Posted by Hax Templar on
URL: https://mikraite.arkian.net/Modern-Culture-tp41p397.html

My theory of this relates to the idea of the social contract.

Under its original conception (Hobbes) the social contract had families forming a pyramid that went up to the King, who was a liaison to God along with (or sometimes in competition with) the high priest.

The later form of it was Locke's articulation, in which families form a community to pursue their agreed upon interests.

In modern times the social contract can "no longer be written" is how I put it.  People casually wave each other towards things like drug use and homosexuality.  The community does not attempt to protect other members of the community.  Families sometimes no longer exist at all.  It's every person for themselves.

Demographic trends suggest that this kind of society will eventually be replaced by religious fundamentalists but it'll be a long time.  In my conversations with liberal people, they don't deny the demographic trends but presume that some kind of artificial intelligence will emerge to manage everything for them before the demographic trends can wipe out liberalism.  I've pointed out that limitations in silicon and quantum computing suggest that "true AI" might be impossible, for example Moore's law is set to fail within a decade, but this doesn't dissuade them.  They live for the here and now.