Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?

#481

Post by kansface » Sat, Jan 28, 2023, 9:48 PM UTC

cedws wrote: post #382

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…

I have a problem with reading too much news, you're right. However, switching it off doesn't lessen the impact on daily life. Fuel doesn't become cheaper because I stopped reading the BBC News reports about the Russo-Ukrainian war. I don't pay less tax because I chose not to read about the government increasing VAT.

It does, actually. It’s the difference between struggling and being preoccupied with struggle. Anxiety doesn’t make fuel cheaper, end war, or racism; anxiety is not a virtue.

Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?

#482

Post by mxkopy » Sat, Jan 28, 2023, 9:48 PM UTC

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 22 and I'm worried about high interest rates and how the cost of food has doubled. Getting a house is out of the question right now because I want a stable job rather than starting a business. Mind you I have more prospects than most; I'm at a top XX school's CS program.

In high school I worked at a car wash and I met people who'd worked there for twenty odd years. Well not 'there' as they usually bounced from place to place, but at other car washes, fast food, what have you. These people have no clue about starting businesses, arbitrage trading, SaaS whatever.

So if I'm thinking to myself that the future is kind of shaky, I might have to wait for a new house, then hundreds of people are thinking the future is kind of shaky, I might have to skip dinner for a couple days.

Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?

#483

Post by Slighted » Sat, Jan 28, 2023, 9:48 PM UTC

Based on your post, it seems as though things in _your_ particular area are declining. If you live in San Francisco or New York, well, those places are the stinky rotten armpits of the United States (assuming you live here, of course). Police officers by and large aren't a problem. Hundreds of thousands of police interactions occur on a daily basis that go just fine. Police stories are almost always the case of an individual shithead that would've been horrible regardless of their job, and more uncommonly local systemic problems, such as the police department and/or the justice system. The media loves its drama, too.

Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?

#484

Post by isleyaardvark » Sat, Jan 28, 2023, 9:49 PM UTC

mile3island wrote: post #322

troad wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A lot of this is related to inequality, value of labour detaching from wealth, and the increasing unaffordability of life. Inequality is declining by every measurable metric in the United States. Edit: To answer the folk naysaying with their ten second Google searches, the income inequality rate has declined between 2007 and 2019(1), helped by a strong wage recovery in the late 2010s. The share of wealth held by th…

Nah. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/SIPOVGINIUSA

While I agree with the general point about inequality increasing, I would never trust any chart from the St. Louis Fed after they did this:

https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2023/01/23/china-military-sp...

Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?

#485

Post by avsteele » Sat, Jan 28, 2023, 9:49 PM UTC

Antisocial behavior has been on the rise since the pandemic. You aren't imagining that part. Fight on planes, petty theft, car accidents, murder all up.

Not so sure about the rest of your complaints.

Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?

#486

Post by uoaei » Sat, Jan 28, 2023, 9:50 PM UTC

keiferski wrote: post #299

dragonwriter wrote: post #275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is “beautiful” is, like, the textbook example of a subjective opinion.

No, not really. The concept of beauty has a long philosophical history and many knowledgeable and intelligent people have written books on the topic. As I said above, the people who think this stuff is entirely subjective tend to be ones that haven’t engaged much (or at all) with previous thought on the topic.

People who wax philosophical almost entirely about what the inherent subjectivity of aesthetics means for our experience as subjects, individually and collectively.

Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?

#487

Post by Madmallard » Sat, Jan 28, 2023, 9:51 PM UTC

Independently of amoral and shitty behavior in a lot of industries, which you could probably debate back and forth whether or not that has gotten better or worse, I think that the general health of the population is in decline. It is likely multifactorial as to causes, but I don't really it's even debatable, and this will make EVERYTHING worse.

Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?

#488

Post by Tao3300 » Sat, Jan 28, 2023, 9:51 PM UTC

dinkleberg wrote: post #253

Beaver117 wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

You need to read up on the definition of gaslighting. That is a nasty accusation and inaccurate.

Damn. I wish there was general unflag. GP wasn't far off the mark and there was a conversation worth having :(

Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?

#489

Post by Baeocystin » Sat, Jan 28, 2023, 9:51 PM UTC

somethoughts wrote: post #229

noud wrote: post #7

I 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…

This is just personal but anytime I feel similar to the OP, I watch something by Hans Rosling [1] or Anna Rosling [2]. Although 10 and 5 years old respectively, I feel the general sentiment is still true - that human progress is slow, in the background and might be ebbing and flowing in your specific sub-population. And when compared to the present, media narrative driven present its hard to see the improvements happ…

Rosling's work is fantastic, and I too occasionally watch 'How Not to be Wrong About the World' to keep my spirits up, too.

But. The past 5+ years have not been kind to the general arc of progress, particularly in already-developed countries in the West, and the US most of all. There has been genuine, real backsliding across the board on a variety of measures. And it's important to acknowledge that, too.

Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?

#490

Post by Jochim » Sat, Jan 28, 2023, 9:51 PM UTC

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 don't agree that these behaviours are down to a lack of social enforcement. The root issue is that the societal incentives that encourage adherence to social norms have been fundamentally weakened by neo-liberalism and the economic consequences.

I don't think it's controversial to suggest that comfortable, healthy, well fed, and financially secure people are less likely to engage in antisocial behaviour. Those doing so are typically people who do not view themselves as belonging to (or benefiting from) society.

Frankly, what goal is achieved in meting out punishment on someone already disillusioned with society? The likely result is exactly what plays out in many prison systems today. A cycle of increasing disillusionment, societal expense, and escalatory retaliation.

Is it any surprise that anti-social behaviour is increasing? Advertising exists largely to convince people of the inadequacy of their current situation, be it financial, physical, or mental. What other effect could be expected in the context of growing social inequality?

In an era of general prosperity households have gone from working a combined 40 hours per week to 80, leaving much less time for personal affairs and increased stress.

Many "low skilled" jobs are simply gone, the replacements generally offering much lower pay and poorer working conditions. Consider the wider ramifications in towns where these jobs made up a significant proportion of the work.

Housing grows increasingly out of the reach of the younger generation despite paying an ever greater percentage of their monthly wage to landlords.