- Globalization
Its the new generation of Rising Nations
Skips pointed out something that............I feel.............will become the defining challenge of humankind for the next 5-10 generations.
The advent of Rising Nations presents a bit of a problem, in that they conflict with the desires and aims of the populations of established developed countries.
Skips says it best here:
This means price cuts, lower paying jobs, sacrificing their lifestyles (somewhat)... because if you don't change, other people will do your job for less money, benefits... Nothing in it for you.
Globalization is unavoidable.........and its also a fork in the road.
In one direction, we can globalize, and in the process wipe out whole cultures to stem any kind of segregation in thinking. Any disparate culture or belief from the reigning belief would be considered a threat to the overall global community and would have to be eradicate for progress to continue. If they are not "with us, they are against us" ( where have we heard THAT before.....?)
Industry would continue to aim at requiring LESS people and more automation as a hedge against cultural disruptions ( and its easy to see where that would lead).
Obviously, this would require a somewhat draconian philosophy shift and would create a great deal of conflict.
The other direction is that instead of inflicting a belief change upon others, we undergo it ourselves.
Einstein was quoted as saying that "if humanity is to survive, we will require a substantially new manner of thinking"--or a thought to that extent.
That being the case, the ideology of profiting is the epicentre of where the next paradigm shift needs to come from. For the past 200-250 years ( yes only that long), the concept of commerce for profit has taken route in society. Before the modern monetary system was established, most trade was straight barter. Goods for goods.
Money, in and of itself, is valueless. Its a representation of value, but alone, of itself......its got no other use ( oh I suppose you could burn it for warmth, but its pretty bad for that compared to a lot of other things).
The thing about money is that society has fixated on it as a concept.
This is where the change in thinking needs to come.
As the Rising nations embrace modern technologies, and start operating in the same work pools as the West--everything will come up for grabs.
This is inevitable, because the need for profit means industry HAS TO target the markets in these Rising Nations, selling them the very tools that will undermine our own industries.
The soul-searching that has to take place here is a fundamental change in outlook from "us and them" or "us versus them"........to just "us". All of us.
If we all take a hard look at our needs and what truly makes us happy, we can see that material things are probably really just ephemeral. People with far less material-wise, have equal happiness in their lives, or more. Why is that? Maybe its how they see the world in substantially different ways than those of us trapped in the veneer of "things".
Now, how do we get to that state of mind? I don't know. It almost seems like a diametrically opposed way of thinking to what we know now, but its probably really no different than something like, say.........Copernican concepts were.
Perhaps the ideas of regional specialized industries, or individual specialized industries will take over. Each person or smaller groups of people offering services. It would probably mean a discorporation of major industries in favour of smaller ones, and spread out across the globe.
In spite of the fear such a profound change might bring, there's some consolations here:
All of us will need food, shelter, a means of getting around, entertainment...........all the consumptive constants most of us experience right now. Supplying those needs will still demands goods from other parts of the world and people to manufacture these things.
Those will continue, and be necessary. Our salvation will come from continuing to address those needs in a intelligent and progressive way. I cannot see it being easy......not by a long shot........but its one of the paths we can take and the outcome is probably better than anything else.
Very insightful read!!! ~ Keep them coming!
Some random jumbo:
- Globalization - This probably won't stop until everybody basically becomes the same (globally), and then everything will just implode.
- Its the new generation of Rising Nations - Western nations have got to adjust (mentally and physically) to these external trends. This means price cuts, lower paying jobs, sacrificing their lifestyles (somewhat)... because if you don't change, other people will do your job for less money, benefits... Nothing in it for you.
- Mindset and preparation - Cycles have been brought up and I think this is so true. No one goes and stays at the top forever. Goes true to economies, politics you name it! Everything! People have to be able to change and those innovators are the ones who will stay afloat through the roughest times.
We've all made cracks or told jokes about ending up "flipping burgers for a living" or something like that. We take the people who do that work for granted as we do everything from janitors to shoe salespeople and everyone in between
Well, you have to make a distinction between the classification between low paying jobs and high paying jobs--name blue collar and white collar.
Blue collar jobs tend to be physical in nature, and the mental judgement calls therein are not always that many.
White collar jobs usually require far less physical work, and more mental--including judgement calls.
The more the work tends to depend upon the judgement and decisions of the employees, the more they tend to get paid.
There was a Readers Digest article years ago that classified jobs as follows:
Pink collar--secretarial type jobs.
Blue collar--labourers
White collar-- office workers--lower/mid-level professional, teachers
Silver collar--astronauts, airline pilots, doctors higher-end technical professionals
Gold collar--CEOs of medium to large companies
Platinum collar--mega-salary executives, professionals ( Bill Gates, Michael Jackson etc)
Now, to give you a better idea of this, my profession ( a cartoonist) falls in the silver collar job classification.
The nature of my kind of work is not something that schooling can necessarily provide, it requires innate talent--in fact, most of the jobs from silver collar up to platinum collar pay commensurate with ability as opposed to educational pedigree.
