# The 80s were the most philosophically stable decade of the past half-century **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 18, 2008, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-80s-were-the-most-philosophically-stable-decade-of-the-past-half-century/438090 "2008-02-18T12:40:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2008, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-80s-were-the-most-philosophically-stable-decade-of-the-past-half-century/438090/21 "2008-02-20T05:11:12Z")
[QUOTE=guizot] Are you trying to say that WWI didn’t end until 1991? Isn’t it a little more complicated than that? Or maybe you’re referring to the Cold War. Still, an interesting idea. [/QUOTE] I’m stating the idea that the 20th Century began when Europe fell into WWI, the war that killed off most monarchies and set the stage for most of the other events of the Century, and ended when the Soviet Union fell and the main conflict of the world shifted from Superpower-vs-Superpower to Superpower-vs-Terrorists. This works on a technological level as well: WWI saw the birth of the airplane and the submarine, two of the defining features of 20th Century warfare, and a bit later saw the birth of radio and television, the defining features of the Mass Media that dominated the 20th Century. In 1991, the Internet was officially opened to commercial use in America (prior to that it had been owned by government agencies, including ARPA and the National Science Foundation, and commercial use was strictly forbidden) giving rise to a Post-Mass Media world and the democratization of the very first many-to-many medium. Culturally, who knows? In the UK, the Edwardian Period ended with WWI and the Modernist period began after it (Dada, Bauhaus, Futurism) but I don’t know enough about the cultural shifts of the 1990s to comment. ---
**Author:** ![Kozmik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8dc957/32.png) [@Kozmik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kozmik)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2008, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-80s-were-the-most-philosophically-stable-decade-of-the-past-half-century/438090/22 "2008-02-21T19:10:07Z")
Ok. This is what I am wondering. How is it that teenagers who don’t watch the news (politics), are beyond drama (psychology and sociology) - who learn philosophy either in class or outside of class, or maybe it’s innate… alright then, how is it that those teens playing video games and watching sci-fi, how is it that they come to _arguably_ a better understanding of the world than others? Look at what happened in _The Night of the Comet_ when Regina, an `80s girl I absolutely love :o who plays Tempest suddenly finds that it’s the end of the world. Or watch how Matthew Broderick and Ally Sheedy in _WarGames_ have fun with a little game of global thermonuclear war. That was the 80s. 🆒 Ironically, philosophically stable. ---
**Author:** ![Genghis\_Bob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/45deac/32.png) [@Genghis\_Bob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Genghis_Bob)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2008, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-80s-were-the-most-philosophically-stable-decade-of-the-past-half-century/438090/23 "2008-02-21T19:43:14Z")
[QUOTE=Kozmik] Ok. This is what I am wondering. How is it that teenagers who don’t watch the news (politics), are beyond drama (psychology and sociology) - who learn philosophy either in class or outside of class, or maybe it’s innate… alright then, how is it that those teens playing video games and watching sci-fi, how is it that they come to _arguably_ a better understanding of the world than others? Look at what happened in _The Night of the Comet_ when Regina, an `80s girl I absolutely love :o who plays Tempest suddenly finds that it’s the end of the world. Or watch how Matthew Broderick and Ally Sheedy in _WarGames_ have fun with a little game of global thermonuclear war. That was the 80s. 🆒 Ironically, philosophically stable. [/QUOTE] I’m not sure I understand your first paragraph at all. But in your second paragraph, you seem to be implying that the teenaged characters in the movies are better-adjusted than the adults around them, which argues in favor of your thesis? These teenaged characters - these fictional people, whose lines were probably written by real people who came of age in the 70’s? Are these the folks on whom you’re hanging your observation? ---
**Author:** ![Jolly\_Roger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/91b2a8/32.png) [@Jolly\_Roger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jolly_Roger)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2008, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-80s-were-the-most-philosophically-stable-decade-of-the-past-half-century/438090/24 "2008-02-21T19:48:23Z")
[QUOTE=Kozmik] Ok. This is what I am wondering. How is it that teenagers who don’t watch the news (politics), are beyond drama (psychology and sociology) - who learn philosophy either in class or outside of class, or maybe it’s innate… alright then, how is it that those teens playing video games and watching sci-fi, how is it that they come to _arguably_ a better understanding of the world than others? Look at what happened in _The Night of the Comet_ when Regina, an `80s girl I absolutely love :o who plays Tempest suddenly finds that it’s the end of the world. Or watch how Matthew Broderick and Ally Sheedy in _WarGames_ have fun with a little game of global thermonuclear war. That was the 80s. 🆒 Ironically, philosophically stable. [/QUOTE] You are aware that those are _ **fictional** _ characters, right? ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2008, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-80s-were-the-most-philosophically-stable-decade-of-the-past-half-century/438090/25 "2008-02-21T19:50:20Z")
