Originally Posted by willravel

The following link is to a brilliant painting (warning, the pic is fucking huge):
http://uploadingit.com/files/528718_...nough_2500.jpg

Here we see an amazing contrast between a hyper-futuristic metropolis and a simple agrarian village. While the message of the picture deals with pollution, it begs an entirely different question in my mind:
In which society would you rather live?

I myself am quite torn. While I recognize that the evidently simple way of life is more natural and healthy for humans, I also recognize my love of human development and see all of the great dreams of science fiction that could be. This illustrates a fundamental paradox in humanity which seeks to find balance between looking back and looking forward. I see immense benefits to each way of life and incredible drawbacks.

In the simple society one may not have access to state of the art medicine or "things", but you're surrounded by everyone you know and love. There is a fundamental disconnect with the people that you're surrounded by every day in the metropolis. You may know a few of your neighbors and people from work, but every day you walk by thousands of strangers.

What do you think?