The thesis is hard to falsify and your methods of proving it seem less than rigorous.
Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?
171–180 of 835 posts
Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?
#172Can you expand more on the five year (pentad) pattern and what you mean by that?
Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?
#173Let's hope we're not headed towards Singapore or 14th century Venice, https://blog.supplysideliberal.com/post/46499129502/the-rise... > Venice had prospered under a relatively open political system in which a wide swath of the people had a voice in the selection of the republic’s ruler, the doge, and successful outsiders could join the ruling class. But in 1315, the establishment, which had been gradually tightening…
What makes Singapore comparable to 14th century Venice?
https://www.scholars.northwestern.edu/en/publications/oligar...
> .. certain extreme concentrations of minority power in society can exist under a variety of regimes ranging from authoritarian to democratic. Oligarchic power in advanced industrial contexts, for instance, is almost universally fused to procedural democracy. Although it is impossible to focus on all the cases in the region of Southeast Asia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Singapore have been selected for the ways in which they help develop oligarchic theory ..
Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?
#174The quality of some products is getting worse for sure because companies are enlarging their margins by saving as much as they can to reduce their costs with obvious repercussions on the quality. It is also part of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_obsolescence Refrigerators used to last forever. I still have a 1993 refrigerator that is still working well. In the meanwhile with all brands except maybe for Subzero…
The appliance manufacturers blame energy-efficiency regulation for the massive drop-off in longevity. For myself, I'm 100% sure that they just saw an opportunity to cut quality and serviceability to nothing and blame regulations. It was sickening when I delivered appliances. So many stories about how they replaced their 20-year-old fridge 4 years ago and now they're replacing the replacement. There are no good options left on the market that aren't multiple times the cost of the already extravagantly priced Samsung wifi-enabled smart fridges.
"Oh, if people wanted to pay for longer-lastong appliances then they would still be on the market. It's really the consumers' fault that our $3k fridges only last 5 years"
BS. If I had a dime for every customer who said they'd rather have bought a smaller, less fancy appliance with more longevity for the same price, I'd have enough to manufacture my own line of fridges that don't crap out the day the warranty ends.
Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?
#175Earlier quoted context omitted.
>being a grown-ass adult in pajamas out in public I'm with you about all the other things but people wearing whatever clothes they want to affects you in literally no way shape or form.
A society is made up of people. The way people act, dress, talk, or do anything else has a pretty direct impact on other people in that society. Unless your definition of society is an extremely disconnected one, comprised of alienated individuals that have no interaction with each other, yes, it does affect other people.
So, "we live in a society"?
Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?
#176What about WWIII?
Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?
#177Earlier quoted context omitted.
Maybe I have something to learn, but what load-bearing social foundation would public pajama-wearing endanger?
Respect for other people, general social norms, polite behavior, personal dignity, and in general just a respect for one's appearance and a desire to make "civilization" aesthetically appealing. People seem to enjoy living in beautiful buildings with green parks nearby, without pollution or noise, and yet somehow think dressing like a slob or putting zero effort into one's appearance is unimportant. To be honest, if…
I try not to argue with strangers much on the internet, but I really disagree with you on this one.
What someone wears is a part of their self-expression. In this post, you use the phrases "respect for one's appearance" and "care about [one's] appearance" to suggest that people have a responsibility to follow certain norms in how they dress in order to make "'civilization' aesthetically appealing," in your words. Aesthetic is a subjective, and I think it's funny that you are so eager to project your aesthetic onto others. I for one actively choose to wear pajamas, go barefoot, keep my hair disheveled in public because that is my aesthetic and I think it looks good.
I will also clean up my local park, reduce my ecological footprint as much as possible, insert socially responsible behavior here...but you should consider widening your view of what is and isn't ok to wear in public.
Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?
#178Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, it's time for the Secret News.
Shhhhh. Here is the Secret News:
All people are afraid.
No one knows what they're doing.
Everything is getting worse.
Some people deserve to die.
Your money is worthless.
No one is properly dressed.
At least one of your children will disappoint you.
The system is rigged.
Your house will never be completely clean.
All teachers are incompetent.
There are people who really dislike you.
Nothing is as good as it seems.
Things don't last.
No one is paying attention.
The country is dying.
God doesn't care.
Shhhhh.
- George Carlin
Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?
#179I think we're on the verge/in the middle of a stagnating/shrinking pie. When we're not growing in population and wealth things get dark as people chase zero-sum short term gains at the expense of others. Distrust runs rampant, people turn to the extraction of their peers vs expansion with their new friends. It will get better. Edit: Think bigger than the extractors!
> I think we're on the verge/in the middle of a stagnating/shrinking pie. When we're not growing in population If population were to decline, wouldn't that mean each person's piece of the pie is growing? If "piece of pie" is real estate or some other scarce resource that would seem to be the case.
Yeah a changing population has a variety of extraordinarily confusing effects
Certain resources would become more available such as land and housing, while others like say, new cheap speakers that rely on plentiful hands and brains, would become scarce. You may see people who are retired and rely on new speakers staying cheap use laws or force to maintain their same level of access to new cheap speakers, at the expense of everyone else. The newfound access to housing in desirable areas may also not be a panacea: with a decrease in hands and brains some neighborhoods may find themselves poorly maintained, abandoned, or even dropped from local utilities (like in Detroit when its population drastically changed).
In general I think, in the USA, a growing population is a good thing for our pie. There's some level of population where too many people is bad, but until then each person adds to the experience of everyone else.
Even for housing it would feel positive: if our population was growing quickly many wouldn't mind moving to St. Louis - today's St. Louis will be nothing compared to tomorrow's Mega Louis, for example!
Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?
#18030-50 years ago, with a single salary you could support a house with a yard, a non-working spouse, multiple kids, and a car. Our society knew how to make that happen once, and we've forgotten. We've had incredible advances in technology and productivity since then, so why can't we have that kind of economic environment now? What's gumming up the works?
The US population in 1972 was 209b, now 333b. I remember learning about the black plague in middle school. There were many fewer people after the plague. The survivors could command much higher wages, and had more freedoms than before. Crowded environments make for pressures that are unpleasant for everyone.
I think moving to a less crowded location where your individual contribution in society is more valued could be a good start.
A lot of people have been moving to California, making it not as nice as it was even 10 years ago. People sit in traffic forever. Rents are unaffordable for everyone moving in.
Social media makes everyone miserable. Probably best to avoid that.
I’m on vacation in Thailand, noticed some nice things about life here:
1. Everyone has a shop under their house, or food truck somewhere. People hang out at their shop, and it’s also like their living space. People come to buy, but also friends just hang out together in these spaces. The constant connection with others is really nice. It’s possible there is less pressure to fine work with the additional income.
2. Best traffic of any country I’ve visited. Crowded, busy, but no one honks at each other. Everyone gets let in, people respect others space on the road. The large number of scooters makes it easy to find parking, get to your destination without too much stop and go hassle.