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Is everything falling apart?

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Re: Is everything falling apart?

#421

Post by krageon »

basisword wrote: post #401
dv_dt wrote: post #368

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you look at life expectancy in the America, it has been flat to reversing. Understandably with added pressure from Covid, but at a rate higher even with Covid higher than all other well resourced major nations. This not because we are unable, but because those with the power are unwilling to engage fundamental issues. Covid is not the only issue for which this is the case - it was happening before covid. Multiple…

>> If you look at life expectancy in the America, it has been flat to reversing. >> Multiple major issues with scientific and economic root causes are simply being ignored as stability and promises of improved prosperity provided by civilization is going backwards. How much of this can be explained by the fact that one third of adults in the US are obese as opposed to major scientific and economic issues?

Folks in the US are on average very fat and very ignorant, not a great combination if you would prefer to have people that are healthy and/or capable of improving their own life.

Re: Is everything falling apart?

#422

Post by boh »

b112 wrote: post #273
boh wrote: post #243

Things collapsing has been a predominant sentiment in every modern generation. It's unprecedented because of our collective amnesia, that regards the familiar as a stable starting point rather than a random moment in a volatile reality. Journalism was a tawdry, un-respectable business since its conception, but experienced a brief period of valor around the mid-twentieth century when industry concentration, Cold War e…

Yes, the 60s was far, far, far more disillusioned than this.

The idea of mass disillusionment is pretty academic. If we just think about it for a moment, it's very hard to argue that there was some cohesive, clearly articulated illusion that was shared by everyone regardless of demographic, and it was somehow lost.

The narrative of mass disillusionment is more based on the limits of a historical narrative that must broadly categorize a mass of people as having a unified reaction for the sake of a simplified historical account.

Disillusionment is a persistent experience for people as they grow up. The idea that one period was "more" disillusioned than another isn't a real phenomenon.

Re: Is everything falling apart?

#423

Post by basisword »

jaqalopes wrote: post #7

I think some things are falling apart but not everything. If you had the foresight/luck/guidance to get into a stable white collar career, find a partner, and buy a house before 2022 I think you're on "the train". This train is currently pulling away from a burning station containing everyone else who hasn't done those things yet. It's still possible to escape the station by running down the tracks but at this point…

While I agree that buying property has become very difficult, what has changed in 2022 that prevents you from getting a stable white collar job or finding a partner? If you have the requisite skillset (which can be acquired more easily than ever thanks to the internet) getting a stable white collar job is very possible. And in the age of dating apps, so much friction has been removed when it comes to finding a partner (although it might not feel like it at times).

Re: Is everything falling apart?

#424

Post by kbelder »

tyingq wrote: post #377

I have noticed a pretty strong trend of "falling apart" in specific niche. It seems related to the combination of inflation and people being fed up with low wages. It's hard to get workers for low paying jobs, and the things those places are selling have gotten more expensive. So we're paying quite a lot more for services and goods, but the quality of those things are declining at the same time. Declining quality bot…

{I'll be savaged for this comment} but I think that'll be fixed by the free market, if we let it. The trouble is that it doesn't happen instantly; there'll be a lot of reluctance to raise wages, a lot of reluctance to value unpleasant jobs more, it'll take a while for the wage gain/inflation feedback loop to settle down... and in the mean time, there's a lot of suffering.

To make things worse, attempts to shortcut the process, or temporarily alleviate the suffering, can have detrimental unintended consequences.

Re: Is everything falling apart?

#425

Post by nradov »

mrits wrote: post #130
ravenstine wrote: post #111

Everything is not falling apart, though certain institutions may be falling apart. In America, there's definitely been a breakdown of belief in its own institutions. Far more people are skeptical of things like journalism and Silicon Valley; it really wasn't that long ago that the former was constantly salivating over the latter, but now it's more of an openly vulture-carrion relationship because that caters to publi…

I have a much different experience. I have a dozen family members that were part of the auto industry in Michigan. They were on top of the world for decades. It ended with most of them thinking society has collapsed in the 80s and doubting they'd actually get their pension. My grandfather spent the last 30 years of his life in retirement collecting a pay check that he thought might be his last.

