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Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?

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Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?

#451

Post by mathattack »

When I see posts like this I think “How would I measure this over time?”

Software projects were notoriously late and brittle in prior eras. (Ask anyone supporting a mainframe that they’re afraid to reboot)

Fraud and monopolies are as old as money. (Look up the history of Wall Street and railroads)

It’s very hard to come up with good time series data so here is my wish list to test the “we are going to crap” hypothesis:

- Air Quality Index over time.

- % of the World Population with sub-0 net worth over time.

- % of World Net Worth in discovered financial crime.

- % of technology projects overbudget and overdue weighted by dollar value over time.

- % of population literate.

Some these are hard to measure. I’m open to other measures. Absent that it’s about as accurate as asking someone “Are you busier than you were 20 years ago?”

Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?

#452

Post by meheleventyone »

jlawson wrote: post #375
meheleventyone wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But that’s a subjective criteria and one that’s obviously ripe for subversion. What about people’s right to freedom of expression?

There's an absolutely massive space for freedom of expression within the bounds of "not looking like shit". Nobody needs to look (or smell) like garbage to 'express' themselves.

Don’t they? Seems like an unfounded statement. Just because it’s distasteful to you it’s not valid?

Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?

#453

Post by mihaaly »

noud wrote: post #7

I think you're way off base. It's called rosy retrospection, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosy_retrospection . As you already mentioned in your comments, you're judging the past disproportionately more positive that the present. If you really want to know if everything is declining, try measure it everyday for the next five years. For example, every day, rate your personal well being, track how (un)happy you are wit…

* Also people like to argue the validity of other's view for the sake of projecting truth-knowing with cursory wisdome like if there was one truth. Spiced with life path couching on own initiative as an extra.

Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?

#454

Post by ako »

cedws wrote: post #308
zeroonetwothree wrote: post #274

I don't know your age but I'm going to guess 30+. This is just happens when you get old. When you were younger you probably noticed that all the older people you knew pined for some earlier time (say the 1970s or 1950s). And you probably thought they were being silly. Well, now you've become one of those people. The fact is the world always seems better when you are younger, not because the world necessarily better,…

I'm 21 and I think everything's going to shit as well... is it doomerism or reality? Politicians appear increasingly corrupt and selfish. Geopolitics are becoming less stable. Innovation is coming to a standstill. The average person just wants a decent job, a nice place to live, and maybe a family. All of these are becoming more and more difficult to achieve. Is it any wonder kids are checking out of life en masse?

This is worth reading: https://wordsrated.com/summary-factfulness-ten-reasons-were-...

Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?

#456

Post by jlawson »

WXLCKNO wrote: post #328

What interests me most about the current zeitgeist is that there is an generalized, or at least spreading, feeling of emptiness. What replaces religion to fill this gap for a new generation who is not religious? (including myself) Something very clear, a philosophy of life of some kind that people can adopt to feel like they are part of something bigger, without that something being a fictional being. And without dev…

> What replaces religion to fill this gap for a new generation who is not religious? (including myself)

> Something very clear, a philosophy of life of some kind that people can adopt to feel like they are part of something bigger, without that something being a fictional being.

The answer has revealed itself over the last few years: Progressive ideological activism (generally in pursuit of a long-off utopia).

The "something bigger" is the "progress" towards that utopia where all the evil -ists and -isms and -phobias will have been eradicated (along with those terrible people who believe them) and all the good humans will live in equality and diversity. It's a powerful idea, and while it has strong spiritual elements it doesn't posit an Abrahamic-like God. Yet it fills the psychosocial role that religion used to, while carrying forward the fundamental moral substrate of Christianity (the idea that the sufferer is more noble than the victor).

A minor side-religion is the climate change activist one, but that's been firmly muscled aside by idpol utopianism in the last 10 years.

Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?

#457

Post by Barrin92 »

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #362
cedws wrote: post #308

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm 21 and I think everything's going to shit as well... is it doomerism or reality? Politicians appear increasingly corrupt and selfish. Geopolitics are becoming less stable. Innovation is coming to a standstill. The average person just wants a decent job, a nice place to live, and maybe a family. All of these are becoming more and more difficult to achieve. Is it any wonder kids are checking out of life en masse?

Try turning off the news, avoiding social media sites (Reddit, Twitter, HN, anywhere people share bad stories), and getting more in person interaction. You don’t need to be invested in the finer details of global politics or stories of violence hundreds of miles a way. Disconnect and recharge. Reconnect with people around you and enjoy the world as it exists, not for some representation of all the terrible things on…

>You don’t need to be invested in the finer details of global politics

Unless of course part of the majority of the world's population who actually lives in it. I had more than a few friends who were doing their software engineering jobs from a bunker last summer. Missiles in Kaliningrad are about 10 minutes travel time out from my parents home.

Whenever I see these kind of "the news isn't real" takes I'm like 99% sure this is coming from some suburb in Colorado. Believe me the news is real, it's just not at your door yet. But when even Americans are increasingly starting to feel the craziness settle in you know it isn't going to well.

Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?

#458

Post by malauxyeux »

tarsinge wrote: post #379
fuball63 wrote: post #78

I'll preface this by saying this is all anecdotal evidence based on my personal observations, so it may not apply to everyone. I often feel the same way, especially with tech. For those of us that remember before the internet was ubiquitous, the optimism and promise of the "information super highway" seems in stark contrast with what we see today. I try to keep in mind a few things: First, we are living in a time tha…

I say this without a political agenda but regarding the diminishing returns of consumption I think there is larger issue that is boiling: there is a huge existential crisis boiling due to the failing of consumerism and growth as the promised way to happiness and so as a goal in life. It’s paradoxical but all that progress has made it obvious that earning more to consume more is pointless because there is already so m…

> For me the passing of relatives and stoic philosophy had already set me on the path of looking outside consumption (and status) for meaning.

Would you mind talking more concretely about this?

Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?

#459

Post by lr4444lr »

ignoramous wrote: post #245
somethoughts wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is just personal but anytime I feel similar to the OP, I watch something by Hans Rosling [1] or Anna Rosling [2]. Although 10 and 5 years old respectively, I feel the general sentiment is still true - that human progress is slow, in the background and might be ebbing and flowing in your specific sub-population. And when compared to the present, media narrative driven present its hard to see the improvements happ…

Reminds me of this tweet by Derek Thompson (writer at The Atlantic ): In 2022, we: - Reversed organ death in pigs - Made the first embryo from stem cells - Made a pan-influenza vaccine - Saw the beginning of time - Got best-ever results from cancer & obesity therapy trials - Maybe cracked the case of multiple sclerosis From: https://twitter.com/DKThomp/status/1600864770751860737 ( https://archive.is/pi95L )

And yet, we only get 15 minutes with our primary care doctors. No one doubts the progress of technology: it is the quality of human interaction that's plummeted.

Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?

#460

Post by [deleted] »

laidoffamazon wrote: post #406
tejohnso wrote: post #117

> Anyone else have other examples? Elected president who is so crass and generally offensive he wouldn't have gotten close to being elected 50 years ago. Elected president who is showing clear signs of age related cognitive decline (so they say) but continues to occupy the office. Elected presidents with criminal behaviour that is far worse than what previous presidents were impeached or resigned for. Mental illness,…

> Elected president who is showing clear signs of age related cognitive decline (so they say) but continues to occupy the office. Donald Trump is many things, but I really don't think he's seeing more cognitive decline than an average 76 year old.

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