I do not consider myself a smart person but I am flabbergasted at how one can promote inexperienced, inept and unskilled people to "save the world. Peterson's point is so obvious and simple, one would have to sort himself and his life out before he can think of saving the world. We do not live in a fantasy, in a movie, cartoon or a novel... where we have a child or a youth who can be more qualified and skilled about the world than those with proper experience. 1. The possibility of a youth being more experience, more adept and skilled than a adult is something like 0.0001%. In rare cases we have geniuses or those who develop at a higher rate than others, we see those in history but that is one in a million or billion and even those one in a billion end up flawed. Only in fantasies we see the perfect youth being able to do everything, be able to be self-aware and experienced.... real life is different than fantasy. 2. If those youths gain experience without being prepared or self-awareness, we will have another Hitler possibly... by that I mean, a person whose beginning is warped, even if he is highly intellectual or highly capable.. if his beginning is warped, then he will became a dead tree that will infest/infect the whole forest and the whole world. This is act can be considered the way you can destroy the world and society itself. 3. I do believe there are some rare cases where one's "room" or "family" is a disaster but still can contribute and help the world but that will usually lead to a bad end and those cases are exception. Yet, even those exceptions still have prepared themselves, have experience and even if their family or room is a mess, they are chaotic geniuses that work on intellectual instinct most of the time and those geniuses have explored themselves and the circumstances around them so much that people of their time thought of them as crazy. For example, Peterson's determination and cause makes him look extreme or his drive makes one wonder how can a human handle without going crazy but this is proof and Peterson once similarly explained that "faith" is like steering the ship while being blind, thriving to survive and grow in total darkness... there is no way in real life a youth would have so much determination that they would face the chaos of the world to contribute by faith or hope for change and development. 4. There are times where/when youths created a revolution and saved the country or changed the country but if we consider the factors, most of the revolutions were influenced/lead by someone who was an exception or had proper experience or ability that has been built up/prepared since a long time a go. There was no such thing where one youth all of the sudden wakes up enlightened to do something without having proper experience to reach at that point of enlightenment. What do you guys think where most of youth in universities are lead to believe that they can change the world or influence the world or maybe save it? Do you think it is reasonable for a youth to develop himself, his life and his circumstances and after doing that he can consider trying to influence the world? Or do you think it does not matter? Let's have a discussion.
Isn’t it the case that they’re youth now but in the future they may be in a position of influence. So they try and put it into their mind that they may not be able to change things now but can change/save the world when they have power later.
Too many things to consider but in general, there might be few youth who can really change things but lack resources and most are people who faces reality that they should follow the flow of things.
in short YES they can, Youth represent the future of a country or world, of course not immediately but by the time they grew old they can change or affect the country/world
hm... well, first age and wisdom do not necessarily go hand in hand. and your stastics of .00001% is ridiculous. i want a source. discouraging a young adult from getting involved in world problems outside themselves is insuring that in 20 to 40 years there will be no one experienced in those problems. an 18 year old is entitled to vote on and make decisions about those issues regardless of the opinion of some old man. that's their right also. being old doesn't mean your life's together. that's agest. we're the most well informed generation in history and i think it's great that people care about things and want to talk about them.
While young people could change the world in big way, much like in our novels, they will need a lot of luck and circumstance to get to that point. They will need capital, they need to apply their recently obtained theory to practice on their ideas and when they got all those, they'll still need cooperators and a safety net to keep their name on the front page of their business. Unless a student/young man aged 20-25-30 has an outrageous backing or wins the lottery he won't have an easy time obtaining the necessary capital. If he's not bright enough to properly work out his/her idea, it'll never get the momentum going and if outside parties obtain the mayor influence in the project, they may not even see their name on the end product and can only collect some small royalties. It's impossible for it to happen like in the novels where the MC just happens to be "the best" in something by the authors will and his backing is secured by saving the presidents daughter and being the long lost scion of the most prominent family in the country. While also having insane fighting skills to fight off all hooligans that will absolutely show up because you walked past dickhead #x. In short, reality needs capital, backing, smarts and loads of luck.
The point is "now", in the video there is a debate how youth are preoccupied with changing the world now instead of preparing for the future or the possibility of doing so. Are you referring to resources as knowledge, experience, money, family, career and so on? I do think youths lack resources because that is the time in the development in humans where one gains more indepence, self-awareness, builds more resources, knowledge, experience and grows to get more resources. The argument is the youth being preoccupied with changing the world now or should they first prepare and after being prepared they can contribute instead of creating more chaos. Again, in the future the youth will be no longer be the youth but rather hopefully an experienced adult. So, when they could change the world they will no longer be "youths" but rather adults. I do think they youths can intentionally on extreme exceptions, such as a youth in a billion can rise to the point where they are able and capable of changing the world but that is a extreme exception. There are also cases where youths can change the world or influence it but that is not necessarily intentional or the youth who does that does not have the full awareness of that, for example the child who drowned and was found on the beach dead or other cases where their circumstances or actions have influenced the world but that is not of their own determination or awareness.
