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Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?

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Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?

#701

Post by berniedurfee »

It sure seems like it, but I think things are getting progressively better.

Look back at any time in history and unless you were pretty darn lucky, you had a short and miserable life compared to today’s standards.

I think the perception of the decline on civilization is just being amplified like never before.

Scary things grab our attention and we now have a major portion of the world’s economy built on capturing and keeping people’s attention.

Vying for consumer attention is not new, it’s just technology has allowed us to scale it up to crippling proportions.

I think people are generally better to each other today, in most places and in most ways. I think we’ll save our environment well before it’s too late. I think humans will be just fine.

Though, I also think, as today and as 100 years ago, 100 years from now will sometimes feel like the worst time ever to be a human.

Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?

#702

Post by Dalewyn »

mdanger007 wrote: post #543
Dalewyn wrote: post #412

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Try turning off the news, avoiding social media sites (Reddit, Twitter, HN, anywhere people share bad stories), 300% this. I heard on several occasions long ago how newspapers aren't worth reading and news programs aren't worth watching. At the time I didn't understand why and thought it was bad advice, young and naive greenhorn that I was: The news is there to inform us! Being informed is a good thing! Now that I'm…

What is "the news"? I'm also in my 3rd decade, and wisdom tells me there is much to gain from good news sources: NPR (there are others) teaches me something every day: People outside my socio-economic bubble their triumphs, their struggles. Do you ever think how the divisions in this country are not because of divisive news, but the lack of learning about and empathizing with people different than us?

>Do you ever think how the divisions in this country are not because of divisive news, but the lack of learning about and empathizing with people different than us?

No, the divisive problems we face today stem in vast majority from the media publishing divisive narratives to keep us sensationalized and distracted from greater things.

The world appears divisive because the media wants us to believe the world is divisive.

Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?

#704

Post by mancerayder »

The police enforcement should be viewed as a pendulum swing: in the US at least you can see periods of heavy enforcement, political upheaval, periods of laxity, increased crime and misery, right-wing backlash, enforcement, backlash against that and progressive movements, periods of laxity... and that's where we are today in the pendulum swing.

The pluses are we're treating new and more diseases, exploring technologies that cure the previously incurable, and making progress in areas like energy efficiency.

There are all sorts of downsides and challenges, like alienation due to online personas and the diminishment of the value of in-person interaction; people who believe the online is reality and are forever seeing evil in everyone (the -cisms, the harassment, all those things the online connected world facilitates).

Those too will lead to some sort of correction.

It's a difficult time for sure but it's also a time for adaption. What other choice is there?

Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?

#705

Post by acyou »

MonkeyMalarky wrote: post #370
acyou wrote: post #310

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Clean drinking water in cities isn't the default state of affairs. We're all used to it, but we would do well to remember the open sewers and water carrying from wells and drinking from lakes, streams and rivers that have prevailed in human history. Formerly, we wouldn't live in a desert if there wasn't any water. So we drilled deeper wells where the heavy metals are. We also put a lot of heavy metals into watersheds…

A: It feels like society is declining, am I alone in seeing it? Tons of replies: No, we see it too in X, Y, Z ways as well. B: C: The decline isn't real, people abdicating their responsibilities totally isn't a problem, life has always been shite so quit complaining Sorry, that's just what I see when you reply with: >Clean drinking water in cities isn't the default state of affairs Honestly, I'd say you are gaslighti…

Depends on your definition of regression and forward progress. Water in cities isn't basic, it's a difficult problem to solve. It can be so easy to point the finger and say people are abdicating their responsibilities, while offering zero solutions.

If you define exponential population growth as forward progress, for instance. Or the status quo of watershed draw and depletion as "forward progress". It has worked well for decades and isn't working anymore. Just because the aquifers are running low does not mean anyone is particularly to blame, or that we have "regressed".

Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?