This is why defined benefit pension plans are so risky for retirees, employers, and taxpayers. We need to completely eliminate them and use defined contribution plans such as 401(k) instead. That way retirees actually own the assets in individual named accounts and those can't be taken away if the employer is sold or goes bankrupt.

Re: Is everything falling apart?

#426

Post by elefanten »

groby_b wrote: post #353
Mountain_Skies wrote: post #344

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everything that happened to a Baby Boomer was the most extreme ever. All other generations before Baby Boomers and since the Baby Boomers have had an easier time than the Baby Boomers. Their experiences are the Alpha and the Omega of human experience. When they die, the universe probably will cease to exist.

That, frankly, would be a small price to pay to stop hearing arguments about specialness of that generation.

I’ve never heard an argument about the “specialness” of that generation?

I’ve only heard the relentless shit all the younger generations started talking about Boomers at some point.

Which always came as a surprise to me… If we’re going to generalize about people based on generation (bad idea, but…)— I conclude that every generation since the Boomers has been linearly weaker and less competent, in aggregate, than the generation before it. Definitely in the West, but I suspect everywhere. And no, I’m not a Boomer, I’m one of the younger ones.

Re: Is everything falling apart?

#427

Post by incomingpain »

rob74 wrote: post #23
incomingpain wrote: post #2

Yesterday I made the comment "everything is collapsing underneath" though there's context etc. I think the better way to say it. "Is everything falling apart for the USA?" Yes indeed. Most other countries have problems. Sure Sri Lanka has the same problems. Sure the middle east just went through the same problems and some states are still enduring civil war. Though from what I can tell it's mostly the USA in this 'fa…

> The fix to the USA falling apart is free and open discussions between the camps. This is what Elon is planning to do with twitter. Nice, now you just have to convince the MAGA Republican and the BLM Democrat to have an open discussion, when each of them prefers to listen to their own social bubble. Good luck with that...

>Nice, now you just have to convince the MAGA Republican and the BLM Democrat to have an open discussion, when each of them prefers to listen to their own social bubble. Good luck with that...

A russian cosmonaut spit on Elon when he suggested he was going to build a rocket that can be recovered and refueled. Called him insane and it can't be done. Well... don't know if you're keeping a score card...

How many short sellers of tesla lost an awful lot of money? Elon is quite the force to reckon with.

While I am not MAGA, republican, BLM, nor democrat. I have had conversations with all of those. They are all reasonable people who will listen to what you have to say.

I think there's certainly some conversations that are possible even now but so many off limits topics that are what need to be discussed. That's an easy first fix.

Re: Is everything falling apart?

#428

Post by notpachet »

lisper wrote: post #205

Things are not falling apart any more than they have in the past. What we are witnessing is a shift in power structure brought about by new communications technology. Humanity has been through this many times before. The invention of writing in the first place empowered the scribes. The printing press disempowered the scribes and empowered publishers . Radio disempowered publishers and empowered broadcasters. The int…

> Things are not falling apart any more than they have in the past.

Depends on which window you're looking through, I suppose. Environmentalists would disagree.

Re: Is everything falling apart?

#429

Post by AlexandrB »

drugstorecowboy wrote: post #256
xhkkffbf wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Absolutely. I'm very center, perhaps slightly left. But aside from Rachel Maddow, I don't trust what I hear.

"Slightly Left" but the only journalist you trust is Rachel Maddow? That is a very interesting take, I have never heard Maddow described as anything remotely resembling slightly left, only as a caricature of the extreme left.

That's pretty funny. On many topics, the whole spectrum of acceptable political thought has been compressed in the US (and much of the west) so that you're either a little bit pro-business ("extreme left") or very pro business ("extreme right"); a little bit pro military ("extreme left") or very pro military ("extreme right"). Radical ideas are allowed to exist only as long as they don't stop the flow of money. Hence the current focus on culture war over anything else.
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