Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?

#291

Post by TideAd » Sat, Jan 28, 2023, 9:06 PM UTC

acallaha wrote: post #190

I agree with other commenters that rosy retrospection may be at play, and that in many regards the world today is better than ever before. That said, you might enjoy Scott Alexander's essay "Meditations on Moloch", describing how many aspects of our society are multipolar traps / races to the bottom: https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/07/30/meditations-on-moloch/ A sample: Imagine a capitalist in a cutthroat industry. H…

A way I sometimes think about it: humans have made great technological leaps, but every day is a battle against decay. Everything that actually looks stable is mostly kept that way through effort:

- most large internet sites that seem automated actually have engineers on-call 24/7. it requires constant operational work

- every machine has parts that must be replaced periodically

- the friend group tries to meet at least twice a month so you can all remain in each others' lives

So it is not unusual to see progress happening concurrently with decay. I feel similarly to the OP but I think we're bound to end up with a bunch of things that are getting worse in a given year.

Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?

#292

Post by kortilla » Sat, Jan 28, 2023, 9:06 PM UTC

>have abandoned decades of experience showing how to create reliable, robust, reusable code that is both great the customer, fast to iterate on, and only a tiny tiny bit slower to write.

This era you think existed… didn’t. All of the trash code from 10-20-30 years ago is long gone. The only stuff that remains is the The quality of software is absolutely irrelevant if you build the wrong thing, so you need to iterate quickly unless you’re lucky enough to know exactly what needs to be built. And even in that case, you need to weigh the engineering cost against a cost of a failure and the cost of expensive maintenance.

Many times, 100 lines of very use-case specific python that can’t be re-used is absolutely the correct engineering call. It might not be what you like as a programmer, but you’re not paid to navel-gaze.

Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?

#293

Post by pfoof » Sat, Jan 28, 2023, 9:06 PM UTC

Inflation, easier access to negative information, sped up automation, fear of replacement by robots, military tensions, global warming. It's not every 5 years, more like long phases when superpowers become like supermassive blackholes and implode.

Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?

#294

Post by sterlind » Sat, Jan 28, 2023, 9:06 PM UTC

eldritch_4ier wrote: post #237

ok_dad wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It only affects people who care about what other people wear, and those people shouldn’t have any sort of societal influence because that’s stupid. Name literally one reason that wearing pajamas in public will cause another person actual harm and I’ll take back this statement.

Would you dress that way to meet your partner's parents for the first time? Or to see a friend you haven't seen in years? Or to represent your company at an event? What about going somewhere where you are expected to be a role model? Of course not. That's because you give a shit about the impression you give in those situations and understand the kind of atmosphere and impression it gives if you dress like a bum. Now…

What you call respect, I call conformity. If I'm representing my company at an event, I have to conform in my dress because I'm putting my personal identity aside to represent the company. If I'm meeting my partner's parents, I conform to show submission to the conservative dress code standards they grew up with.

Meeting an old friend? I'd wear something fun - maybe a nice dress, maybe fishnets and a choker. Depends on the friend.

I'd rather not go back to the 1920s where everyone had to wear suits. It's nice being able to express myself.

Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?

#295

Post by shanty » Sat, Jan 28, 2023, 9:06 PM UTC

beckingz wrote: post #42

csense wrote: post #30

30-50 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?

We expect much much much nicer things.

This. Lifestyle creep at the social level. Smart Phones, dishwashers, Netflix and so on. You CAN still find multi-bedroom homes w/in an hour of large metros that a single income can support. Go to New Jersey and get a <200K one with a 45 min drive to Manhattan.

Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?

#296

Post by _9hey » Sat, Jan 28, 2023, 9:06 PM UTC

Ok I’ll bite. Problems exist on several levels of detail and it won’t do justice to address these concerns with broad generalities. However there are a few root causes which have outsized impact on society - namely, business, government, and world leaders who are detached from reality. People who fly in private jets preaching about the perils of climate change DO NOT DESERVE TO BE HEARD!

Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?

#297

Post by gallopingcomp » Sat, Jan 28, 2023, 9:07 PM UTC

pjscott wrote: post #214

MonkeyMalarky wrote: post #64

>the water is poison Putting aside the tons of pollution in lakes and oceans, what strikes me the most now is the abject failure and neglect in cities like Jackson, Mississippi and Flint, Michigan. How are people so powerless, governments so weakened, and politicians so detestable that something as basic as clean drinking water in cities is no longer functioning?

It's worth noting that, in a country of 330 million people, you only came up with two examples. Those things are newsworthy because they're outliers .

There are more cases of subtler failures that are smaller in scope, eg. in the Chicago metro[1], or on the UNC campus[2].

I do agree with part of your sentiment. Those two examples are the worst case scenarios where misfortunes happened to align, and there are periods in history, as well as other countries today, where this sort of problem was/is rampant.

This is also not (exactly) a recent problem - the groundwork, no pun intended, was often laid long ago.

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/sep/21/lead-contami...

[2] https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/education/article268...

Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?

#298

Post by GAN_Game » Sat, Jan 28, 2023, 9:07 PM UTC

> Software seems to be overrun by a mentality that any future cost is worth it to save even 1 minute of development time today.

Because SWE's report to engineering managers, who report to other layers of management who report to the executive suite who report to a board who report to those who own a majority of shares in the corporation. The message coming down from on high is fast, fast, fast, features that will increase next quarter's profits, or even this quarter's profits. Everything flows from this.

Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?

#299

Post by keiferski » Sat, Jan 28, 2023, 9:07 PM UTC

dragonwriter wrote: post #275

keiferski wrote: post #260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thinking that it’s beneficial for people to live in beautiful buildings without pollution is my subjective opinion?

What is “beautiful” is, like, the textbook example of a subjective opinion.

No, not really. The concept of beauty has a long philosophical history and many knowledgeable and intelligent people have written books on the topic. As I said above, the people who think this stuff is entirely subjective tend to be ones that haven’t engaged much (or at all) with previous thought on the topic.

Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?

#300

Post by goostavos » Sat, Jan 28, 2023, 9:07 PM UTC

thfuran wrote: post #219

eldritch_4ier wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dress how you want in your own house. The public space isn't yours and you don't have a right to dress indecently in the public space. Turns out, some of us want to live in a society that takes itself seriously and gives a shit. Walking around in your Cookie Monster PJs just doesn't cut it. THIS mindset is what I think is the root of all the other listed problems. Somehow freedom has come to mean "I can do whatever I…

Hold on, you're saying Cookie Monster is indecent?

Contributing directly to the downfall of society! Put on some pants, Cookie Monster! There are rules!