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Life Improvements Since the 1990s

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Re: Life Improvements Since the 1990s

#71

Post by ghaff »

nivenkos wrote: post #27
iambateman wrote: post #14

I often ask people: “if you could be 20-years old in 1991 or 2021, which would you pick?” An incredible number of people pick ‘91. Some people even ask to go back to the seventies. This article explains why I would much rather be young now rather than before.

'91 would be better though - better salaries in a lot of jobs, and lower house prices. GPS on the phone is awesome, but I'd still prefer financial security.

>better salaries in a lot of jobs

Factory jobs that is probably true in general--though you're still into the period when a lot of traditional union manufacturing jobs were leaving (or had left) the country.

As an engineer/software developer, you're probably going to be paid about $40K for an entry-level position [ADDED: For the US at a "tech" company]. And there is basically no equivalent to routine FAANG SWE salaries.

Housing is cheaper (relatively) in some locations although the Bay Area was still relatively expensive. Manhattan was considered the high-priced place to live at the time.

Re: Life Improvements Since the 1990s

#72

Post by light_hue_1 »

nivenkos wrote: post #41
BrianOnHN wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Definitely depends on race. As a white guy '91 would have been easy sailing.

Indeed, now white men are discriminated against in a lot of Tech companies under the guise of fighting "white privilege" and promoting diversity (note this does not include class or background) - meanwhile class differences (inheritance, home ownership, etc.) are more important than ever.

> Indeed, now white men are discriminated against in a lot of Tech companies under the guise of fighting "white privilege" and promoting diversity

Tech is 2% black, but white people are being discriminated against? You mean by being promoted, having huge salaries, and getting all of jobs? oh my!

The historically disadvantaged white american community should really organize together. Maybe under a white flag. I know. White robes. Maybe pointy hats? I wonder if anyone has tried that before?

When you start from a position of extreme white privilege, even the smallest gains by others which don't affect you (there are endless tech jobs, no white man left behind here) seem like a catastrophe. I'm sure this is how white people in the south felt too!

Re: Life Improvements Since the 1990s

#73

Post by namdnay »

wyldfire wrote: post #42

> Car Theft is rarer, and in particular, we no longer have to worry about our car windows being smashed to steal our car radios > Remember when physically detaching your car radio to avoid leaving it in the car was considered a 100% normal thing to do? Why is it rarer, I wonder? I do recall having a detachable faceplate on my car radio. I sold that car in ~2010 or so but stopped bothering with the detaching long befo…

For car radios it’s because they no longer exist in their previous modular form. Now a car infotainment system is tightly coupled to the exact car model itself (because you also use it to manage lots of other stuff, and it’s tied to various controls (wheel, touch, central console etc)

Re: Life Improvements Since the 1990s

#74

Post by AnIdiotOnTheNet »

iambateman wrote: post #14

I often ask people: “if you could be 20-years old in 1991 or 2021, which would you pick?” An incredible number of people pick ‘91. Some people even ask to go back to the seventies. This article explains why I would much rather be young now rather than before.

I'll take 91. I get to experience all the exciting personal computing technology again before it all becomes web appliances and dark patterns. Back when the internet, if you could get it, was a place of wonder instead of terror.

Re: Life Improvements Since the 1990s

#75

Post by ghaff »

jasode wrote: post #67
iambateman wrote: post #14

I often ask people: “if you could be 20-years old in 1991 or 2021, which would you pick?” An incredible number of people pick ‘91. Some people even ask to go back to the seventies. This article explains why I would much rather be young now rather than before.

>I often ask people: “if you could be 20-years old in 1991 or 2021, which would you pick?” An incredible number of people pick ‘91. Some people even ask to go back to the seventies. There's a podcast by Jason Feifer (was called Pessimists Archive) where the repeated theme across many episodes is the recurring fallacy of the "good ole days" : https://www.jasonfeifer.com/build-for-tomorrow/ E.g. you ask today's generat…

That's one of the themes in the film Midnight in Paris. (Yes, it's a Woody Allen film.)

