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Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?

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Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?

#661

Post by jahewson »

laidoffamazon wrote: post #359
jimbob45 wrote: post #268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.statesmanjournal.com/story/news/local/2022/06/30... Salem, OR straight up won’t respond to any noise complaints anymore, citing low officer count. Seems like the negative effects from the 2020 BLM riots are starting to show.

I think we should hire a lot more cops than we currently have but this > The goal, Womack said, is to not send a patrol officer immediately out to every noise complaint and civil dispute. Those issues can be handled by the civil court system or by non-sworn employees, freeing patrol officers to promptly respond to emergencies or focus on building trust in the community. Doesn't seem like a huge deal. I'd rather cops…

It’s not victimless. Frequent exposure to environmental noise can cause stress, anxiety, depression, high blood pressure, heart disease, and mental health issues.

Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?

#663

Post by mensetmanusman »

scoofy wrote: post #311
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…

I mean I think the existence of new tech makes it harder to enforce. In the 80's there was an issue with noise on the subway when boomboxes became popular, but they were heavy and expensive to operate. With smartphones and bluetooth speakers, literally anyone on the subway can annoy the rest of the train car with minimal effort. In fact, it takes a bit more effort now (remember headphones, or mute phone), to actually…

“ I honestly subscribe to the maxim that humanity doesn't really change.”

This maxim is probably wrong, since humanity and said human behavior is a function of the environment which is objectively changing.

Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?

#664

Post by akustik »

meheleventyone wrote: post #452
jlawson wrote: post #375

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's an absolutely massive space for freedom of expression within the bounds of "not looking like shit". Nobody needs to look (or smell) like garbage to 'express' themselves.

Don’t they? Seems like an unfounded statement. Just because it’s distasteful to you it’s not valid?

There you go, you got it.

Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?

#665

Post by ok_dad »

eldritch_4ier wrote: post #237
ok_dad wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Would you dress that way to meet your partner's parents for the first time? Or to see a friend you haven't seen in years? Or to represent your company at an event? What about going somewhere where you are expected to be a role model? Of course not. That's because you give a shit about the impression you give in those situations and understand the kind of atmosphere and impression it gives if you dress like a bum. Now…

I sleep naked, so I doubt I would go out naked. I do wear Hawaiian aloha shirts to business meetings, even on the mainland, because I don’t care about conforming to the mainland ideal of business attire. I’ve definitely been treated differently just for aloha shirts, so I basically think you guys will complain about anything not “normal”.

Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?

#666

Post by EGreg »

Well, I can tell you from my own experience… greater productivity means everyone is overworked. And better technology could benefit everyone if it was open source, but instead it helps only thoss who have amassed a lot of economic and political capital (large corporations and governments). When it comes to Web2 and Web3, it seems to have been completely captured by grift and profit motive, and has no good open source applications for communities! The public just has no tools to serve themselves. And because of this, the governments and corporations will soon force everyone to use digital ID and central coin to do anything. This isn’t hyperbole — check the links in the description of this video: https://youtu.be/uwRSzNTp2ko

People often hate Big Tech and Big Government overreach and surveillance capitalism and war and … but there is no viable alternative.

Since 2011 I have been writing, with my own dev team, at my own expense, an open source platform so communities worldwide can have an alternative to Big Tech. We reached 11 million users in over 100 countries and translated to 15 languages.

But most VCs and investors don’t understand it and say we are doing too much. You can use it here: https://github.com/Qbix/Platform

Then in 2018 I launched a spinoff company to create Web3 smart contracts for communities to govern themselves, manage their own currencies and generally run software they don’t have to trust any central parties.

But here on HN many people knee-jerk hate and downvote it because it’s Web3 and blockchain based. You can grab them and use them for free: https://intercoin.org/applications

So I don’t know… to build these things for the good of the world takes a lot. It took me 10 years and $1 million dollars so far, and my team probably several man-decades put together. And we give it all away. But what I have noticed is that people don’t really get why something is important until they start to use it in their life.

Also we started two youtube channels where I interview people including regulators and sociopolitical thinkers and tech people. This Thursday I have Noam Chomsky and David Harvey on a panel, for instance:

https://youtube.com/IntercoinOrg

https://youtube.com/QbixPlatform

If I needed people’s appreciation or VC investment I would have given up long ago.

Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?

#667

Post by tharne »

spaceman_2020 wrote: post #43

I really believe that this is what happens when you go so long without a substantial recession coupled with an easy money regime. There's apathy because no one has been scared in a long time. Landlords haven't been scared of not finding renters and not being able to pay their mortgages. Workers haven't been really scared of not finding jobs. Businesses have not really been scared of not being able to raise money. Awf…

> when you go so long without a substantial recession

2008 was 15 years ago. It caused a lot of pain and human misery, just not among the social classes that typically comment on hacker news.

Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?

#668

Post by jahewson »

ShamelessC wrote: post #230
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…

There's zero need to be judgemental about people's choice of clothing. Also, I don't think you understand what antisocial typically means, And there's no need to be judgemental about that either. This is actually part of the problem - making shallow jabs on the internet to feel superior is avoidant compared to an actual confrontation; where you have no choice but to reflect on how your views may not apply to all situ…

Kind of ironic that you’re trying to shame him for being judgemental. Username checks out.

Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?

#669

Post by ok_dad »

LAC-Tech wrote: post #600
simonh wrote: post #403

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s the thing, I do care. I care that people should have freedom of self expression. My daughters are 18 and 19. Some day soon I’ll be the parent their boyfriends will come home to meet. I hope they feel they have the freedom to wear what they’re comfortable in and that represents their genuine identity. So yes of course context matters, we are social beings, but expectations of what is acceptable changes. I’ve se…

Some day soon I’ll be the parent their boyfriends will come home to meet. I hope they feel they have the freedom to wear what they’re comfortable in and that represents their genuine identity. Really? My hope is that I don't raise my daughter so poorly she ends up with a slob who wears pyjama in public.

I hope my son finds love and kindness with literally anyone he loves and enjoys, but that’s just me. Maybe other people don’t want their kids to be happy?

Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?

#670

Post by ok_dad »

keiferski wrote: post #227
ok_dad wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

There are a lot of things that don’t cause “actual harm” (which is itself a very narrow and short-sighted metric to exclusively focus on) but are probably important to worry about. Clearly people care about “cultural things” even if you personally don’t care.

Like what? Name one thing that causes no physical or emotional harm to anyone but we should still care to ban it. If you can make three, I’ll (figuratively) eat my shoe.
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