This is one of the thing your argument overlooks: those lower paying jobs are indeed taken for granted, simply because they can be filled by anyone. The training required is minimal, so the workforce is considered transient to a degree and ( worse) expendable and subject to frequent turnover.
Unfortunately, this factors in the lowest common denominator--the reality being that the largest portion of the population tend to be the least brightest.
This isn't a case of any system "keepin' the man down"...........its brought on by people that have subscribed to their own BS about the way the world works.
If those folks that dislike those jobs want to change, the onus is upon them to make the change. The jobs will STILL BE THERE NEEDING TO BE FILLED.
Paying those folks more defeats a lot of the reasons for maintaining those positions.
Sure, the jobs are low paying--they are also low performing, and the staff tend to show poor motivation REGARDLESS of the pay ( even if they are paid more)--and usually because many of the jobs are duplicated or redundant.
hey, we can pay a kid $25 an hour to flip burger, treat him with respect and all.........but who is going to want to walk into McDonalds and order a $15 dollar burger and a $7 side of fries?
The ancillary side of the crap jobs is that anyone that can handle those kinds of jobs can BETTER handle working in more demanding jobs, simply because they have paid their dues in the scut work those crap jobs have. A manager that has spent time on the floor doing the menial labour has a far better sense of how the business is meant to run day-to-day than a grad from business school just shuffled into the office with no practical experience.
Look, the reason why people in those jobs get treated like crap comes down to standards. Not working standards, but personal standards. Both in the worker and in the people around them, including the customer.
A customer being disrespectful is not worthy of respect by a worker, so the ripple of discontent spreads out from there.
To change that, people need to raise their standards, not only of what they expect from others but in how their treat others too.
If someone is mouthing off at you, the problem isn't necessarily you, it could very well be that person doing the beaking off. Treat someone as if they are intelligent and they will usually USE their intelligence to help meet your needs. Treat someone as pond scum and the results are obvious.
If a worker finds the job is too low paying( a lower standard), they retain the choice to better themselves ( raise their own standards) and seek a better job, perhaps by bettering themselves.
In todays western society, that options is open to EVERYONE.
Oh, I know, some folks scoff at that and argue that certain doors are forever closed to them for this reason or that.
To them I cite my career again as an example and remind ( or reveal to) them that I received no formal education or training to do what I do. I am self taught, and I was able to teach in colleges because of my skills--that WITHOUT a degree.
In today's society the tools to advance to something better are all around us, and with the internet they are even easier to access than ever before.
The numbers of resources available are breathtaking.
All anyone has to do is look and/or ask for them.
I just don't buy what you are saying because it smacks of learned helplessness and its not empowered thinking. It buys into a vicious cycle of despair and self-imposed limits that simply do not exist in reality.
Sure it WILL take sweat to achieve and overcome the obstacles, but that's never changed.
Individuals raising their own standards of what they will and will not accept in their lives will always advance ahead of people who spin about in a confused state of mind and who continually make poor choices for themselves.
If anything, that is what's wrong.
The numbers I saw (going from a couple of years ago, so probably not all that different) the average household income was in the neighborhood of $50,000.
Now if you're single, or a married/living together couple with no kids that may be enough to live reasonably well. For a single person it's great, but I doubt if that many single people really make that much. The average for single people is probably between $25-35,000.
Now think of all the costs annually for things that most people consider or simply are essential.
Rent
Food
Utilities
Insurance (car, health, life, renters/home)
Taxes
More Taxes
Car Payment
Personal care items
Credit bills (including loans etc...)
Money put away in 401k/retirement
GAS
Even MORE Taxes
Now add the marriage and kids into the mix!
The numbers add up fast and it's piling on every day. The cost of living is going up way too fast and wages are not going up to compensate.
This isn't about those who do or don't seize opportunities to advance or seek something better. This is about taking care of those who take care of us that we take for granted every day.
We've all made cracks or told jokes about ending up "flipping burgers for a living" or something like that. We take the people who do that work for granted as we do everything from janitors to shoe salespeople and everyone in between.
Some of the reasoning I've heard of why we devalue these professions so much are stupid.
My favorite is that because they are easy jobs to do and anyone can do them. Ok fine, but I think we can all agree that they're jobs not many people WANT to do and NOT everyone can do them well!
Another, is that they're easy to get because there are always so many openings. I could go off all day on this one! Yes, there are always openings because good people are so hard to find...even at such an "easy" job. There are always openings because the demand for these types of workers are constantly growing. Well SOMEBODY has to do it, right?!?
Every time I hear someone complain about getting bad customer service at Target or Walmart, or lousy service at a restaurant, or any other kind of bad experience with someone in a service field I have to laugh.
These are industries we count on every day and we treat the people who do those jobs like trash. And we're all guilty of it too, even me. More often than not, the good people in these jobs work harder every day of their lives than most people who make 2,3,4,5....or even 10 times as much money.
And how do we reward these people? Substandard wages. Lousy benefits. Extra stress. And the worst part is the total lack of respect by others and self for what they do.