Well, recently the youth period was extended to 26 years (WHO decision or something like that). So yeah, strictly speaking, youths can do lots. I am more annoyed by Japanese novels, where 10 years old children are official adventurers.
Youth as youth don't. But if said youth has an idea and determined to accomplish it then he or she might do it but in the span of years if not decades. Youth will no longer be a youth by then.
I said this before and I'll say this again, the role of youth is to try to change the world, the role of old people is to make sure the world doesn't change too fast. It is an equilibrium balance that has kept the human race moving forward while at same time preventing total collapse. Without youth trying to change the world, society becomes stagnant and will collapse. Without old people being stubborn to change, the youth would make too much changes too quickly and break down the society that was built up. You need both, there is no going around it. "We have fallen upon evil times, the world has waxed old and wicked. Politics are very corrupt. Children are no longer respectful to their elders. Each man wants to make himself conspicuous and write a book." -Naram Sin, 5000 B.C. So your complaints go back at least 7000 years, and yet we are here today. So struggle humans, as the superior cat gods watch! (but don't forget to feed them)
*WARNING* <<Incoming Wall of Text>> *WARNING* This is a very difficult subject because you're mixing micro level development and trying to expand in on a macro level, while including many complicated variables including ethnicity, personality, social class, country, etc. What I am about to say can only be speculative at best and I say this in hopes of adding more thought to the subject rather than coming to an answer, so what I am about to say may conflict one another in order to play the "devil's advocate". An optimistic view of the matter is believing that a youth has the potential to save the world, that according to the butterfly effect, their actions will result in great changes in the future. What people tend to forget about the butterfly effect is that according to the conservation of energy, the effects of a single butterfly does virtually nothing, but when billions accumulate they can cause great change. This means that a youth cannot make any significant changes, but that a large group of them can. On one hand, this goes to show the power of society, the power of numbers, and the power of masses, but on the other hand it can also show just how hopeless the situation is, that no matter how hard one tries they cannot change things on a large scale. Like trying to go against the flow during a stampede of people, it can become overwhelming if not depressing that the various things in life (whether it is education, money, or other people) become a quagmire that bogs us down and prevent us from reaching our potential. While a gemstone cannot shine without polishing, it can be chipped, cracked, and crushed if done incorrectly. And ultimately, who is doing the polishing and what is their method? We do not live in a world of one-to-one teachings, and master-disciple relationships, rather we live in a world of mass education and mob mentality. If we are all gems of different shapes and sizes, than schools are automated gem cutting machines that slash large gems into smaller pieces, and toss out smaller gems, until only one uniform gem - shape and size - remains. So how can you expect youths to come forth and save the world when the very world they are raised in prevents them from doing so? If the education system is crooked, then the youths they raise will also be crooked, but if the education system is good, then the students they raise will also be good. If an education system is good, then the students will all move towards a positive direction, become the butterflies that create the hurricanes, but in the current society and education system we possess, we become ravenous insects trapped in a jar, killing one another in order to be the last survivor. And this is not reflected only in the education system, but in society as a whole. Capitalism may be founded on ideas of fair competition, and opportunity for everyone, but rather than everyone moving in a positive direction, it becomes a cutthroat battle instead. Large companies buyout smaller companies, older companies monopolize and oppress newer companies, and outsourced labor takes over manufacturing in our own country. Aside from entering new markets that haven't been saturated yet, how can a new company possibly compete with larger companies unless they are a puppet of the large companies? It goes with the government as well. Changes made by one president is reverted by the next president, but meanwhile the bills and policies that truly does matter aren't decided by the president but by congress. They pass bills and legislation favoring the few and a wealthy, preventing the majority from ever being able to rise. Oppressed by laws that were supposed to protect them, companies that were supposed to hire them, and a government that was supposed to raise them, how can youths (or any group) ever hope to "save the world"? How can we save the world when it is the society our forefathers created that is making it bad? At this point, an optimist will say, but things are changing! We have initiatives, protests, and movements that are constantly improving things. Women can vote, the me too movement is strong, and it is a crime to discriminate based on the color of one's skin or ethnicity. But have we really changed? Yes, women can vote, but has voting ever really mattered? As previously mentioned, a president comes in and makes changes, and the next president comes in and reverts it all back. All the real decisions are done at the congressional level, but the people in congress are ancient immortals that have been there for eons. What about the me too movement? Sounds great, right? They are really cleaning up Hollywood, except what have they really done? Big name people in power are being kicked out after exploiting and harassing people for decades, but the companies and structures that allowed these corrupt people to grow are still there. It's only