Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?

underlying all these problems is the quite simple kernel: we lost our religion. you see, religion long served as the reference point for morality. you had to be a good person in this life lest you spend eternity in punishment and torture. many weak nations throughout history have endured terrible rulers (and often converted them) by their staunch adherence to their religion. the roman empire becoming christian is one such example.

unfortunately, religion reached beyond its domain (of the metaphysical) and attempted to explain all human knowledge in terms of revelation and the so-called holy books. thus, when a new method of discovering new knowledge via observation began its triumphant march towards explaining and predicting natural phenomena, religion was found wanting. it suffered the double blow of losing authority in the physical realm as well as the metaphysical. and since then, imo, we have struggled to stand morality, and more importantly, your responsibility to be a good person, on any firm grounds. biology (and evolution), which likens us to animals, seems to throw a wrench in any effort: we’re animals anyways, we’re within our nature to be animalistic.

at present, we live without universal morality. we have substituted what it means to enjoy your life with another measure that renders it a given that the person living in the future most definitely lived better than who lived a millennia or two away. below, that’s the sort of counter-arguments/counter-observations you see. it’s unfortunate. we’re living in a mess. adults are twerking on innocent kids again (after an intermission than banned child sex, child marriage, betrothals, polygamy, &c). the reversal to banality is markedly celebrated as freedom and progress. but is it really?

so someone will point you to the article that demonstrates scientific progress. don’t let them dissuade you. what you’re concerned about is moral depravity. essentially how onlyfans isn’t despicable but celebrated. from here, at our current velocity and acceleration, it only gets worse. brace yourself.

There already is a direct conflict. Wake up and get your head out of the sand.

I will address only one of your complaints:

>General worker apathy is endemic ... the gym is filthy, the cleaner just drags the mop around looking busy but accomplishing nothing. But in many instances they keep asking for more tips.

I have held many jobs in my life. I learned to clean the kitchen and cook as a child and later to sweep, mop, rake, etc. once I was big enough to do so effectively. I learned to take orders and to work with others on a task.

Every time I see "the cleaner just drag[s] the mop around looking busy but accomplishing nothing" I offer to show them how to mop. They always allow me to do so! [I can hear the Tom Sawyer jokes now!] The root problem is that they don't know how to mop!

I explain that I once did lots of sweeping, mopping(grocery stores et al), cleaning and that there is a method to all of it. I take them through the procedure:

- wetting/drying the mop,

- when to change the water/soap,

- drying(squeeze) the mop,

- patterns to use in mopping, etc.

In all of that I emphasize safety for themselves and warn of accidents I've seen/caused while mopping.

Employees really don't know this. I know it only b/c I was explicitly taught (in pieces over my earlier life) or experienced it.

The root problem is that some facilities have no one who knows how to do basic tasks such as cleaning. It is assumed that such knowledge is acquired by magical cognitive osmosis in the past. Often an employee is shown a mess, a mop bucket (complete with dirty water from the last use) and told to "clean it up!".

It helps to be humble: I'm not the boss, I'm not ordering them to follow a procedure and I'm not correcting them. I show and tell them what I once did and how I was taught and that I was once "in their shoes" and did the same task. I am no better a person than they are and it is always a worthwhile and good thing to work safely, to do a good job and that their work is valued.

FWIW mopping accidents are wildly varied from slippages and falls to mixing the wrong mopping ingredients [entire store cleared out due to HCL acid gas - don't mix cleaning fluids]:

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=mixing+wrong+cleaning+fluids&t=ope...