The Golden Age.

Un Croissant

So tonight I watched Midnight in Paris for the second time and the theme of The Golden Age really grabbed me. The idea that people are always reaching into the past for a better time.

It got me wondering, would anyone consider today to be the Golden Age. Not necessarily in terms of technological advancements or anything but in a more ideological or contentedness (?) way?

For example, looking back over the last one hundred years there was a genuine appetite, it could be argued for the expansion of the German nation which mobilised and inspired an entire country. Further back you have the French revolution.

You don't necessarily have to agree with the ideology but it seems like in previous generations, at least in the West, there was a larger appetite to get behind something. Saying that I understand the majority of people didn't really care about the subtle changes to the powers of the King or the rise of the Nation.

Perhaps I'm subject to hindsight but I'm finding it hard to project these kinds of emotions on to the modern era. We have, it seems, the greatest access to information and the wider world but fail to utilise it in a way that brings change. I cant help but feel that perhaps we have failed to live up to past generations.

Although maybe every generation thinks that?

Torakx

I think we are in the dark ages, mentally and spiritually.
With all my reading lately on introvert/extrovert, left/right brain personality types, I have had a few ideas.

Note: I know left/right brain theories are "debunked", what I mean is the functions in the areas of the brain those umbrella words symbolize.
Example:
Creativity happens in both sides. But one side holds "global" randomness using wide searches through neuron paths, while the opposite would be more localized and relevant searches.

Consider Nietzches Will to Power.
Many scholars suspect he included everything in the universe, like it was some metaphysical power.
To me that sounds like the opposite of Entropy. The Universe constantly building up more complex things in order to break everything down faster.
In humans, creatures and evolution in general, this complexity building could be expressed. From the way stars are born, to the way humans get bored when they are not complicating things in some way.

If we were in a holographic matrix, I am thinking this is the power source and dark matter is the "motherboard"
Matter is the base product(Higgs particle and other small..things? ) of the power through dark matter.
A 5th dimension we can't experience. Sounds a lot like a simulation to me haha
Or we are the resulting energy from the big bang(two powers colliding in the 5th dimension) fizzling out slowly.

Going back to humans....
Once a social network gets big enough, it is most likely the extroverts getting the most attention when being social(risk/reward) and placing options for the group objectively(current issues).

Introverts spend more time alone focussing subjectively. Whatever interests them personally.

I think we might be in a dark age, because there are introverts with a passion for power playing chess using the majority speakers as pieces.
Or they set up the frameworks( like religion, cults, corperations, clubs) and later lose that power.
Either way I think there needs to be a balance globally of these two dynamics to gradually shift the collective to being controlled by the ambiverts.
Using introverts and extroverts. The former to plan ahead and remember the past, with the latter as a means to create action using those plans in the present.
A trinity

Might as well include the right and left brain balance too.
Leaders with averaged out traits across the board, possibly using creative(right) introverts for planning and analytical(left) introverts to output solutions.
Then using creative(right) extroverts to plan the actions(based on the outputs) and analytical extroverts to bring action about.

Number one goal being to get the majority to balance out according to how fast the collective should be affected.
Too much majority extrovert and the system speeds up and uses more resources.
Too much majority introvert and the system slows down and uses less resources.
A balanced system should grow and strengthen at the same rate for optimum efficiency when evolving...I think...

Sorry, brain fart.
But I think when the leaders address the balance issues and there is enough circulation from the majority into the leading ranks, it will be the beginning of the golden age.
So if the internet becomes more accessable to more people and features, we might see introverts and extroverts level out(age of enlightenment, before tipping over to the other side(the next dark age).

squirestarter

Interesting thread

I too have considered this, and indirectly as a result of watching 'Midnight in Paris' also.

I think we are living in the golden age now. I mean this in comparable terms with what has gone before - we are a long way from any utopian achievements - i dont think we have lived in a more peaceful time though.

In some ways though it is the golden age of the individual and not of the collective (in the sense that you refer to, the emergence of the nation stage, democracy, mobilisation of armies, the political collective if you like) although paradoxically as the individual grows and develops so too does the collective

We have a long way to go as a race considering that a huge portion of the world's populace live in poverty and endure daily suffering as a result of colonial histories, unfair trade practices, lack of education etc but there are thousands upon thousands of people actively doing things to combat this. Most people are not malevolent, just apathetic and this has hindered and will continue to hinder progress in this regard

I think that as individuals (largely in the west and more wealthy countries in the east) develop personally and spiritually through reading about and practising personal development, actively looking after their mental health and learning about and embracing differences among humans; this will naturally progress to developing countries, and as ideas regarding global justice and human rights for example become more universally pervasive the world will become a better place for us all

So in summation i think that there has never been a better age for humanity than there is now and it is only going to improve. Whether one can label this era as the 'golden' age is debatable but certainly in comparison to all the other ages that we are aware of it seems to be