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Tim Cook’s Message to 2019 Graduates: ‘My Generation Has Failed You’

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Re: Tim Cook’s Message to 2019 Graduates: ‘My Generation Has Failed You’

#31

Post by peterwwillis »

NE2z2T9qi wrote: post #24
tedivm wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think there are numerous ways in which Tim Cook's generation has failed the next generation (at least in the US). * Wages are flat, * Housing costs are up (in large part due to NIMBYism), * College is more expensive (in large part due to Cook's generation cutting subsidies that they got), * Environment is shot- that whole global warming thing isn't going away anytime soon. Generally speaking the baby boomers, as a…

What are you asking for? The world has changed drastically, culture and preferences have changed drastically, and new technological tools make the job and economic landscape entirely different than earlier. That's not Baby Boomers' fault. Are you really going to blame them for not predicting the future well enough? Baby boomers aren't forcing young folks to like living in cities more than suburbs. They're not malicio…

> Are you really going to blame them for not predicting the future well enough?

They predicted it just fine. Then they failed to work together to prevent it.

> Baby boomers aren't forcing young folks to like living in cities more than suburbs.

Young people can only afford overpriced apartments because jobs have steadily migrated to cities, they don't have the credit or capital to afford a house and car in the suburbs, they're overburdened with debt and rising costs of living, not paid accordingly, and well-paying jobs for the lower and middle class are more scarce. Oh, and media conglomerates and advertising have been repeating since before they were born that what they really want is only found in glamorous cities.

> They're not forcing young folks to want to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on mediocre private universities when reasonably priced state universities exist

That's all they've ever heard. "You have to go to college. You have to go to the best college. You can go to the best college, you'll just be in debt for 30 years once you do. Don't worry, here's a thing we invented in the 70s called a credit card."

> our current prosperity [..] strongly depended on us exploiting cheap and reliable energy for decades

We have been the most powerful and wealthy nation since WWII, a generation or two before the boomers. The boomers were even hit by a major oil crisis and recession more than once, and rather than look to alternatives (which Congress literally declared they had to do), they doubled down.

Re: Tim Cook’s Message to 2019 Graduates: ‘My Generation Has Failed You’

#32

Post by shrimp_emoji »

Steko wrote: post #12
julienreszka wrote: post #5

When was the last time Apple release a new product? By new I mean not an iteration of previous ones?

Watch, Airpods, Homepod, Pencil, credit card next month, many services including Apple Pay.

AirPods are pretty great, and conveniently they work on Android phones. :3

My generation may be consigned to socioeconomical bleakness, but the AirPods were a win, Tim. <3

Re: Tim Cook’s Message to 2019 Graduates: ‘My Generation Has Failed You’

#33

Post by dingdingdang »

NE2z2T9qi wrote: post #6

I guess I'm considered a millennial, but messages like this sound like misconceived pandering. Firstly, I don't think any generation necessarily "owes" anything to future generations. But, even if we accept the premise, I am the beneficiary of absolutely mind-boggling amounts of technological advancement, culture, progress, infrastructure, science, and on and on and on even just over the course of my own lifetime (ap…

>> Not to mention, there is something extraordinarily presumptuous about the CEO of one tech company thinking he has the standing to either criticize or speak on behalf of literally billions of people.

Yep, more than anything else it is simply patronising. Reading Hans Gosling and Steven Pinker clarifies a lot in terms of this planet's development over the last 30 years - and it's pretty much all for the better for your average human being.

Re: Tim Cook’s Message to 2019 Graduates: ‘My Generation Has Failed You’

#35

Post by HeWhoLurksLate »

drcode wrote: post #21
perfunctory wrote: post #13

Watching talks like this is what helps me keep my sanity in the face of climate change and have hope we will do something about it. My take-away phrase of the speech is gonna be "do something". I know my doing something will not even register in the global scheme of things but I'm gonna do it anyway.

...the problem is, I'm not really convinced that we really know of a specific "something" that we can do that wouldn't backfire and make emissions even worse by creating perverse incentives elsewhere in the economy. The only idea I've heard that would likely help in a meaningful way would be to simply make all domestic oil and natural gas extraction 100% illegal and try to convince some other nations to do the same.…

That doesn't even sound feasible, to be honest- humanity currently needs plastic for a billion medical things, for one- and if you outlaw extraction, then another company will go "gee, thanks!", open the valves, charge more, and make a ton of money.

Getting things off of oil is going to take a long time.

Re: Tim Cook’s Message to 2019 Graduates: ‘My Generation Has Failed You’

#36

Post by Miner49er »

NE2z2T9qi wrote: post #24
tedivm wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think there are numerous ways in which Tim Cook's generation has failed the next generation (at least in the US). * Wages are flat, * Housing costs are up (in large part due to NIMBYism), * College is more expensive (in large part due to Cook's generation cutting subsidies that they got), * Environment is shot- that whole global warming thing isn't going away anytime soon. Generally speaking the baby boomers, as a…

What are you asking for? The world has changed drastically, culture and preferences have changed drastically, and new technological tools make the job and economic landscape entirely different than earlier. That's not Baby Boomers' fault. Are you really going to blame them for not predicting the future well enough? Baby boomers aren't forcing young folks to like living in cities more than suburbs. They're not malicio…

> They didn't blow up the world

Yes they did. Climate change is going to be, and already is, disastrous.

