this post was submitted on 28 Dec 2023
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Try this: Don't Believe The Hype
(DarkMatter2525 - Is Society Collapsing)
TLDW: No, things are getting better, some things aren't, but it's not an easy answer because there are 8 billion perspectives to consider. We are living longer and enjoy more technology, so there's that.
I'll watch later. I hope it isn't the same thing as Steven Pinker's "things are better than ever".
I'm also going to disagree on the "things make us happier" argument as well. Because if you're only getting things because they flaunt your wealth, it isn't making you happier.
I recommended it because .. I had just began listening to it then scrolled and saw this post, but also because I admire his critical thinking skills; he could have put out an hour long video of himself running around and screaming over clips of looting and earthquakes while warning us about the apocalypse and which loadout to run...
But he didn't. He created a criteria to answer the question then looked at available data. He could have gotten 2x more views, too..
Where did they say that?
They said we can enjoy more technology than ever before. That is 100% true.
Do you know how much joy I feel when I watch my little vacuum robot zoom around my house keeping it clean for me? It is so cool and makes me happier living in a cleaner environment.
Bookmarked for later watching
The pandemic is an interesting case because the world stopped because millions of people died. In the past that was normal. Spanish Flu sucked just as hard but people were like "oh well, try not to die".
Every family literally lost one or two children each in normal times. Look at any history of your family and 100 years ago you will see lots of relatives that died at young ages of diseases that are preventable now.
We live in an age of unprecedented health and death is an outlier. It used to be a part of everyday life.