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Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?

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Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?

#811

Post by atonse »

teg4n_ wrote: post #429
atonse wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am someone who, for much of the last 15 years has been happiest in a t shirt and shorts. But your points are ones I’ve thought about a LOT the last few years. In spite of being someone who rejects the idea of dressing fancier going deeper than just superficial beauty, I remember how I carry myself differently when I wear a suit. I feel more confident when I dress well. My wife loves when she sees that I made the ef…

I feel worse in a suit and it makes me feel like a fake. Wear a suit if it makes you feel good, I won’t because it makes me feel bad.

That's totally fine, I'm not advocating for suits per se – my point was more about the fact that what you wear DOES affect how you think (and in your case it seems like that particular piece of clothing makes you feel worse).

I am genuinely curious why you make the association between wearing a suit and being fake – have most of the people you encountered that wore suits, been dishonest?

Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?

#812

Post by svieira »

WXLCKNO wrote: post #606
svieira wrote: post #388

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you say "to feel like they are part of something bigger", does the bigger thing have to be true? Does it have to be big enough to hold everyone (in some way)? I suspect what you are sensing is society's vulnerability to the Neichian überman.

> Zarathustra first announces the Übermensch as a goal humanity can set for itself. All human life would be given meaning by how it advanced a new generation of human beings. Quote from Wikipedia above I had heard the term uber mensch before but I had presumed it referred to something else entirely. In this context your question of whether the bigger thing needs to be "true" seems subjective. Is wanting human beings…

Since "God is dead" the one who knows this is capable of taking control of the direction of humanity. Of taking control of the direction of morality and ethics and truth. If there is no real and logical proposition that is fit for all people and for all times then multiple such people can arise and strive for control, crushing all who oppose them, for none may judge the übermensch to come.

Think of this "unjudgability of the übermensch" like a fork in a cryptocurrency - when viewed from inside the system of the cryptocurrency there is no way to judge which fork is "correct". They cannot be reconciled without some external truth or even standard of truth - a lawgiver.

I say "vulnerable" because I don't believe that the Nazis were simply "a different fork" and that it could someday be "right" to massacre those who oppose the progress of history towards perfection - or even that it is possible to oppose that progress in the manner that the Hegelians (e. g. socialists, national and otherwise) mean.

I believe that there is an external reality to which all persons can give assent. I believe that we are flawed because we no longer want to give assent to that external reality (though we once did). I have hope because I believe that we have been given the chance to revive that desire, though the way is hard. That's why I say "vulnerable" - because the idea of the übermensch is a corruption of the truth.

Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?

#813

Post by dri_ft »

harimau777 wrote: post #526
keiferski wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A society is made up of people. The way people act, dress, talk, or do anything else has a pretty direct impact on other people in that society. Unless your definition of society is an extremely disconnected one, comprised of alienated individuals that have no interaction with each other, yes, it does affect other people.

The underlying assertion of this post and similar ones in this thread seems to be that non-conformance in dress is associated with weakening of social bonds. However, that doesn't seem to match the way that people actually behave. In America, people who advocate for greater freedom of expression in things like dress and social roles are generally progressives who support strengthening social institutions. On the othe…

The liberals want to strengthen explicit institutions (welfare, education, etc). The conservatives want to strengthen implicit institutions (trust, community).

Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?

#814

Post by Shocka1 »

yucky wrote: post #632
jraines wrote: post #480

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m always a little stunned when this (and many sibling comments) is almost always the first response to something like this. It’s probably generally true, and an appropriate response to the most dire decline narratives or things easily disproven by stats . . . But like also: really? None of this resonates with you on a personal level? If yes are you that distrustful of your own anecdata? If no: I hypothesize that yo…

My experience has been that the more time people spend on social media and/or consuming the "news" (such as FOX/CNN), the more they have these feelings of impending doom. That being said, some things are far better now and other things have gotten worse. Our social isolation and self-imposed echo chambers are the primary cause from what I can tell.

Social media and mainstream media is pretty much cancer for the mind. I've been unplugged from all the garbage since around 2015, which is around when people seemed to totally start losing their minds. I still get current event updates from friends as they are all still plugged into the hive mind and basically talk about the same things like clockwork.

I've noticed the doomsday type of rhetoric as well. I really just don't see how people can keep eating this stuff up and not get tired of it.

Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?

#815

Post by Shocka1 »

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…

I'm in my 30s and couldn't agree more with ya. Sober from social media since 2015 and couldn't be happier. I didn't really understand how effective the hive mind (social media) was until I was completely out of it. Now I'll get the same "have you heard about this?!" from different people within hours of one another. It's disturbing at times how there seems to be an invisible force cast over the majority of the population, with the ability to cause outrage or panic at a moments notice.

Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?

#816

Post by Shocka1 »

mancerayder wrote: post #708
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…

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.

This is braille to me as I've put some complex puzzle pieces together regarding automated equity trading heavily dependent on statistical data in the middle of some chaotic places, including a bar/restaurant. I'm not special; just determined, very anti social media, and also have the ability to tune stuff out. On the train thing, fortunately I'm blessed enough to not have to ride a train or some other horrible form of transportation to and from my job, or I'd probably want to kill myself.

On the other end of the spectrum, a wonderful family member of mine is one of the most productive people I've ever known and makes a lot of money for it, but they will scroll through social media anytime they aren't walking like it's their full-time job. This person is absolutely addicted though, so take that for what it is.

Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?

#817

Post by gallopingcomp »

mach1ne wrote: post #575
gallopingcomp wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Awful behavior in general comes from an absence of fear I assume you meant _specific_ fears about the consequences of one's _specific_ actions (e.g. fear of harming someone else, or fear of receiving backlash for it; or fear of squandering scarce funds for a business). Fear does not unconditionally bring sanity. I've found widespread, chronic, low-grade background fear to be an equally significant driver of awful b…

Fear doesn’t bring sanity, but scale might. Facing hardships and overcoming them generally seems to give people a sense of scale. It gives people a sense of contentment, which subdues greed. Then again, hardships do also break people, so I don’t know.

Psychologists might call it controlled exposure to fear, under conditions where you know (or will soon know) that things will more or less be all right / have a safe space to retreat to. (Which is a bit subjective, but most people seem to have a few things in common that they value for their security.)

When it feels like everything is slipping away from you, it’s easier to become desperate. This could be the result of losing your sense of scale, or it could be the result of a genuine, significant threat (or anything in between).

EDIT: also think of people in general as lying along orthogonal spectrums of (1) psychological vulnerability, and (2) material and social precarity. People high on either scale suffer disproportionately; and tougher times means a wider spectrum of people that are likely to break (whether just to survive or letting the stress get to them, or more commonly both).

Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?

#818

Post by Zanneth »

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…

Aaron Swartz learned this when he was very young: http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/hatethenews

Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?

#819

Post by Zanneth »

badpun wrote: post #533
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 wonder how much popular culture has to do with it. For example, when you sincerely listen to rap lyrics, a lot of it (and from the biggest names too) sound like a deranged, narcissistic, and sometimes violent, rants. When people hear that around them from the youngest age, they get the understandsting that such outlook on life is within the accepted norms (or, more likely, the music tells them to don't care about a…

In my social circles, I rarely hear anyone say anything critical about rap music, but it is quite common for people to make disparaging remarks about country music. "I like all kinds of music, except country" is a commonly expressed preference, for example. I have found the lyrics in country music to almost always be positive and optimistic, often imbued with values recognizing the importance of family and hard work. Perhaps there is something deeply wrong with our culture if we continue to have this negative association with an art form that is meant to encourage people to be better to each other.

Re: Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining?

#820

Post by the_only_law »

Zanneth wrote: post #819
badpun wrote: post #533

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder how much popular culture has to do with it. For example, when you sincerely listen to rap lyrics, a lot of it (and from the biggest names too) sound like a deranged, narcissistic, and sometimes violent, rants. When people hear that around them from the youngest age, they get the understandsting that such outlook on life is within the accepted norms (or, more likely, the music tells them to don't care about a…

In my social circles, I rarely hear anyone say anything critical about rap music, but it is quite common for people to make disparaging remarks about country music. "I like all kinds of music, except country" is a commonly expressed preference, for example. I have found the lyrics in country music to almost always be positive and optimistic, often imbued with values recognizing the importance of family and hard work.…

Yeah no, Typically when people say that they’re.

1) Ignorant. I promise I can find many songs that aren’t country real quick that they’ll hate.

2) Referring specifically to overproduced modern country-pop crap.

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