Bryan Watts on Warpcast

emma pfp

what is happening society and why is everyone experiencing an existential crisis? it seems like the last couple of years has been fraught with tension after tension the catholic church scandal, the me too movement, blm, stop asian hate, trump, trans politics etc etc but why?

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emma pfp

let’s look at how *and why* societies evolved into what they are today for the majority of human history people lived in small communities fishing and farming. they were ruled by a local chief and were pagans worshipping the sun, moon and stars. there was no need for organized religion.

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emma pfp

as cities grew, the need for organization and socialization grew along with them. first it came in the form of the roman empire. rome was one of the biggest cities pre industrial revolution and its population was still just 1 million at its height.

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emma pfp

it is famous for its engineering constructing sophisticated infrastructure like aqueducts, invented urban planning, advanced dwellings with public and private quarters. they developed a legal system, social order and a road network as part of conquering other territories

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emma pfp

romanization was an actual term for the spreading of roman culture, values and language in a similar way to how americanization is used today to describe the spread of american culture but as the roman empire grew in size and diversity a new power was needed.. christianity.

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emma pfp

there was extreme economic inequality where power and wealth in rome was held by a few but the majority of roman’s lived in poverty christianity offered a world view where everyone is equal in the eyes of god sound familiar?

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emma pfp

as the empire grew in size and complexity, traditional social bonds & institutions began to break down, and people were left feeling isolated and disconnected. christianity offered a sense of fellowship, mutual support & a shared sense of purpose and mission…

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emma pfp

religion created a bond, moral framework, sense of purpose and community that was lacking today we have witnessed the erosion of religion and many of the social bonds that connected us the nuclear family where we historically found responsibility and thus meaning is being undermined

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emma pfp

trad world religions where people find community, belonging and their values reflected back to them is no longer important to our generation and our workplace has been dismantled both by covid and more interestingly because of the nature of work for a lot of folks there is no longer a need for an office

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emma pfp

side note: it’s ironic that everyone was worried that ai would replace low-skilled workers but turns out software developers have made themselves redundant with ai 😂

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emma pfp

so because people can now work from anywhere they are moving out of urban environments back into smaller communities, tier 2 cities or outside of but in close proximity to tier 1 cities so knowing that in order for societies to function religion has been the single biggest determinant of success, what do we do now?

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emma pfp

for as long as people have been around people have worshiped newgrange in ireland is a burial chamber older than the pyramids containing swirls representing the stars and sun we are predisposed to worship and it can be a force for good for the majority..

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emma pfp

there is a desire amoungst many for equality that they cannot find in a capitalist society and so communist / marxist ideals are creeping in and we all know how that story ends so how do we create something akin to a religion that is a force for upward mobility for society that was used for 100s of yrs to benefit all

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Bryan Watts pfp

To be fair, religious benefit was for the religious. “All” omits the experiences of everyone on the wrong side of the double-edged sword.

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emma pfp

true however that was the minority many countries were religious and the head of the country was often head of the church.. so you committed treason if you were non-religious or went against the belief of the state and the church

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Bryan Watts pfp

I wonder if that martial threat could be mistaken for predisposition to worship.

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emma pfp

go on… 🙃 what do you mean?

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Bryan Watts pfp

You mentioned we are predisposed to worship and it bolstered early societies, followed by the idea (which I like) of finding a common thread to unite us for 100 years. Today’s major religions were spread by the sword. It may be a mistake to attribute that to people innately.

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emma pfp

right! absolutely not defending how religion was spread, it was bloody 😂 and all empires at that time were spread by the sword so i think it’s less a product of religion and more a reflection of its time my argument is that the framework provided by religion helped with progress

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