As negative as PO can and most likely will be, there are a few postitives out there. Some of which have been stated here. This thought occurred to me today.
Individualism.
One of the effects of a strong, industrialized culture was the onset of ramped individualism. In the pre-industrial days it seemed people were much, much more social then they are today. This of course, wasn't probably out of choice, but by the lack of TV, the internet, video games, etc..
With the onset of the above mentioned luxuries, people have really pulled inward. This is more of an issue in the US then in any other country. I consider myself a very social person. I've been to Canada and Europe and the FIRST aspect I notice is that people are many times more social and open there. People would come up to you first and initialize conversation (
). If I talked with somone, they were noticably more friendly then here. Now not everyone in the US is anti-social, but on average, more people are. For example, here, while you're waiting in line at a McDonald's and politly greet someone, you will most likely just get a bland "hello" in return. End of story. However, that very same tactic can spark an interesting conversation in Holland. Maybe it was just because I am american, and they found me interesting, I don't know. I just noticed that people there in general are more social. And it makes sense, EVERYONE walks to bikes there. You are forced to interact with people quite a bit in your day to day life there. Although with as much sense as this makes, I still see London as a more social city then New York.
I feel that the evaporation of the industrialized society will also kill the strong individualism that is deeply imbedded into us now...and this has the potential to be a good thing.
Oh well, my $.02 for today.
Actually, that is the only thought I have associated with PO that makes me laugh (to a certain point of course). I bet they'd put off learning how to take care of themselves due to their feeling of entitlement.