Re: Life Improvements Since the 1990s

#76

Post by nemo44x »

iambateman wrote: post #14

I often ask people: “if you could be 20-years old in 1991 or 2021, which would you pick?” An incredible number of people pick ‘91. Some people even ask to go back to the seventies. This article explains why I would much rather be young now rather than before.

2021 if only for the health improvements without trying: - You grew up in an era of not inhaling cancerous smoke everywhere you go - Even unhealthy foods are less unhealthy due to removing hydrogenated fats from foods (god were they tasty though) - Cars are safer than ever - The environment is cleaner than it has been in decades

The past always looks better. People still want to return to the 50's and most of them were not alive then.

However, I believe every generation has had it "better" generally speaking than the previous and that's how it should be. Certain era's had things that were probably better but this era has things that future generations will envy as well while also having it "better" generally speaking.

Today is this best time to be alive and I'm optimistic tomorrow will be even better.

Re: Life Improvements Since the 1990s

#77

Post by germinalphrase »

lordnacho wrote: post #15
adventured wrote: post #2

This note at the bottom, about high mortality rates in the past, is always striking to remember: "My grandmother casually horrified us a few years ago by going through the list of her dead siblings: 2 died on the farm of ‘summer diarrhea’ (bovine tuberculosis from unpasteurized milk) as infants, an unremarkable fate in the area, and then 3 died in their teens–20s after moving to the city to work in textile factories.…

Indeed. What I found interesting is that when I looked up the stats, the death rates for under 1 year olds has continued to decline even in recent decades. I had previously thought it would have stalled after the things you mentioned had been solved. My guess is premature births have much higher survival now than 20 or 40 years ago.

A side effect of the abortion debate has been significant financial investments by the pro-life in premature birth research. The earlier it is possible to define viability, the earlier abortions can effectively be banned.

Re: Life Improvements Since the 1990s

#78

Post by Filligree »

minikites wrote: post #58
throwaway0a5e wrote: post #20

I think he kind of missed the elephant that is modern communication technology has reduced the marginal cost of skilled services enabling pretty much every object designed in an office and manufactured in a factory to benefit from a broader array of engineering and design professionals and methodologies. The average product and service that the average actor in the economy interacts with is designed and optimized to…

>(barring regulation that forces compromises to product efficacy) Can you really not think of any benefits of regulation to correct for pervasive market failures?

Of course there are benefits. It’s still true that it compromises the main goal of the glue—compromise is the point.

Re: Life Improvements Since the 1990s

#79

Post by hncurious »

nivenkos wrote: post #41
BrianOnHN wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Definitely depends on race. As a white guy '91 would have been easy sailing.

Indeed, now white men are discriminated against in a lot of Tech companies under the guise of fighting "white privilege" and promoting diversity (note this does not include class or background) - meanwhile class differences (inheritance, home ownership, etc.) are more important than ever.

That misdirection is convenient for the upper class, not so convenient for the rest of us.

Re: Life Improvements Since the 1990s

#80

Post by namdnay »

thundergolfer wrote: post #64
iambateman wrote: post #14

I often ask people: “if you could be 20-years old in 1991 or 2021, which would you pick?” An incredible number of people pick ‘91. Some people even ask to go back to the seventies. This article explains why I would much rather be young now rather than before.

Going to be another person commenting that they'd seriously consider 1991 (as long as I had the smarts to still go into software). Jump back to 1991 as a 20yr old and head to the recruitment fair stalls of Sun Microsystems / DEC / Apple / Adobe / Microsoft. Google search and showers that stay hot are pretty nice, but the relative difficulty of accessing quality education, jobs, and housing probably turn out to be muc…

Now I could understand this as a blue collar worker, but you’re saying you’d prefer to be a software engineer in 91 than 2021? Come on, of pretty much all the professions were the ones who have reaped the most benefits of the past 30 years
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