Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?

If you live in USA or western europe, real living standards have been decreasing for decades now. But thats probably not something youd particularly notice over 5 years.

We’re sliding into that post capitalist world that is depicted in so many “scifi” books. It’s apparent but everyone just seems to accept it. Things are going to be very bleak in 50-100 years with most people living in poverty with a tiny rich elite.

This could be true. I definitely am not in the cheapest part of town. And people sometimes get wide eyes when they hear how expensive my place is. But it's also certainly not the "fancy" part of town either.

I could probably find a place that's about 25% cheaper. and a "fancy" place would be about 2x.

I'll preface this by saying this is all anecdotal evidence based on my personal observations, so it may not apply to everyone.

I often feel the same way, especially with tech. For those of us that remember before the internet was ubiquitous, the optimism and promise of the "information super highway" seems in stark contrast with what we see today. I try to keep in mind a few things:

First, we are living in a time that will be regarded as one of the most consequential in history. We're only ~20 years of nearly every person in the planet having access to all human information, instantly. Think of what people will say about this time period in 200 years. We are currently feeling the effects of growing pains.

Second, everything that embodies that early optimism is still there, its just harder to find. Which is related to my next point:

We are seeing diminishing returns in the benefits of constant consumption of media, energy, food, etc. There is so much choice out there, and the margins are so thin, that you need to consume more to be "satisfied". I often reflect on how many more full TV series we have all seen compared to a few generations ago. Or how much text we all read daily in the form of news, tweets, and forums, compared to the daily paper. Are we better for it? I think a lot of people don't feel better.

So that leads to the optimistic conclusions of this post. Generally speaking, we have more choice than ever before in history, across the board. But we have the burden of the responsibility of moderation and curation.

I find that when I feel this way, I try to shift my "consumption" mental state to "construction". We live in an amazing time to make things and distribute them. And because there's so much noise to compete with, you have to do it friend to friend, neighbor to neighbor. Its a glimpse of how the best parts of the "new world" can provide the best parts of the "old world".

The supposed late stage of capitalism is something used to call contemporary state of affairs for some 100 years now.

Two more weeks until RoP goes to 0!

Trust the plan!