[QUOTE=Kozmik] Ok. This is what I am wondering. How is it that teenagers who don’t watch the news (politics), are beyond drama (psychology and sociology) - who learn philosophy either in class or outside of class, or maybe it’s innate… alright then, how is it that those teens playing video games and watching sci-fi, how is it that they come to _arguably_ a better understanding of the world than others? [/QUOTE] Uh, cite? [QUOTE=Kozmik] Look at what happened in _The Night of the Comet_ when Regina, an `80s girl I absolutely love :o who plays Tempest suddenly finds that it’s the end of the world. Or watch how Matthew Broderick and Ally Sheedy in _WarGames_ have fun with a little game of global thermonuclear war. That was the 80s. 🆒 Ironically, philosophically stable. [/QUOTE] No, that wasn’t the 80s - that was 2 _movies_ from the 80s. Nothing to do with actual, you know, reality. ---
**Author:** ![Who\_me\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/958977/32.png) [@Who\_me\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Who_me_1)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2008, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-80s-were-the-most-philosophically-stable-decade-of-the-past-half-century/438090/26 "2008-02-21T19:55:31Z")
[QUOTE=woodstockbirdybird] No, that wasn’t the 80s - that was 2 _movies_ from the 80s. Nothing to do with actual, you know, reality. [/QUOTE] Well, I think Bluto Blutarsky shows that the 70’s was the most fun decade… or something… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2008, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-80s-were-the-most-philosophically-stable-decade-of-the-past-half-century/438090/27 "2008-02-21T20:04:50Z")
[QUOTE=Derleth] I’m stating the idea that the 20th Century began when Europe fell into WWI, the war that killed off most monarchies and set the stage for most of the other events of the Century, and ended when the Soviet Union fell and the main conflict of the world shifted from Superpower-vs-Superpower to Superpower-vs-Terrorists. This works on a technological level as well: WWI saw the birth of the airplane and the submarine, two of the defining features of 20th Century warfare, and a bit later saw the birth of radio and television, the defining features of the Mass Media that dominated the 20th Century. [/quote] Or as a friend of mine put it-WWI was the last 19th century war, fought with 20th century technology. Would that be a better way of putting it? ---
**Author:** ![Kozmik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8dc957/32.png) [@Kozmik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kozmik)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2008, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-80s-were-the-most-philosophically-stable-decade-of-the-past-half-century/438090/28 "2008-02-21T20:09:27Z")
[QUOTE=woodstockbirdybird] No, that wasn’t the 80s - that was 2 _movies_ from the 80s. Nothing to do with actual, you know, reality. [/QUOTE] Ever heard of life imitating art and vice versa? [QUOTE=Jolly Roger] You are aware that those are _ **fictional** _ characters, right? [/QUOTE] Yes… fictional characters playing _real_ Atari games. What’s your point? ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2008, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-80s-were-the-most-philosophically-stable-decade-of-the-past-half-century/438090/29 "2008-02-21T20:19:41Z")
[QUOTE=Kozmik] Ever heard of life imitating art and vice versa? Yes… fictional characters playing _real_ Atari games. What’s your point? [/QUOTE] Cite for life imitating art in these instances? And what the hell does it matter that they played “real” Atari games? ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2008, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-80s-were-the-most-philosophically-stable-decade-of-the-past-half-century/438090/30 "2008-02-21T20:23:39Z")
[QUOTE=Kozmik] Ever heard of life imitating art and vice versa? [/QUOTE] Sure. Ever hear of “Uh, cite?”? I know you have, because I put it in my last post. ---
**Author:** ![Kozmik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8dc957/32.png) [@Kozmik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kozmik)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2008, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-80s-were-the-most-philosophically-stable-decade-of-the-past-half-century/438090/31 "2008-02-21T20:28:47Z")
I will get the cite. ---
**Author:** ![Jolly\_Roger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/91b2a8/32.png) [@Jolly\_Roger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jolly_Roger)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2008, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-80s-were-the-most-philosophically-stable-decade-of-the-past-half-century/438090/32 "2008-02-21T20:28:59Z")
[QUOTE=Kozmik] Ever heard of life imitating art and vice versa? Yes… fictional characters playing _real_ Atari games. What’s your point? [/QUOTE] Pretty much the same point that **Woodstockbirdybird** said…you know, about reality. It may have been a _real_ delorean, but Michael J. Fox didn’t actually go back in time. ---