#706

Post by ambyra »

zeroonetwothree wrote: post #319
ambyra wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US population in 1972 was 209b, now 333b. I remember learning about the black plague in middle school. There were many fewer people after the plague. The survivors could command much higher wages, and had more freedoms than before. Crowded environments make for pressures that are unpleasant for everyone. I think moving to a less crowded location where your individual contribution in society is more valued could b…

Life always seems better on vacation. It's not really a fair comparison. I'm sure people from Thailand vacationing in CA also feel like it's better.

This is true 100%. Also, as a foreigner it is easy to see what people here have, or take for granted that we are missing in the United States.

Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?

#707

Post by mancerayder »

cedws wrote: post #308
zeroonetwothree wrote: post #274

I don't know your age but I'm going to guess 30+. This is just happens when you get old. When you were younger you probably noticed that all the older people you knew pined for some earlier time (say the 1970s or 1950s). And you probably thought they were being silly. Well, now you've become one of those people. The fact is the world always seems better when you are younger, not because the world necessarily better,…

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?

I felt like that when I was 21 as well! I had very strong political beliefs as a reaction to these, with an angry desire for change. That's entirely common at that age.

The nihilism seems more pronounced in the 20somethings of today, but when I was that age music also reflected that same nihilism, so who knows if it's worse now experientially.

Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?

#708

Post by mancerayder »

Dalewyn wrote: post #412
PragmaticPulp wrote: post #362

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Try turning off the news, avoiding social media sites (Reddit, Twitter, HN, anywhere people share bad stories), and getting more in person interaction. You don’t need to be invested in the finer details of global politics or stories of violence hundreds of miles a way. Disconnect and recharge. Reconnect with people around you and enjoy the world as it exists, not for some representation of all the terrible things on…

>Try turning off the news, avoiding social media sites (Reddit, Twitter, HN, anywhere people share bad stories), 300% this. I heard on several occasions long ago how newspapers aren't worth reading and news programs aren't worth watching. At the time I didn't understand why and thought it was bad advice, young and naive greenhorn that I was: The news is there to inform us! Being informed is a good thing! Now that I'm…

You need something to read on the train, or at the bar. It's hard to go through a Kindle book on probability on your phone when you're just hanging out someplace, it's easier to scroll mindlessly through comments. This is what I'm demonstrating right now at a bar at 11. It doesn't obviate social interactions, but sometimes there's downtime.

Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?

#709

Post by maerF0x0 »

treis wrote: post #444
bmitc wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have some data that says this is off base besides some general Wikipedia concept? The OP reported direct observations.

>Seems like everything is subscription model and you have to pay N times to access something thats only worth 1-3x . Eg: I Netflix for a couple hours a month. At the price for 4k access I can almost go out to a theatre. Video games are all trending to subscription models. I just learned the other day that the PS4 games I got with my subcription to PSN all are locked because I stopped subscribing (nearly 50 games) . S…

Interesting points. I do remember FF3 selling for nearly $100 Canadian.

I guess I feel shafted paying $5 a month to get b list games for only so long as I keep paying $5 a month in perpetuity. The eventual sum of this is approaching infinity or something like 1500-2000 for my remaining life expectancy.

Versus on steam you can sometimes buy great games for $10-20, albeit your betting steam will exist in the future to distribute the game to you.

Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?

#710

Post by maerF0x0 »

syzarian wrote: post #679
Gigachad wrote: post #577

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pick an actual measure and look at real data vs vague feelings. Or like they pointed out, at least compare feelings recorded at the time vs current feelings vs memories of past feelings.

And how does that help the feeling the poster has now? Of course in hindsight it will be known if things are as bad as the poster thinks. Why state the obvious that in the future it will be known if this present time was as bad as some thought? And the question I asked remains unanswered: How does noud know that rosy retrospection is what the poster is experiencing?

I actually read a religious based book on anxiety once that said (secularized) "look at all the hard situations you've gone through and how you felt about them vs how you actually fared. Perhaps you could temper your current mood about the present in light of the difference between how things felt vs how they turned out."

It's not absolutely most rational point, survivor bias and all, but it does have a point about not being excessively negative/anxious.

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