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Ordinary Abundance

ordinaryabundance.com

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Re: Ordinary Abundance

#41

Post by smallmancontrov »

xg15 wrote: post #16
greytape wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is called: "going camping".

Or "living in an apartment with affordable rent"...

> affordable

That's the crux, isn't it? You aren't just dependent, you are dependent on a system that relentlessly stalks you with increased demands. You are tasked with keeping ahead of a pack of hunters who want to take you down -- and not only will your companions leave you for dead the moment that happens, the group will punish any suggestion that we might want to do something about this on a systemic level because they strive to join the hunters themselves.

It's grim and people are correct to behave like it's grim.

Re: Ordinary Abundance

#42

Post by xg15 »

smallmancontrov wrote: post #41
xg15 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or "living in an apartment with affordable rent"...

> affordable That's the crux, isn't it? You aren't just dependent, you are dependent on a system that relentlessly stalks you with increased demands. You are tasked with keeping ahead of a pack of hunters who want to take you down -- and not only will your companions leave you for dead the moment that happens, the group will punish any suggestion that we might want to do something about this on a systemic level becau…

I think you need better companions.

Re: Ordinary Abundance

#43

Post by smallmancontrov »

xg15 wrote: post #42
smallmancontrov wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> affordable That's the crux, isn't it? You aren't just dependent, you are dependent on a system that relentlessly stalks you with increased demands. You are tasked with keeping ahead of a pack of hunters who want to take you down -- and not only will your companions leave you for dead the moment that happens, the group will punish any suggestion that we might want to do something about this on a systemic level becau…

I think you need better companions.

The electorate is what it is, but yes, I hope we can change the currently prevailing attitude.

Re: Ordinary Abundance

#44

Post by goda90 »

incorporeal wrote: post #6

I think about this stuff a lot. It's crazy how I, like, water plants with clean water that's literally on tap. Warm showers on-demand are a daily miracle. Immediate illumination for why people don't quite feel like royalty despite all this would be achieved by replacing the aesthetic of this presentation with mis-matched uncomfortable and ugly furniture picked up off the side of the road, in a cheap split-level or ra…

If we could somehow start getting the upper-middle class and the upper class, and the upper-upper class to appreciate the ordinary abundance, it might cure them of the greed that drives wealth extraction at the detriment of those in lower classes. Like if everyone in the healthcare industry, from clinician to supplier to R&D to administrators, were satisfied with an ordinarily abundant life, then those medical bills wouldn't be so high in the first place. We're technologically capable of giving every human this ordinary comfort, security against crisis, and 30 hour work weeks.

Re: Ordinary Abundance

#45

Post by throwaway_7274 »

techblueberry wrote: post #21
carlgreene wrote: post #2

Hedonic adaptation really is something. I have been deeply trying to appreciate these modern marvels more and more, but it's hard. A hot shower, air almost 50 degrees cooler than the outside air coming out of my vents, communicating instantly thousands of miles away, it's all so easy to just forget and take for granted

I feel like in discussions about nostalgia, there can be this default presentish reaction which talks about all of the things that are better But in the hedonic adaptation sense like - and comparisons are complicated - people aren’t by and large happier now (because of the hedonism this is sidestepping the argument of how well distributed it is, and I’m talking the past 50-100 years not compared to subsistence farmin…

Maybe happiness is a different kind of thing from the pleasure/pain axis. Maybe it’s a different thing that’s tragically easy to mistake for the same thing.

I notice a lot of resistance and discomfort whenever someone says anything like this (“are you suggesting my pain doesn’t matter? How about the starving kids in xyz?”), and I get that. But it feels like there might be something to it.

Re: Ordinary Abundance

#46

Post by palmotea »

croisillon wrote: post #27

the future is a nice place to be, if our bikes still had pedals we couldn't hang them at the wall after commuting

> the future is a nice place to be, if our bikes still had pedals we couldn't hang them at the wall after commuting

It's not hanging, it's levitating. And modern phase-shift technology lets its handlebars sit comfortably inside the wall while still being outside of it.

Ordinary abundance.

----

I used to love pictures like that when I was a kid, someone put effort and care into every inch, so you could explore and find little treasures. Now when I see one, the thing's flimsy and falls apart on inspection.

Re: Ordinary Abundance

#47

Post by MarkusQ »

Avicebron wrote: post #14
MarkusQ wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "...doom-scrolling..." This may be the load-bearing point of your lament.

Are you somehow blaming the parents in the commenters hypothetical?

Not blaming, exactly.

But if the question is "why people don't quite feel like royalty despite all this" it's pretty obvious that "doom scrolling" might be a large part of the answer.

Re: Ordinary Abundance

#48

Post by toast0 »

abroadwin wrote: post #4
xnx wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We need a Netflix Chaos Monkey tool for modern life. Each week one modern convenience stops working for a day: indoor plumbing, air conditioning, electricity, wifi, automobile, air travel etc. after one day without, you will again appreciate those things for the next few years

Can confirm. As someone living on well water in an area with semi-frequent power outages in winter I have periodically been given renewed appreciation for the value of power, central heat and running water. Now I have a great standby generator, though, so I'm sure I'll start taking it all for granted again soon.

> As someone living on well water in an area with semi-frequent power outages in winter

After a few of these outages and typically two to three nines of utility power availability, I got a portable generator for my well (we have an automatic generator for the house, but the well is on a separate meter); but we've also had a well pump fail. That was "fun", I think the well company came out the next day to troubleshoot, and then the 3rd day to replace the pump, which took pretty much all day because of the depth of the well. At least it happened during good weather.

Re: Ordinary Abundance

#49

Post by palmotea »

Is this a variation of the old "don't fucking complain about the status quo, you have a telescreen, not even the kings of old had a telescreen watching them! How dare you question the titans of industry, whose minion's diligent effort has provided you a telescreen at an affordable price!"?

Re: Ordinary Abundance

#50

Post by Avicebron »

arjie wrote: post #17
GPerson wrote: post #13

I can’t imagine ever affording such a nice apartment.

In the US, it's pretty easy. My wife used to live in the Tenderloin for $2400/mo and her place was nicer than this because she was good at putting things together. I don't happen to have a photo of the whole studio handy, but here's the view from the window: https://wiki.roshangeorge.dev/w/images/b/b7/Photo_-_San_Fran...

Pray tell how much she was making at the time to be able to afford 2400/month in rent?
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