**Author:** ![Kozmik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8dc957/32.png) [@Kozmik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kozmik)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2008, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-80s-were-the-most-philosophically-stable-decade-of-the-past-half-century/438090/33 "2008-02-21T20:59:30Z")
[Here](http://www.amazon.com/Everything-Bad-Good-You-Actually/dp/1573223077) is the cite. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2008, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-80s-were-the-most-philosophically-stable-decade-of-the-past-half-century/438090/34 "2008-02-21T22:26:55Z")
Which has what to do with the 80s? You’re all over the map. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2008, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-80s-were-the-most-philosophically-stable-decade-of-the-past-half-century/438090/35 "2008-02-21T22:48:19Z")
I don’t understand philosophical stability. I agree that years ending in 0 don’t mean anything. (The '60s began in 1963 and ended in 1974, for instance) but that won’t stop me. I don’t see how the '80s are more stable in any way than the '50s. Instead of Atari the '50s had TV, but TV was mostly used to enhance stability, with an emphasis on brave men doing brave jobs, good cowboys, and whitebread family units. Satellites affected very little of life until the '60s, and the space age began with the V2 anyway. The threat of nuclear war kept everyone quiet, plus we had an old, moderate, president for most of it. There were maybe fewer sf novels in the '50s, but a lot more stories in a lot more magazines. The “radical” sf was mostly fairly tame satires of things like advertising - though Kornbluth was a bit stronger. The '50s were far more stable in every way. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2008, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-80s-were-the-most-philosophically-stable-decade-of-the-past-half-century/438090/36 "2008-02-22T00:22:56Z")
[QUOTE=Voyager] The '50s were far more stable in every way. [/QUOTE] Except for the Korean War, the Civil Rights movement, the nuclear threat, and the fear of Communist infiltration of the government, sure. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2008, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-80s-were-the-most-philosophically-stable-decade-of-the-past-half-century/438090/37 "2008-02-22T01:06:49Z")
[QUOTE=Captain Amazing] Except for the Korean War, the Civil Rights movement, the nuclear threat, and the fear of Communist infiltration of the government, sure. 🙂 [/QUOTE] The Korean War was in the beginning of the decade - which really didn’t start until Ike took over. The Civil Rights movement was very low key. Sure there was Brown v Board of Education, and Little Rock, but not nearly as disruptive as the early '60s. The nuclear threat actually contributed to stability, since family and stability were used to counter the possibility we’d get blown up at any time. (I spent some time in school under desks.) Most of the fear was funneled into giant monster movies and after the war sf. I was going to mention McCarthyism. That was a last gasp of the '40s Hiss-Chambers case. It was bad in the beginning, but that threat to stability got quashed, and McCarthy drank himself to death. I lived through both decades, and the '50s were far quieter. ---
**Author:** ![Dumbguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/2bfe46/32.png) [@Dumbguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dumbguy)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2008, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-80s-were-the-most-philosophically-stable-decade-of-the-past-half-century/438090/38 "2008-02-22T02:15:35Z")
The Atari 2600 was released in 1977. Game Over. ---
**Author:** ![Jolly\_Roger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/91b2a8/32.png) [@Jolly\_Roger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jolly_Roger)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2008, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-80s-were-the-most-philosophically-stable-decade-of-the-past-half-century/438090/39 "2008-02-22T07:48:17Z")
[QUOTE=Guinastasia] Which has what to do with the 80s? You’re all over the map. [/QUOTE] Agreed. We’ve got 2 20+ year old movies, ataria and a book on sale at amazon…I’m not seeing the connection and I was a teenager in the 80’s. Though I do miss the music from back then…_sigh_… ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2008, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-80s-were-the-most-philosophically-stable-decade-of-the-past-half-century/438090/40 "2008-02-22T23:58:53Z")
[QUOTE=Kozmik] Ok. This is what I am wondering. How is it that teenagers who don’t watch the news (politics), are beyond drama (psychology and sociology) - who learn philosophy either in class or outside of class, or maybe it’s innate… alright then, how is it that those teens playing video games and watching sci-fi, how is it that they come to _arguably_ a better understanding of the world than others? [/QUOTE] You have yet to demonstrate that they did come to a “better understanding of the world than others”. Oh, and looking just at the summary of the book you linked, it doesn’t seem confined to the 80s. It just explains that pop culture somehow makes us smarter. Again, what has that to do with the 80s, and why not the 70s, or the 90s? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-80s-were-the-most-philosophically-stable-decade-of-the-past-half-century/438090.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-80s-were-the-most-philosophically-stable-decade-of-the-past-half-century/438090.md?page=3)