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Life Improvements Since the 1990s

gwern.net

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Re: Life Improvements Since the 1990s

#381

Post by akomtu »

thorwasdfasdf wrote: post #375

Look at the essentials and you'll see we've actually been going backwards, ever since the 1970s: Housing: Now less affordable than ever. It takes more hours worked to afford any kind of shelter than ever in the last 50 years. According to an interview I once watched: in the 60s, a painter could afford a single family house and six kids and the wife didn't even need to work. today, two painters working together can ba…

On the other hand, sport cars, helicopters, private jets, yachts and mansions have become more affordable than ever: when your net worth jumps from 100M to 200M this year alone, the 25M jet that seemed a bit pricey, now looks cheap. In the upcoming decade we're going to tackle private islands and recreational space ships.

Re: Life Improvements Since the 1990s

#382

Post by flerchin »

BuckRogers wrote: post #286
munk-a wrote: post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most aren't - most are quite comfortable but 100k is still above the median for developers.

That's what I see. As the OP I can say that my wages aren't through the roof, and I don't think they ever will be. I'm a developer and under 100K. I'm not sure anyone I know in this industry has a "through the roof" salary. I don't know anyone at Google. Given how hard I work for the money I do make, I'm expecting to unionize or go solo with my own thing, before my salary somehow goes through the roof. Either of thos…

I dunno. I've never worked a FAANG, but wage increases have been great for every new job. Maybe my US perspective is showing? Maybe move to a hotter market?

Re: Life Improvements Since the 1990s

#383

Post by bewaretheirs »

This one has if anything gotten worse rather than better:

> Car Theft is rarer, and in particular, we no longer have to worry about our car windows being smashed to steal our car radios

Yes, car radios have been made harder to steal, but now our car windows are smashed to steal laptops and other valuables. And catalytic converter theft is also rampant.

Re: Life Improvements Since the 1990s

#384

Post by throwaway-x123 »

JackPoach wrote: post #127
rthomas6 wrote: post #68

But are people happier and more fulfilled? Are they more able to have a meaning-filled life surrounded by people with whom they have close and lasting relationships? What should we be measuring when we measure improvement?

Should we be measuring at all? Claiming that people have to be more happy over time is a weird proposition for a biologist like me. Not only happiness does not exist (see reification), the idea that it can be 'measured and improved' is silly. Should the next generation of birds be more happy and fulfilled than the previous one? Should the next generation of chimps have stronger lasting relationships? Does it even mak…

As I understand, happiness is free time from necessary work. Quote from book Hunnicutt, Free time:

Benjamin Franklin, agreeing that “the happiness of individuals is evidently the ultimate end of political society,” offered his vision of Higher Progress: If every man and woman would work for four hours each day on some- thing useful, that labor would produce sufficient to procure all the necessaries and comforts of life, want and misery would be banished out of the world, and the rest of the twenty-four hours might be leisure and happiness.

Also Epicur: "Epicurus believed that the greatest good was to seek modest, sustainable pleasure in the form of a state of ataraxia (tranquility and freedom from fear) and aponia (the absence of bodily pain) through knowledge of the workings of the world and limiting desires. "

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epicureanism

Re: Life Improvements Since the 1990s

#385

Post by TheOtherHobbes »

jrsj wrote: post #357
rthomas6 wrote: post #68

But are people happier and more fulfilled? Are they more able to have a meaning-filled life surrounded by people with whom they have close and lasting relationships? What should we be measuring when we measure improvement?

Most HN users are going to say “yes” because we are generally much higher income earners. Have things gotten better for everyone? Definitely not. Looking at continued increase in “deaths of despair” it seems like some of the changes that have made some of us richer have also made a larger % of the population more miserable than ever. We’ve also built a highly sophisticated surveillance state and generally reduced our…

Indeed. We've traded cheaper better widgets for political and economic regression.

Mobile phones are the pinnacle of tech - and also a superb tool for mass surveillance.

Re: Life Improvements Since the 1990s

#386

Post by bhelkey »

AlbertCory wrote: post #378

Without denying any of the improvements cited here, some things, even in computing, are no better: 1) Printers still suck. By that I mean, mainly, reliability. I try to print something from my Mac laptop. The printer is connected, has paper, and displays no error messages. Nonetheless, nothing happens. There's no apparent way to figure out why. There wasn't in the 90s and there still isn't. 2) Software quality is, if…

> 1) Printers still suck. By that I mean, mainly, reliability.

Laser printers are a step forward even if they leave a lot to be desired. Also, somewhat anecdotally, the amount of times I need to use a printer has significantly fallen since 2005.

Re: Life Improvements Since the 1990s

#387

Post by manux »

MontyCarloHall wrote: post #13
JohnJamesRambo wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well you can’t remove things and then say “See, inflation is fine!” If you want uneducated children with no healthcare and no affordable place to live I guess things are fine, and that’s pretty much what we see now.

The point of Gwern’s article is to highlight specific things that have improved since the 90s. I’m pointing out that this is supported by looking at inflation stratified by various goods and services. Nowhere in my post did I say that “inflation is fine”; I’m just saying many goods and services have gotten dramatically cheaper since the 90s, which is still counter to the prevailing narrative.

Well you did say that

> almost everyone seems to believe that real incomes have totally stagnated.

suggesting that this is a false belief. I think this can easily be interpreted as you saying "inflation is fine" (even though that may not have been your intention).

Re: Life Improvements Since the 1990s

#389

Post by sokoloff »

jjav wrote: post #377
sokoloff wrote: post #369

Driving maps/planning is wildly better, not just a little better. I can remember in the early 90s going to AAA to get paper maps for upcoming trips, buying a Rand McNally almanac for the car, etc. First getting mapquest and then later in-car GPS and later Waze has been super convenient.

But is it better? Buying maps and planning a road trip is satifying. Blindly following the voice on waze, not really. Worst part is getting there and not knownig how to get back without waze because I was zoned out of the surroundings. Although the one part that is unequivocally better is the real-time traffic/incident info to reroute around trouble.

I think it is. I can recall driving alone trying to steal quick peeks at the paper map. Safer (but more difficult) was doing map-based navigation in light aircraft.

Database-backed GPS transformed both of those to be easier and safer to use while traveling.

Re: Life Improvements Since the 1990s

#390

Post by perardi »

bewaretheirs wrote: post #383

This one has if anything gotten worse rather than better: > Car Theft is rarer, and in particular, we no longer have to worry about our car windows being smashed to steal our car radios Yes, car radios have been made harder to steal, but now our car windows are smashed to steal laptops and other valuables. And catalytic converter theft is also rampant.

And catalytic converter theft is also rampant.

Well that sure seems to be true.

https://www.motortrend.com/news/catalytic-converter-thefts-n...

“According to the National Insurance Crime Bureau, the pandemic has seen a rapid rise in catalytic converter theft. In 2019, an average of 282 catalytic converters were stolen every month; in 2020 the average had risen to 1,203—and that's just an average. In December alone, 2,347 catalytic converters were stolen.”

And anecdotally, living in Chicago: I know of so very many people who have had their convertors stolen. The wonders of outdoor parking.

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