Looking at you tech divers.... Looking at you...

[broncobowsher]

I would go 50 years. The near live stream of media coming from Vietnam is well known to have turned the public opinion. Before that it was just little news reels.

 

[Wibble]

I like being able to go online and chat with good folks like people here, but I am afraid that that a lot of advancements the world have made over even the last 40 years has been a net negative. The 24 hour news cycle, the Internet, smart devices etc, seems to have accelerated the coming out and exploitation of the very worst in people. I find myself, more and more often, wishing we could trade it all in and go back to a simpler life. The genie's out of the bottle however...

Remember just back in the early nineties we could go out and have a beer too many and only suffer a hangover the next day. Now, thanks to this wonderful technological advancement, you can wake up in a haze and find your world has turned upside down where some puritans have filmed you, published you and cancelled you all in the blink of an eye. Progress. Not.

All because you wore split fins.

 

[MichaelMc]

have a beer too many and only suffer a hangover the next day. Now, thanks to this wonderful technological advancement, you can wake up in a haze and find your world has turned upside down where some puritans have filmed you, published you and cancelled you all in the blink of an eye. Progress. Not.

I'm thinking turned upside down is most often not caused by a beer too many, but something else between that and waking up in a haze. Plus we now have better medicines and many other benefits.

The reports on the pipeline seem to now suggest state actors. So divers or more sophisticated methods may be the cause.

 

[RobPNW]

I'm thinking turned upside down is most often not caused by a beer too many, but something else between that and waking up in a haze. Plus we now have better medicines and many other benefits.

The reports on the pipeline seem to now suggest state actors. So divers or more sophisticated methods may be the cause.

You mean like waking up with a man boob job and Mike Tyson's tiger?

 

[RobPNW]

I have my own strongly held personal belief system, and that's mine and mine alone. But I also have a pesky libertarian streak to me. I want others to live their life, and I want to live mine. I may seriously disagree with someone else's lifestyle or mindset, but I will fight to the death to defend their right to free exercise of. We're all different. That was the kind of concept that motivated me to serve on active duty, without hesitation many years ago. But that's not the prevailing sociopolitical paradigm anymore. If you happen to have a belief system or lifestyle that isn't approved by whichever political party has the most power over you, they and their advocates may weaponize government agencies, social media or civil unrest to destroy your life, your reputation, your family or possibly your livelihood. That's the way I see things and I definitely don't like the direction. Sorry rant over...

 

[MichaelMc]

You mean like waking up with a man boob job and Mike Tyson's tiger?

I was more thinking of actions while drunk that affect others. Such as crashes or more personaly done violence against others. If you want or do not want to have boobs, drunken tats, or whatever yourself, that is fine with me.

 

[NothingClever]

Nord Stream leaks: Sabotage to blame, says EU

Seismologists said there were underwater blasts before the leaks emerged near a Danish island.

www.bbc.com

First on CNN: European security officials observed Russian Navy ships in vicinity of Nord Stream pipeline leaks | CNN Politics

European security officials on Monday and Tuesday observed Russian Navy support ships in the vicinity of leaks in the Nord Stream pipelines likely caused by underwater explosions, according two Western intelligence officials and one other source familiar with the matter.

www.cnn.com

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I like being able to go online and chat with good folks like people here, but I am afraid that that a lot of advancements the world have made over even the last 40 years has been a net negative. The 24 hour news cycle, the Internet, smart devices etc, seems to have accelerated the coming out and exploitation of the very worst in people. I find myself, more and more often, wishing we could trade it all in and go back to a simpler life. The genie's out of the bottle however...

All this technology is still very new and people are still acclimating to it. It was too much too fast.
They used to complain about the telephone being a big evil thing, it allowed people to talk remotely not face to face - how impersonal, all the gossiping, teenagers on the phone for hours! etc. Then the TV, the boob tube, kill your TV! Remember that? Now both seem so incredibly benign and almost nostalgic.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I have my own strongly held personal belief system, and that's mine and mine alone. But I also have a pesky libertarian streak to me. I want others to live their life, and I want to live mine. I may seriously disagree with someone else's lifestyle or mindset, but I will fight to the death to defend their right to free exercise of. We're all different. That was the kind of concept that motivated me to serve on active duty, without hesitation many years ago. But that's not the prevailing sociopolitical paradigm anymore. If you happen to have a belief system or lifestyle that isn't approved by whichever political party has the most power over you, they and their advocates may weaponize government agencies, social media or civil unrest to destroy your life, your reputation, your family or possibly your livelihood. That's the way I see things and I definitely don't like the direction. Sorry rant over...

I definitely agree with this.
I see the entire country becoming more and more polarized. This whole cancel culture is really baffling to me. In fact, we were cancelled by one of our dive buddies in our group all over politics, nothing to do with diving. Just total and complete intolerance. I think we are headed for some sort of civil war. Historically, this how they all start.

 

[Wibble]

Who are the arbiters of thought and control of the mass group-think, the mob facilitators? Even financial controls are in the hands of a few businesses, the demise of cash pushing all transactions through a very few processors who effectively control the purse strings.

We’re in a period of great change and will have more controls applied to these organisations to moderate their power and be accountable for their responsibilities. There is a cost to unfettered freedoms.