David Dorning
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 814
- Locality
- Chichester, UK
We had a drink and chat with our neighbours tonight.
Well it is a good thing that we have it now @Targa Social distancing, that is. It is a very good thing.Didn't have all this 'responsible social distancing' in tht good old days.
Imagine if they'd thought of it in 1917 at the first signs of 'Spanish Flu'.
They'd have had to keep people safe by stopping the war.
Well it is a good thing that we have it now @Targa Social distancing, that is. It is a very good thing.
I have thought about various scenarios like this for the last few years. It is surreal to see this unfolding in reality, in my own life time. I am not sure that life can ever go back to the unconscious way that we lived before this point in time.Will we ever go back to the old "normal" ?
Interesting to read the short story "The Machine Stops" written by EM Forster in 1909: The Machine Stops - Wikipedia
The story describes a world in which most of the human population has lost the ability to live on the surface of the Earth. Each individual now lives in isolation below ground in a standard room, with all bodily and spiritual needs met by the omnipotent, global Machine. Travel is permitted, but is unpopular and rarely necessary. Communication is made via a kind of instant messaging/video conferencing machine with which people conduct their only activity: the sharing of ideas and what passes for knowledge.
Rhys
I have thought about various scenarios like this for the last few years. It is surreal to see this unfolding in reality, in my own life time. I am not sure that life can ever go back to the unconscious way that we lived before this point in time.
I've always tried to keep as much of a social distance as possible from people.Well it is a good thing that we have it now @Targa Social distancing, that is. It is a very good thing.
Reciprocated no doubt.. (all in the best possible taste).I've always tried to keep as much of a social distance as possible from people.
Me neither. I think a lot of musicians/performers are like this. We've heard about many comedians being awkward in company. My 'larger self' on stage at pop concerts was learned over the years and is certainly not me in social gatherings.I have never been comfortable in large gatherings or crowds.
You just described me only I never sat at the front of the classroom. I sat as far away as a possibly could. Crowds of people was something I couldn’t handle yet I loved going to concerts and went to hundreds and played and sang in front of hundreds of people. If necessarily I could do public speaking very successfully. When I try and rationalize all of that, it makes no sense at all. It’s like I go on autopilot somehow. When I was younger I had lots of friends too.I like to tell people that I am not "unsocial", just "non-social". I have never been comfortable in large gatherings or crowds. Communicating with folks thousands of miles away over the internet rather than face to face was invented for people like me. If you're wondering how someone like myself could have survived being at the front of classrooms filled with students for 32 years, it is because that wasn't me. I was playing a role I was trained to do.
Mmmmmm... I found this old meme which I think fits you to a "T" Please excuse the grammar!I've always tried to keep as much of a social distance as possible from people.
At least for now this has put a stop to all the pretentious 'continental' kissing on meeting someone and the even worse 'hugging' between men. Fortunately no one has ever tried to do that to me or they would get a 'knee jerk' reaction.
I can assure you it’s no different. 80% of people who adhere to the rules of social distancing and isolation irrespective of class and 19% of dickheads who believe they are either immortal or couldn’t give a toss about what happens to the less fortunate be it in health or wealth. And 1% who seem to be blissfully unaware of everything that’s going on.It's sobering to think how different the experience must be at the moment in the less developed world compared with the relatively rich nations.
I'm sure it will change our culture in lots of way, including how we interact with other people and the world of work, but I wonder what historians will make of our response to the crisis.
Rhys