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[–] 17 points 2 months ago (8 children)

History ended sometime around 1990. It was determined at that time that civilization could not substantially change any further, for better or worse. No Mad Max or Terminator dystopias, but also no Star Trek type societies in which both social systems and technology become highly advanced. No, just a Sisyphean nightmare in which nothing meaningfully changes and an infinite, perpetual constant is maintained and managed, forever and ever, until the heat death of the universe. Instead of either dystopia or utopia we have an ever present, oppressive malaise that only the sweet release of death can liberate us from.

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  • [–] 16 points 2 months ago (2 children)

    Instead of either dystopia or utopia we have an ever present, oppressive malaise that only the sweet release of death can liberate us from.

    That sounds like a dystopia to me.

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  • [–] 6 points 2 months ago

    Yeah, like if everything was kinda ok, and we weren't slipping back into global fascism, but it was obvious we were just treading water as a species... that'd be middle ground. We're definitely not on middle ground.

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  • [–] 6 points 2 months ago*

    History ended sometime around 1990. It was determined at that time that civilization could not substantially change any further, for better or worse

    Life did get substantially worse since 1990 though?

    Mass surveillance, rise of tech billionaire class, unprecedented political polarization, KYC-rollout in banks.

    Ecological crisis is accelerating with tens of thousands of dead in Europe due to recent heatwaves.

    edit: also Germany, Japan, Russia and China openly remilitarizing after 80 years of relative peace. This is really bad.

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  • [–] 5 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    Nah, we got a literary dystopia, just not one where everything is destroyed like your examples. We got the gilded cyberpunk future where everyone is tracked, privacy is dead and the lower class is held down by force. The biggest difference we have these days is that we went more heavy on AI than robotics, and the skies are a bit clearer.

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