Is everything falling apart? • Hacker News Board

Re: Is everything falling apart?

#771

Post by cato_the_elder » Fri, Apr 29, 2022, 9:43 PM UTC

mikkergp wrote: post #738

cato_the_elder wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, gender dysphoria has existed since like forever. But it's certainly not a good sign when our institutions try to indoctrinate us with gender ideology. [1] The day it really becomes "the science" is the day I will lose hope in the rest of the apparatus. Lysenkoism [2] be damned. [1]: And by that I mean believing that we should behave as if there are no differences between biological females and MTF, or that it's a…

What’s it like to have such strong feelings about gender? I don’t have that, the idea that it’s all just a social construct is so embedded in the way I see the world, I just don’t see how anything about sexuality or biology are immutably connected to gender identity. To me the two are completely divorced from each other.

Interesting, doesn't that Lia Thomas photo [1] make you laugh (or make you angry if you care about college swimming)? [2]

> To me the two are completely divorced from each other.

Some of it certainly could be. But insisting that it's all just a social construct makes it hard to explain things which are prevalent and similar across different cultures. (e.g. females growing their hair, or them being generally "cleaner", or intonation differences, etc.)

Or even more broadly, the fact that males and females of different cultures can be attracted to each other, even though the exact gender expressions might be different.

[1]: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FOHlDIxWQAAaJwX?format=jpg&name=...

[2]: It certainly does for many people, to the extent that the scene could come from a South Park episode: https://www.vgr.com/forum/uploads/monthly_2022_03/FB_IMG_164...

Re: Is everything falling apart?

#772

Post by sazz » Fri, Apr 29, 2022, 9:43 PM UTC

Humans just tends to repeat themselves every 50 to 100 years. But the good thing is - with each iteration we are learning. It's just a bit but maybe in a thousand years we will come out of our puberty.

And no - the world won't go down due to climate change. It won't go down because of some silly war either. It's not a simple graph showing where we are heading to. Especially not an exponential graph.

And we are still repeating history because we haven't learned the simple lesson which Leo Tolstoi already knew: Everybody wants to change the world but nobody themselves.

But this is where the real change starts. And do not believe all those angst people out there.

Life is way too complex and beautiful that we will ever understand it's secrets and twists it's capable of.

Re: Is everything falling apart?

#773

Post by JamesAdir » Fri, Apr 29, 2022, 9:46 PM UTC

The media want you to show that the world is falling apart for all kind of reasons. The social media shows you posts about the world falling apart for same kind of reasons - it generate views and sells ads. The world hasn't been falling apart for the last decade as far as I can tell. Not in the US and not in many other parts of the world.

Re: Is everything falling apart?

#774

Post by pianoben » Fri, Apr 29, 2022, 9:52 PM UTC

imapeopleperson wrote: post #766

pianoben wrote: post #758

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Even if one's "guy" is in office, I don't think we feel the same about it the way we did even as recent as Obama, and his administration was when we really began to see the social cracks forming. I really don't see it that way - this isn't at all a new phenomenon. What feels different to me is the intensity and pervasiveness of division, but then again that could be attributed to being more generally aware of thing…

> In my view, our "tribes" broadly descend from pro- vs. anti-slavery camps Fact: George Floyd wouldn’t have died if he didn’t resist arrest. I’m certainly not pro-slavery, and agree people can be racist, but there is certainly something wrong if people can’t openly discuss taboo truths without being slighted as a racist themselves, utterly dismissed, or censored.

I'm not certain how that bears on what I wrote, and won't comment on it except to say that the American "pro-slavery camp" is not merely a synonym for "racially bigoted" - there's a whole world-view there in which groups of humans are inherently and fundamentally unequal, and in which might makes right, to a certain degree.

On your topic of "taboo truths", personally I agree that we ought to be able to discuss things with civility and assuming good faith. It's not always or even often possible these days.

Re: Is everything falling apart?

#775

Post by mensetmanusman » Fri, Apr 29, 2022, 9:54 PM UTC

imtringued wrote: post #701

mensetmanusman wrote: post #529

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As obesity reaches 50% and higher, it’s not surprising that life expectancy would decrease. If people want to choose to live shorter and less healthy lives, is there anything we can really do?

What if that is the only choice they are being offered? When you go into a supermarket you are already being surrounded by awful food. The only good food there is the food you cook from scratch. It's like the food industry is "conspiring" against you. Obviously they are not, they just deliver crap quality to make more money.

Yes, education is definitely part of it. It’s possible to eat one meal a day (intermittent fasting), it’s a choice many aren’t educated about (hunger pain goes away after a few minutes, esp. if there is enough water intake).

Re: Is everything falling apart?

#776

Post by jaegerpicker » Fri, Apr 29, 2022, 9:55 PM UTC

alar44 wrote: post #765

jaegerpicker wrote: post #751

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because someone has to know how to grow the potato or raise the cow or plant the corn. Right now we (modern first world countries) export that to fragile processes far away. Generally at great cost, environmentally and to the people/countries we export form. See the Amazon rainforest, slave labor in China or Africa, or un-controlled overfishing.

You sure? I'm in the Midwest and absolutely surrounded by farms. Do you really think your beef, grains, and potatos don't come from the heartland? How in the world would that make sense?

Yes the US supplies the majority of it's food. I was talking about the first world countries in general. Second the monoculture farming system the US is using creates HUGE environmental costs, it's not just about import/export. Beef feed lots with thousands of cattle packed together, chicken and pork farm pollution, monoculture (corn and soy beans) destroying soil, pesticides polluting and killing river ecosystems, and up to 40% food waste. All products of the JIT food systems. The rest of the western countries (except Canada which is similar to the US) are mostly food importers generally from the Global south (with Russia and the Ukraine also supplying quite a lot). I grew up in the midwest in a family of farmers and my wife grew up on a working small cattle farm. There are MAJOR issues with the US system, generally it's not the import/export part though. That's more of an issue in European countries (the Netherlands seems to be the major exception here). Palm oil is also a major factor in rain forest de-forestation, which is a major import in many countries:

https://www.worldstopexports.com/palm-oil-imports-by-country...

