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Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?

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Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?

#121

Post by ok_dad »

keiferski wrote: post #104
Zircom wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>being a grown-ass adult in pajamas out in public I'm with you about all the other things but people wearing whatever clothes they want to affects you in literally no way shape or form.

A society is made up of people. The way people act, dress, talk, or do anything else has a pretty direct impact on other people in that society. Unless your definition of society is an extremely disconnected one, comprised of alienated individuals that have no interaction with each other, yes, it does affect other people.

It only affects people who care about what other people wear, and those people shouldn’t have any sort of societal influence because that’s stupid. Name literally one reason that wearing pajamas in public will cause another person actual harm and I’ll take back this statement.

Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?

#122

Post by ricardobayes »

csense wrote: post #30

30-50 years ago, with a single salary you could support a house with a yard, a non-working spouse, multiple kids, and a car. Our society knew how to make that happen once, and we've forgotten. We've had incredible advances in technology and productivity since then, so why can't we have that kind of economic environment now? What's gumming up the works?

Largely, overly aggressive (shareholder) profit maximalization. Productivity shot up but wages didn't follow. The only two countries I know that have a working work-life balance are France and Spain. The French are raising their voices and protesting for every little thing and it works. 6 weeks of holiday per year and 62 years of retirement age. Still, a middle class person can afford to drive a new car and many families have 2-3 properties just from their work income.

Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?

#123

Post by jMyles »

wincy wrote: post #99
Zircom wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>being a grown-ass adult in pajamas out in public I'm with you about all the other things but people wearing whatever clothes they want to affects you in literally no way shape or form.

[flagged]

> billions of years of sexual selection

> fertile attractive woman wearing the shortest shorts possible

...so she's wearing more clothing than she did for 99% of the time period in question - that's the observation you're making, right?

Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?

#124

Post by nyolfen »

frontman1988 wrote: post #41
csense wrote: post #30

30-50 years ago, with a single salary you could support a house with a yard, a non-working spouse, multiple kids, and a car. Our society knew how to make that happen once, and we've forgotten. We've had incredible advances in technology and productivity since then, so why can't we have that kind of economic environment now? What's gumming up the works?

One reason is changing geopolitics. USA is not the sole superpower that it was in the 60s. Other countries are also doing a lot better now. A lot of the jobs in manufacturing have been outsourced to China, in service industry to India. This has led to shift of wealth from US to these countries. The days of American exceptionalism are probably ending. It's only going to get tougher from here.

easy to blame this, but all productivity gains in the US for 40 years have gone to the top; the reason is that our labor market has been undercut by immigration (legitimate and illegitimate) and globalized supply chains. workers do not have the ability to extract higher wages because of a concerted international project to make the labor market as liquid as possible and arbitrage populations with lower standards of living against them. this has been a huge boon to the owners and financiers of industry (and parts of the developing world) at the expense of normal americans. this is the trade our masters have made on our behalf, beginning as a solution to the economic crisis of the 1970s, and as a dead woman once said, "there is no alternative".

Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?

#125

Post by hallway_monitor »

jmoak3 wrote: post #98
jmoak3 wrote: post #44

I think we're on the verge/in the middle of a stagnating/shrinking pie. When we're not growing in population and wealth things get dark as people chase zero-sum short term gains at the expense of others. Distrust runs rampant, people turn to the extraction of their peers vs expansion with their new friends. It will get better. Edit: Think bigger than the extractors!

To add to this - the car guy might think he has something to prove by blaring his engine at 7am: "I'm going to show them all" or something. An alternative thought is "I'm not going to do that because I don't want to upset potential friends/future relationships that will benefit me" Likewise, it sounds like you're upset at all of these people and would like to just be left alone An alternative thought is "Look at all…

This is the correct response, whether or not things are objectively getting worse (I tend to agree with OP). The problem is this seems difficult; in reality, it's as simple as looking for ways to be kind to people or improve your community. Pick up a piece of trash, smile, wave, say good morning to people. Help someone who's dropped their things pick them up. Personally whenever interacting with anyone I try to make their day a little brighter. It can seem like this type of thing doesn't make a difference, but it's contagious. Someone seeing a person be kind to a stranger will be more likely to emulate that in the future. We can change the world one person at a time.

Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?

#126

Post by andrewclunn »

I believe the narrative that tells me everything is good and I shouldn't complain, and also that I should get really upset at things that the screen tells me to. I am an individual who expresses my individuality by conforming to all the trends and the world owes ME happiness! Your whole post seems negative and like you're denying all the progress we're making in allowing people to live their own truth within the confines of the neoliberal global order's approved options. Please report / ban for hate speech. Only positive vibes please!

Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?

#127

Post by victorNicollet »

As for the declining quality of products and services, we are leaving a decade where start-ups were burning VC money to provide a service that was both superior and cheaper, in order to starve their competitors. Now that the competitors are dead, prices/monetization will increase and quality will drop in many areas.

This will hit twice as hard if you were an early adopter, because you also stop being the target audience for most of these products.

And on a smaller scale (restaurants, corner shops, small businesses), the default state of being for most companies has always been to slowly decay over long periods of time. The brand new business that earned your loyalty a decade ago may be worse today, but there's certainly another new business today that you can be impressed with. You just need to find it.

Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?

#128

Post by johnny_canuck »

JacksonGariety wrote: post #45
PessimalDecimal wrote: post #25

> People are noisy as fuck and dont seem to give a shit. Seems like every night there's someone with loud as exhaust on "sportish" car ripping around the neihborhood. For months this guy would start up his loud car at 7am and no one care when I complained. > Police seem to not give a shit anymore. I've noticed what seems to be total lawlessness going on in my world. Folks stealing shit. People driving absurdly danger…

This is the problem generally known as liberalism. Hobbes said the foundation of the state was the arbitrary Will of the individuals in the state. Modern states are thus founded on caprice. The solution is as JFK said: “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.”

I'm curious if you have any recommended reading on the criticism of liberalism?

Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?

#130

Post by fallingknife »

csense wrote: post #30

30-50 years ago, with a single salary you could support a house with a yard, a non-working spouse, multiple kids, and a car. Our society knew how to make that happen once, and we've forgotten. We've had incredible advances in technology and productivity since then, so why can't we have that kind of economic environment now? What's gumming up the works?

We refuse to build houses at the rate the population is growing and doubled the labor force by adding women. Simple laws of supply and demand explain it.
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