I was at a walgreens in SF yesterday for ~30 minutes and witnessed 3 separate incidents of homeless people stealing as much as they could carry without consequence. I don’t see how this microcosm depicts a sustainable society.
Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?
491–500 of 835 posts
Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?
#492I think you're way off base. It's called rosy retrospection, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosy_retrospection . As you already mentioned in your comments, you're judging the past disproportionately more positive that the present. If you really want to know if everything is declining, try measure it everyday for the next five years. For example, every day, rate your personal well being, track how (un)happy you are wit…
There are obvious examples in history where it really is getting worse and then things get better. How do you know that Rosy Retrospection applies in this case?
Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?
#493You are suffering from perception bias.
Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?
#494Its difficult to have an objective view about this. For starters we must at least define what timescales we are talking about and which region or social-economic system.
Talking about the so-called western world and a generational experience in my mind there is no doubt there is a huge mismatch of people's expectations versus their creaking and failing reality that is what creates this sense of falling apart.
What is falling apart is a tower of falsehoods. Very fundamental ones: About where the energy and the food is coming from. About where cheap stuff is manufactured. The inability of consumption and money to fill in destroyed social bonds. About the fitness of corporate structures and regulation. Political corruption and skyrocketing hypocricy and deceit.
So its in reality a mental / moral decline and it is entirely self-inflicted. Objectively none of that should be happening.
What is fascinating is that the mechanisms to reverse that dynamic are not readily available. Religions and political revolutions are discredited so we are left seething with nowhere to go.
Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?
#495I think you're way off base. It's called rosy retrospection, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosy_retrospection . As you already mentioned in your comments, you're judging the past disproportionately more positive that the present. If you really want to know if everything is declining, try measure it everyday for the next five years. For example, every day, rate your personal well being, track how (un)happy you are wit…
I’m always a little stunned when this (and many sibling comments) is almost always the first response to something like this. It’s probably generally true, and an appropriate response to the most dire decline narratives or things easily disproven by stats . . . But like also: really? None of this resonates with you on a personal level? If yes are you that distrustful of your own anecdata? If no: I hypothesize that yo…
>If yes are you that distrustful of your own anecdata?
Hackernews is approaching the topic in a very characteristic way but depression is an important phenomenon that manifests to the individual as, among other things, worsening negative appraisals of everything. So do the consequences of poor fiscal and monetary policy. Funny how we use the same word for both.
Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?
#496> Anyone else have other examples? Elected president who is so crass and generally offensive he wouldn't have gotten close to being elected 50 years ago. Elected president who is showing clear signs of age related cognitive decline (so they say) but continues to occupy the office. Elected presidents with criminal behaviour that is far worse than what previous presidents were impeached or resigned for. Mental illness,…
Yeah the stock trading in congress is another one for your list. I sometimes feel like America is the most corrupt country I've ever encountered. it's not overt like "Pay me $50 and you can avoid a ticket" but it's pernicious and wide spread. - Law makers trade on what they're going to vote prior to voting it - charging people a different price for the exact same procedure, at the same location, under the same market…
If you think corruption is actually worse now than it has ever been, as opposed to better but more visible to the general public… I have a nice bridge to sell you.
Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?
#497I think you're way off base. It's called rosy retrospection, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosy_retrospection . As you already mentioned in your comments, you're judging the past disproportionately more positive that the present. If you really want to know if everything is declining, try measure it everyday for the next five years. For example, every day, rate your personal well being, track how (un)happy you are wit…
Counter-example: A significant subset of people on HN agree that Google search is deteriorating.
Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?
#498Don't forget that lifetime expectancy has declined in the US for the 2nd year in a row and that real income has shrunk in the face of inflation.
Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?
#499The quality of some products is getting worse for sure because companies are enlarging their margins by saving as much as they can to reduce their costs with obvious repercussions on the quality. It is also part of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_obsolescence Refrigerators used to last forever. I still have a 1993 refrigerator that is still working well. In the meanwhile with all brands except maybe for Subzero…
The appliance manufacturers blame energy-efficiency regulation for the massive drop-off in longevity. For myself, I'm 100% sure that they just saw an opportunity to cut quality and serviceability to nothing and blame regulations. It was sickening when I delivered appliances. So many stories about how they replaced their 20-year-old fridge 4 years ago and now they're replacing the replacement. There are no good option…
This is sort of what I worry about with the economy I’m a nutshell: everyone’s so worried they won’t get theirs so they cut corners and deflect when called on it.
Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?
#500Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm 21 and I think everything's going to shit as well... is it doomerism or reality? Politicians appear increasingly corrupt and selfish. Geopolitics are becoming less stable. Innovation is coming to a standstill. The average person just wants a decent job, a nice place to live, and maybe a family. All of these are becoming more and more difficult to achieve. Is it any wonder kids are checking out of life en masse?
Those are a bunch of statements that angry people with agree with, but you haven't presented any evidence for your claims, and I think they're mostly backward. We're in the longest period of peace in thousands of years. Check out this cool graphic that puts in perspective: http://www.fallen.io/ww2/ People are mad about politics, but I don't think it's any worse than the cold-war, kennedy assassination, mcarthyism, be…
Could you elaborate on the 'longest period of peace'? I've read that before but where is the peace? How many wars are going on right now? I live in Europe, your references sound like you're from the states. There is a war in EU right now. USA has troops in many countries, news of them bombing shit weekly. Other parts of the world are not much better (wars in Africa, South America, different parts of Asia, genocides happening right now).
So what is this peace? Does it just mean we don't have world superpowers going at each other with full force?