In general a food system that is industrial in scale has terrible costs, just not usually economic costs.

Re: Is everything falling apart?

#777

Post by Clubber » Fri, Apr 29, 2022, 9:56 PM UTC

jaegerpicker wrote: post #737

throwawayboise wrote: post #601

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What was your in-laws annual income when they bought the $60,000 house? What would be the income of someone today, looking to buy the house for $800K?

Average income in 1960 (as an example year since it wasn't listed) $6000 or 10% of that house. Average income in 2021 $65,000, well short of the $80,000 to equal 10% of the house. Also, there has been a large increase in other expenses. Most households had a single earner, leaving another adult to generally raise children. That's much rarer today. Two car households, higher utility bills, etc... The evidence is prett…

$10K in 1971, so 1/6th of the house. I suspect the people in this example made well more than that because buying a home at 6x income is not very responsible. That kinda skews the results because if you buy a home in an already well off neighborhood, I suspect the chances of it increasing in value are much better because the neighborhood has already proven to be valuable.

https://www.census.gov/library/publications/1972/demo/p60-85...

The boom in housing prices is also a temporary anomaly. That's only half the reason young people can't afford them. The other half is NAFTA and globalization and trade agreements, etc. Those were all done by politicians for corporations. It's easy to blame Boomers because you read an article that did that very thing (it's common in news to stir cross generational resentment). It also lets the politicians off the hook. Remember that next time they say the presidential candidate of whatever party you prefer will actually help you. Unless you are a corporation, that's unlikely.

Re: Is everything falling apart?

#778

Post by mensetmanusman » Fri, Apr 29, 2022, 9:56 PM UTC

jhbadger wrote: post #733

mensetmanusman wrote: post #526

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s interesting, even if you don’t believe in a higher power, people that believe in God have far lower rates of depression and suicide, so if you try to optimize your life for happiness and mental robustness, it’s then logical to believe in a higher power. This is an interesting manifestation of the incompleteness theorem. :)

The happiest country in the world is Finland [1]. And two-thirds of them are atheists[2]. On the other hand, the most religious places in the world [3] are not on the happy list and most of them are desperately poor and miserable places. [1] https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/happiest-... [2] https://www.helsinkitimes.fi/finland/finland-news/domestic/2... [3] https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/most-r…

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/finland-is...

“ In one comparison made by the World Health Organization, the per capita prevalence of unipolar depressive disorders is highest in the world in the United States. Among Western countries, Finland is number two.”

Re: Is everything falling apart?

#779

Post by ars » Fri, Apr 29, 2022, 9:59 PM UTC

georgeecollins wrote: post #699

A4ET8a8uTh0 wrote: post #454

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not OP, but I can confirm old country made it super hard lately. On the other hand, IL DMV seems to give away DLs like they are candy. Anecdata only; if anyone has data, I will happily retract this statement.

>> IL DMV seems to give away DLs like they are candy. In the USA DLs are by far and away the most common form of identification. Many people don't have passports, just DLs.

You can get a non-drivers ID in the exact same place, in the same way, just without the driving test.

Re: Is everything falling apart?

#780

Post by giantg2 » Fri, Apr 29, 2022, 9:59 PM UTC

epolanski wrote: post #764

floren wrote: post #411

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Per Wikipedia, the US army defines an assault rifle as: "short, compact, selective-fire weapons that fire a cartridge intermediate in power between submachine gun and rifle cartridges." Selective-fire means it's not just semi-automatic (one shot per trigger pull), it can also be set to fully auto (shoots as long as you pull the trigger) or burst (shoots a few rounds when you hold the trigger, then stops). These are e…

I don't know much about weapons, I'm European and we don't have much of them, but regardless of the definitions a gun is meant to kill people it has no other uses other than hunting. I find it very effective how in US the discourse can be shifted to which tools to kill should be limited more or less, rather than considering if society wouldn't be better off without them. US police is violent, but how terrifying it ca…

"US police is violent, but how terrifying it can be when every car you pull for a routine control may contain a person who may shoot you?"

Arguably any car pulled over in any country has the potential for an occupant to shoot (or otherwise kill) you, even if guns are illegal and uncommon (as are murders). The likelihood just varies. In general, an officer should not be "terrified" of being shot on a routine stop. There are many technologies and procedures designed to minimize risk. Once you are no longer a rookie, the practice is routine. Being shot or shooting someone is fairly rare. I believe the lifetime chance of firing your weapon on duty was 2% or so, which is relatively low. Likewise, I remember non-violent fatalities were larger overall percentage (car accidents, drowning, suicide, illness, etc). Yet most officers are not terrified of covid nor car accidents. Situational context is a huge factor.

"I find it very effective how in US the discourse can be shifted to which tools to kill should be limited more or less, rather than considering if society wouldn't be better off without them."

Sporting purposes include target shooting in addition to hunting (see the Olympics, etc). The needs and ideals in one country are not necessarily the same as in other countries. It certainly does come up about repealing the second amendment and banning guns almost entirely. Some of the counter points are that much of the US is rural, where police response can take hours or even days (remote Alaska), and many of those residents require a firearm for various rural purposes, like protecting livestock from other animals.

On top of all that, it's a fairly large minority that owns guns. Many do not want to be burdened by additional regulations. It's similar to any other issue in a democracy - people vote for their own interests and benefits.