This is what I mean when I say we are breaking the backbone of this country. It's not the high society people, or simply the financially well off people that keep the country going, it's the grunts.
Unhappy grunts = eventual trouble.
Well the grunts are getting unhappier every day!
What's worse is, they are getting bosses who got their jobs because of college degrees when all they really majored in drinking 101 and hangover cures and don't remember much else about what the hell they did in college. They don't know crap, but these people are given the jobs and promotions anyway.
I went to college and the biggest lesson that I learned was that there is no better teacher in life than experience.
We've created an illusion around what it means to be "college educated" and put them on a pedestal and treat them like they're so much better than people who learned their trade the old fashioned way.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying education isn't important. However, like everything else we've made a real mess out of it. We're trying to cram so much into kids brains these days and in the end, they're learning less and less.
It's all leading up to a pretty messed up future.
Yep....IDIOCRACY!
Is anyone really surprised though?? I'm not.... The world is just going to keep getting worse, and we'll look back to now and go "Those were the days!" and "I remember when it only took me $50 to fill my 13 gallon tank!" @lol@
@onthecan@
Where are we heading? Don't know but I could've sworn I heard what sounded like a giant toilet being flushed. @lol@
this is kinda random, but I just wanted to say, that my little 512mb mp3 player is the greatest thing I've ever owned I use it every single day, I got so many awesome songs on it, I've yet to ever fill it, its easy to use, never skips or breaks down or gives me any problems (cept for when the battery dies ), its worth nothing, so no one wants to steal it.
People go on and on about how they want the new 80 gig or 100 gig, (or whatever its at now) ipods that come out every 3 months, that do this and that, and all these fancy add-ons, etc, etc.. I say rubbish to that and cell phones too! the idea of a cell phone isn't a bad idea, its a great idea for people who are never home, but its gotten so out of hand, I can't even comprehend how much people pay for these dumb things and the service is utter crap 90% of the time. Awful low quality clips of music going off all over the place, people interupting meetings and school and (for me, band practise, I tell my band mates to shut they're phones off, or im not gonna bother coming to practise) because its cool to get all this attention from friends and people that really can wait to talk about their new phone, or going to get drunk at the bars. Or driving and getting a call, then cutting other drives off, running lights and being totally pre-occupied from what they should be concentrating on, sometimes I swear, it's worse then driving drunk. blah.. end of rant lol
Another problem with today is you can really buy anything to increase down the road. Everyone tries to get what its top dollar is whether its appreciated or not.
I'm not looking to change the world, just survive comfortably in my little corner of it. I happen to think it should be a crime that people work a hard 40 hours a week or more at a single job and yet can't come even close to affording all the necessities in life. On top of that, the benefits are getting weaker and weaker as well making it that much tougher.Doesn't everyone who is a productive, hard working member of society at least deserve to have that much?
Sure, they deserve it, in fact its the great implied (even stated) promise of living in western nations.
The thing about that promise is that its about the privilege to thrive, not just survive.
In order to thrive in the modern world, you need to be cagey. Not corrupt or deceitful, but informed and ready to act. The greatest enemy to thriving is the idea that you cannot thrive--which is a lie.
Oddly enough, its a lie propagated by the very people who seek to thrive the most.
It is propagated because of ignorance--people simply do not understand that options exist around them all the time. Their lack of awareness is usually what cripples their options, NOT a lack of ability or opportunity.
This is called learned helplessness.
Hard work DOES pay off, but it has to be focused in the right direction.
A fly on a window works mighty hard banging against it, trying to get out. It fails and dies at the window because it keeps trying the SAME DAMN THING over and over, and gets the same result. Its ignorantly expecting a DIFFERENT result which never comes.......simply because its too stupid to change its approach.
There's untold number of examples of this, and equal numbers of people that tried different things until they had their breakthroughs.
Our modern world is built upon the examples of those kinds of people.
Did you know that one of the most taken-for-granted modern conveniences took OVER 10,000 attempts to be invented?
Thomas Edison and the electric light bulb.
Edison took over 10,000 tries to get the first light bulb to work. This is not a myth, its a recorded fact.
How many of us, trying something like that, would go to 10,000 tries? $1,000? 100?
Most people might try it 10 times, at most, and then give up, declaring "its hopeless".
Is there little wonder why success seems to be such a rare commodity?
This is all the other part of the stated promise of privilege we all have--that we can try as many times as we want, in as many ways as we want without censure.
Nothing in our modern society is truly personal, pervasive or permanent, unless we want it to be--and yet many people persist in thinking this is the case.
In fact, they go out of their way to PROVE its so ( what was it said about the miserable loving company??).
They keep doing the same things over and over, and keep espousing the same belief that those efforts are ineffectual--which is not only a definition of insanity, but its bewildering in its stupidity.
The surprising thing is that you CAN indeed change the world, at least YOUR world, if you alter how you see it and open your mind to what is truly possible.
Look, here's the secret to success in this world:
Decide what it is that you want.
Take action toward obtaining that desire or goal.
Notice what is working and what is not.
Change your approach as necessary.
Do not give up.
That's all there is to it.
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