I am very worried about the future for my kids. Judaism is an inherently optimistic religion in that there is a fundamental belief in Moshiach in this world and of course עולם הבא. Moshiach is supposed to solve all our problems and create a utopian world where there is no war etc. If for someone reason moshiach doesn't come before we die, we go to עולם הבא and then at some point תחיית המתים. Therefore, real believing Jews don't care much about things like global warming, political and financial instability, etc. because they have full faith that Moshiach is coming and will fix everything. In fact, just about everyone (Charedim, MO, etc.) believes that we are in עקבתא דמשיחא and that moshiach is right around the corner to solve our problems.
However, if we don't believe in Moshiach then the problems are very real and very worrisome. As I wrote yesterday, I am a big science fiction fan and much of the science fiction produced today is dystopian. The futures depicted in The Expanse, The Colony, Travelers, Killjoys, Continuum, etc. are not ones I would want to live in and yet are what is envisioned today. Given what is going on now in the world today, those futures don't seem that far out. The problems today are real and I don't see any solutions. The gap between the haves and the have nots is growing and will only get worse as robots/AI take more and more jobs. How will people have the money to survive?
In many ways I wish I believed because it makes life so much easier.
People will work less as robots do more. New fields will open up. Who thirty years ago would have predicted the computer industry, the internet, cell phones, etc.?
ReplyDeleteI think dystopias are more about us than they are about predicting the future. We live in a secure world where little to none of what we do matters in a life-and-death sort of way. So people enjoy fictional universes where civilization has collapsed and everything we do matters again.
@A Jew With Questions. Bingo. Religion is an opiate for the masses in so many ways. Religion/The God(s) are Exploited by the Politicians/Kings/Ruling Class, Enrich the Religious Leaders and BELIEVED by the masses. Humanity has to wake up and face our problems and reality without hope from the supernatural or life after death. Our life is the one and only life we get. CHECK OUT THIS SONG https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwO1D2-Ul4U
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