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I'm going to link you to a post that describes the causes and conditions of the current weltanschaung that might escape sociologists. It's not science, exactly, but I find it a good potential cause for all the social rot we're experiencing.
https://sh.itjust.works/post/67063299
From another, related angle, we're entering into some global chaos at the moment. The myth of perennial progress, holding our collective psyches together since the dawn of the Enlightenment/Industrial era, is falling apart. Scientific progress has stalled and, even if it hadn't, there is no spiritual sustenance to be drawn from examining ever smaller segments of space-time.
I've been reading about Gnosticism and alchemy, and apparently this is a recurring pattern in history. If you look at 1-2 AD Europe, you'll see much the same despair; the Roman Empire was falling apart, the future was uncertain, institutions were failing (and, I might add, internships (ie college) were incurring lifelong debt)... from that chaos we got the highly structured worldview of Christendom, but before that we have a lot of work that is more spritually resonant with the despair of today.
I'm reminded of that Yeats poem: Things fall apart, the center cannot hold.
Why thanks!
Yeah, sorry to be such a downer. I'm at war with myself. On the one hand, I want to be data driven and learn and make changes that improve the world (or at least cosplay that), and on the other hand, I think the world is an interlocking set of systems that play out regardless of anything we do; AND anything we do can be just be seen as an expression of that systemic playing out.
No problem at all pal, it’s all good :)