Re: Tim Cook’s Message to 2019 Graduates: ‘My Generation Has Failed You’

#37

Post by toomuchtodo »

NE2z2T9qi wrote: post #24
tedivm wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think there are numerous ways in which Tim Cook's generation has failed the next generation (at least in the US). * Wages are flat, * Housing costs are up (in large part due to NIMBYism), * College is more expensive (in large part due to Cook's generation cutting subsidies that they got), * Environment is shot- that whole global warming thing isn't going away anytime soon. Generally speaking the baby boomers, as a…

What are you asking for? The world has changed drastically, culture and preferences have changed drastically, and new technological tools make the job and economic landscape entirely different than earlier. That's not Baby Boomers' fault. Are you really going to blame them for not predicting the future well enough? Baby boomers aren't forcing young folks to like living in cities more than suburbs. They're not malicio…

I would've asked Boomers to not have wasted trillions of dollars on unnecessary military spending (which could've gone to infrastructure, education, and universal healthcare) and countless lives on unnecessary military actions. I would've asked them to not have supported trade pacts that were great for those the jobs went to in developing countries and for domestic consumers of goods where production was off-shored/outsourced, but hollowed out the middle class. I would've asked them to not have allowed private companies to run rampant in healthcare, economically devastating anyone who has chronic health issues or doesn't have a cush employer provided healthcare plan, and then having the audacity of shouting "Socialism!" when healthcare systems working in every other first world country are proposed. I would've asked them to consider the world they were leaving their kids and grandkids, and make efforts to transition off of fossil fuels sooner. I would've asked them to make efforts to support Labor and Unions, not allow them to crumble under the guise of "Right To Work", stagnating wages for forty years and solidifying Capital's stranglehold over the economy, including workplace and employment conditions. I would've asked they not use drug legislation and prisons as weapons against certain classes of people. I would've asked for less greed and more compassion. I would've asked for a bit more (reasonable) sacrifice for future generations.

But here we are, so I suppose we'll just clean up the mess the Worst Generation left us all with. It's just a shame they squandered so much for so little; the time for asking anything of them has passed [1].

[1] https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/04/03/millennials... (Millennials approach Baby Boomers as America’s largest generation in the electorate [Note: As of 2019, Millenials will have surpassed Boomers as the largest electorate])

Re: Tim Cook’s Message to 2019 Graduates: ‘My Generation Has Failed You’

#38

Post by HeWhoLurksLate »

Animats wrote: post #10
julienreszka wrote: post #5

When was the last time Apple release a new product? By new I mean not an iteration of previous ones?

The whole consumer electronics industry is stuck. Everyone has a phone. PC sales are flat and mostly to business. (Desktop PCs are now like commercial trucks. Every business uses them, but nobody gets excited about them. They're expected to last a long time and have low operating cost.) Tablets were a niche. 3D TV was a total flop. VR headsets are a niche. IoT turned out to be mostly voice terminals for services. No…

And everything that will be invented has been invented.

I'm going to guess that something in the future will be revolutionary. It might just be a while. Humans went millennia without electricity, and then everything kinda shot up- I wouldn't be surprised if humanity takes another step up the QoL stairs in a couple hundred years.

Re: Tim Cook’s Message to 2019 Graduates: ‘My Generation Has Failed You’

#39

Post by bulletsvshumans »

NE2z2T9qi wrote: post #6

I guess I'm considered a millennial, but messages like this sound like misconceived pandering. Firstly, I don't think any generation necessarily "owes" anything to future generations. But, even if we accept the premise, I am the beneficiary of absolutely mind-boggling amounts of technological advancement, culture, progress, infrastructure, science, and on and on and on even just over the course of my own lifetime (ap…

Every generation owes the next generation a world that is in as good of condition as when they received it. Anything else is taking out a loan in the next generation’s name.

Re: Tim Cook’s Message to 2019 Graduates: ‘My Generation Has Failed You’

#40

Post by rb808 »

tedivm wrote: post #9
NE2z2T9qi wrote: post #6

I guess I'm considered a millennial, but messages like this sound like misconceived pandering. Firstly, I don't think any generation necessarily "owes" anything to future generations. But, even if we accept the premise, I am the beneficiary of absolutely mind-boggling amounts of technological advancement, culture, progress, infrastructure, science, and on and on and on even just over the course of my own lifetime (ap…

I think there are numerous ways in which Tim Cook's generation has failed the next generation (at least in the US). * Wages are flat, * Housing costs are up (in large part due to NIMBYism), * College is more expensive (in large part due to Cook's generation cutting subsidies that they got), * Environment is shot- that whole global warming thing isn't going away anytime soon. Generally speaking the baby boomers, as a…

Imagine previous generations that were being drafted to the army to go off to WW2, Korea, Vietnam. Ah yes but Millennials have flat wages and expensive college. We've failed them all.
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