It's Getting Better All the time

As far as humanity goes, I am quite optimistic about the future. Quite optimistic.

I think that as the "big bang" of the communication revolution continues to extend and penetrate its data circulatory system throughout society, things will become more and more and more transparent -- and, with that, duplicitousness will wane, and sharing and collaboration will increase. 

The more people connect, the less likely they are to do bad or hurtful things to each other. 

I think it is just like when people drop by for a visit, and the bickering family straightens up and gets real nice to each other because they're being watched. 

George Harrison reported this happening with the Beatles in their waning days.  They were bitchy and contentious.  They invited Billy Preston to sit in at their "Let It Be" sessions.  His presence made them improve their behavior. 

The sense of being watched is a good thing for everyone, as long as the power to watch is distributed among all.  It's much more likely to be a bad thing if the power to watch is in the hands of just a few. 

The Whole Foods article is a good example of a bright light being shined on duplicity.

A Kinder and Gentler Human Race

Jared Diamond wrote a great book called "The World Until Yesterday: What We Can Learn From Traditional Societies".  One of its main points was that in Stone Age societies, such as those discovered in all of their pristine primitiveness in the New Guinea in the 1930s, one would not dare venture more than a few miles form the home base, or death would be almost certain at the hands of a neighboring tribesman. (A few such societies still exist.)

Now, globally, in more and more locales, there are sets of standardized rules (I call them "McRules") allowing one to be a complete stranger and reasonably expect to not be killed or attacked.  I can get off of a bus in, say, Minot N.D., and enjoy basic safety.

Globally, this is more and more the case.

Steven Pinker has a great book documenting the continuous "gentle-ing"  (gentling?) of humanity on our planet.  It's true: we are becoming kinder and gentler, regardless of what the media might make it seem, and what the conventional wisdom may be.  Pinker's book is entitled "The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined".

The Hippie Impetus
It seems to me that we are destined to love each other more and more, whether we like it or not!