Living in the: Now? Future?

Sunday morning musings on the intersection of philosophy, history, and all things present and future.

You've probably heard many preach the merits of "living in the present." Indeed, the musical/motion picture RENT, for example, is all about making the most of every day given the uncertainty of tomorrow. Even closer than "living in the present" is "living in the moment," currently bolstered by hipsters and douchebags shouting "YOLO" before they go and do something stupid.

But that's not to say living in the moment/present has no substance. After all, to fully enjoy life you have to fully appreciate every moment, correct? In other words, by living in the future, always thinking about what's coming next, you don't focus on what's important in the now, and therefore miss out on the beauty of what you already have.

However, can we only live in the moment? Looking at the past 150 years of history, it can be argued that humanity's continuance of "living in the moment" is destroying the future: the mechanization of our society and utilization of fossil fuels to power it, for example, are some of the leading causes of global warming, and the general unchecked, exponentially increasing consumption of resources and production of waste is leaving our planet starving and filthy. Isn't it important, thus, to plan for the future, creating and adjusting our lives and how we live them as a species in order to support ourselves for millenia?

I ask all of this coming from the unique perspective of someone about to begin working in one of the four hearts of fashion industry, an industry known for its extreme focus on the moment and in creating pieces and collections for events of the day and of the season. But who really remembers that artistic creation years down the line? How legendary is Alexander McQueen's 2008 Fall/Winter collection in the global sphere? Similarly, how relevant is music from even 3-4 years ago? How many people still listen to many of the hits from 2008? From 2006 or 07? Who can instantly recall, off the top of their head, what film won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 2005?

We live in a world that's constantly creating, presenting in mass publicized events, and forgetting in time for the next big thing. My questions, thus, are as to the viability of it all. Is it worth our time to always focus on the present? Should we, instead, spend our time developing technologies and social methods to sustain our species for the future? In doing so, however, do we lose the ability to appreciate the beauty and splendor of the present, and by consequence the meaning of our lives as a whole?

I'm curious to see what everyone has to say!

Humanities dependency on fossil fool isn't a perception problem, it is a political problem.

I think we should spend more time developing more technologies for the future that do not deteriorate the earth it uses. But I dont think this will degrade how we view the present. You just have to create more jobs and more focus on the future of humans than the now of humans. Which basically means more education and more scientific jobs of all fields. Though Skip sociology because basically it focuses on interactions with people and thus manipulating them. Which usually is only used for the now.

But yeah we as the human race (primarily Americans) need to stop using fossil fuel. I feel like major world changes are going to happen in hour life time. And it would be nice if we didn't make it worse.

Applying the concept of "carpe diem" to technology and energy is quite a stupid idea. "Living in the moment" is only considered a serious suggestion for things which you have no power over, you shouldn't worry about your test results before they come, etc. It was never (or should never) be suggested to forget about your career plans, contraception or technology/energy problems and to simply worry about the immediate.