a matter of time before people forget about these incidences, and the harassment restarts. This is why sexual harassment was a current theme in Catholic religion, because people get kicked out and the religion apologizes, but nothing at the fundamental level really changes. The same with discrimination. A majority of people know discrimination is wrong and wouldn't do it, but it just takes a few people in power to have stray thoughts to make it a fiasco, which is why it's ongoing. At a fundamental level, the systems that have made America terrible have not changed. And this isn't an issue about America only, rather it is a problem across the entire world. Capitalism or socialism, democracy or communism, everything gets corrupted eventually making the changes we make futile. The "movement of the month" becomes forgotten as a new one comes in, and behind the scenes everything goes back to what it was before. So how can the youths possibly face this? How can they save the world, or make meaningful changes when they not only have to compete with one another, but with the whole world? It is depressing, yes. But no matter how terrible and how shitty things are, one fact remains - we have to try. No matter how terrible the world is and how depressing things may seem, people have to try to improve and make things better, no matter what the odds are. Whether it is from an intellectual, social, or ethical aspect, humans are driven towards the light; we desire improvement, good, and making things better. And this is what is truly important. Because no matter how bad the world really is, as long as people have the mindset and keep trying to improve things then at least there is hope. Even if it is 0.00001%, even if it is a long shot, even if the only chance for it to occur is nuclear apocalypse followed by a rebuilding of society, as long as we all try to move in a positive direction there is still hope. So can youths really save or change the world? Unlikely. There has been many generations before us and there will be many generations after us, yet none of them have truly managed to "save the world". As much as everything changes (technology, advances in science, improvements to society), everything also stays the same (people killing, people dying, children hurt and hearing them crying), making the whole world the same shitty place, only with a new coat of paint. But as long as we keep trying, and as long as there is hope, whether it is 1 in a billion, a trillion, or a quadrillion, the odds are still not zero. TLDR;; Unlikely, the world stays the same no matter how it changes, but even knowing that we have to try.
You have a point but unfortunately, most of the people who changed the world were not youths. Scientists, philosophers and so on were not youths. Only few exceptions. So, I agree with you that youth should be adventurous and explore but that's development of self. For example, I explore the world, learn in college, work or w/e as a youth but doing is makes me learn about myself, makes me grow as a person and after growing as a person I can be stable and able to contribute and influence the world and those around me. Its romantic and idealistic for youth to be able to be like the mcs in novels but development and growth is not easy and only one in a billion can usually be a youth who had developed and prepared himself to influence the world. For example, Einstein the biggest example of an exception discovered the theory of relativity at the age of 26. There are other examples but those are rare and even those exceptions prepared themselves and developed themselves. Youths add chaos to the world and old people keep things in order but that's arguable and only partially true. Old people can add chaos to society, countless old men were martyrs to their discoveries/beliefs and they died to change the world. So, that phrase is partially true and can work as a motivating factor for youths to be ambitious, grow and adventure but to do so successfully is an exception of exception. It is a mythical legendary occurrence.
But you have to understand that it is part of their youth and their struggles in their youth that led to who they were in their older ages. If you cut the bud early, you will never get the final result. This is part of the reason why Japan has been having such a hard time for the last few decades and all their recessions. They educate their youth to be smart and some of the smartest people, but by forcing them into a strict society ends up killing a lot of the creativity. Thus in doing so, they lack the spark to push themselves out of a recession and while they make many good products, they can't keep up on innovation. So again, it is important for youth to be youth. I never said that it speaks for every individual, just a general statement that speaks of society as a whole. Just like capitalism, many will fail, but the few that succeed will pay off overall. You have to realize that 1 person creating a new industry would make up for millions of failures.
Every time I think of youths and their contradictions, I remember a particular episode of some muppet show i saw in the 90s, I think. With one of the "child" muppets trying to get his hair in the square "dredd" foam style of the black "child" muppet, and then after a failed haircut, dreaming of having the "perfect" hairdo, one that's curly and straight, long and short, red, blonde, and brown, etc. etc. The point is, you have to have the ambition, ideals, and drive of youth, be focused, but grounded by the experience and patience of elders. That's just not happening now. People think we are the most informed generation ever, but that's not true, we are the one with the most knowledge within reach, we still have to reach for it ourselves.
Alright. Not giving a fuck I skipped a lot but you(defry) mention people with warped beginnings yet in your example of old people influence you disregard the many who were corrupted or somehow deviating from a standard negatively. While there should be already too many such examples not mentioning even one makes it look like you didn't want a discussion but looked for a representative for youths on novel updates just to shut them down. Brb popping the corn.