo's are the most fun to play with.'
@BruceCM Well, we wouldn't know, now would we? Governments keep a lot of secrets, as do their military departments, and like we see in countries such as North Korea, nuclear weapons are still being newly developed, so they will be using the latest tech available, whereas seen in the conflict in Syria and such, they're still using old weapons like nerve gas and so on, and if I remember correctly, they've used stuff like mustard gas way back in the Iraki conflict. Both types of gas have been available ever since (and probably already before) World War 1.
I suppose both have been improved in some ways, such as precision, effectiveness/distribution and so on, so it could be argued that both are of old origins, but have been modernized. Chemical warfare still predates nuclear warfare, so either way, it is still an older method.
Mostly just doing responses this evening as my day has been pretty busy. XD
Edit: I would like a bite-sized summary of...a discussion on nukes? Wat? O____o
@Sunsy Yep, they do take a bit of coordination depending on the character classes and general dungeon know-how. Some groups know dungeons to a T while others need helped along. Needless to say some people are way more willing to help people learn than others.
@ThanosReXXX I've also reduced my meat intake. I generally eat less red meat than I used to and try to go for lean, non-processed meats when I do have it. I'm not against some burgers or other dishes that use ground beef now and again though; the meat comes from my dad's own stock and is processed locally. I mostly stick with chicken and fish these days. Sometimes I'll have beans as my main protein source for the day instead. And of course there's always the boiled egg with breakfast.
I do try to moderate the not-so-great foods by keeping them restaurant-only and only to a couple of times a month on average. I will admit that some of the stuff brought into work (this week has been especially bad lol) makes this pretty hard sometimes. If only I didn't have such a huge sweet tooth....
In my opinion, people can be vegan or vegetarian or a fruitarian or what-have-you if they want. The problem IMO is when people like that try forcing their viewpoints on others that X way is the only right way to eat for Y reason. Some people need to have certain things in their diets for various reasons that don't conform well with some of those plant-only ideas. I had issues with low iron a few years ago that I'm certain would have been worse then they already were if I hadn't upped the animal protein for a bit.
I recycle when I can, though there's no true solid recycling program where I live. There are some short-term projects like a plastic lid collection going on for a public bench project right now and some longer ones like a torn-down cardboard and plastic bag collection (only certain kinds) at a nearby church. Some places also take in certain things for recycling. There has been some local interest in more cohesive recycling programs, but some red tape coupled with some effects of the trade war with China right now (concerning some plastics mainly) have crippled that.
I rarely have a need to throw away metals these days since I don't normally buy anything canned, but I'd like to do more about the paper (chiefly mail inserts, local magazines, phone books (lol), or offers that I don't even ask for, though some are paper towels) and especially the plastics that a lot of my perishable food items and flash frozen veggies come in.
I try to be mindful of the environment and certainly care about it. I believe in my own way that I've already reduced some of my own impact with my eating choices, though I would like greener transportation and energy (there is a push for that right now), and better recycling options.
Just got an email that I got the role as Jason Voorhees (and so did someone else since there's going to be two of them) and I hardly know what i'm supposed to do, but thankfully Jason doesn't have any lines to rev up, tho that's gotta stink for those who can't practice their lines before tomorrow.
Guess i'll practice by playing the Friday the 13th game
I made Sheldon & Mr. Randoms back on Flipnote Hatena, now i'm a kangaroo mod that has a funko pop collection!
I'm not keen politics since that stuff is spooky, I'd rather watch SpongeBob over Fox News anyways!
Oh, they're a lot more efficient, @ThanosReXXX .... But I'm sure there's a lot more biological & chemical weapons than were around 50 years ago They'd probably be even more keen to keep some of that secret, too
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