5 ms·

People from fifty years ago would look upon us with fear and trepidation, right? They would look at us as moral degenerates. But despite this, our society mana

by kiba 10y ago

People from fifty years ago would look upon us with fear and trepidation, right? They would look at us as moral degenerates. But despite this, our society manages to function quite well, roughly. Correspondingly, we think our ancestors are the bigots.

Lawtonfogle 10y ago
And our descendants will call us bigots. And when they explain why we will be filled with revulsion. Will we really be any less wrong than our ancestors?
- hx87 10y ago
  > Will we really be any less wrong than our ancestors? Absolutely. 1966 was terrible in many ways compared to today, but it was a much better world to live in than 1916.
  - TruthAndDare 10y ago
    Will all change be for the better? Who determines what is better?
erikpukinskis 10y ago
> our society manages to function quite well, roughly. I don't think that's true at all. It's only true if "roughly" means "for specific kinds of people". I think that clause is necessary for the sentence to be true. And with it, we've contradicted the statement "our society generally functions well".
- hx87 10y ago
  It functions at least as well as it did 50 years ago.
  - erikpukinskis 10y ago
    Probably. That's not really a useful observation though. "Not worse in aggregate" is basically the lowest bar you could set for a society.
  - raddad 10y ago
    In 1966 we had a middle class. In 1966 minimum wage was $1.20 which is $8.29 in 2012 dollars.(1) (1) https://www.dol.gov/featured/minimum-wage/chart1 https://www.dol.gov/featured/minimum-wage/chart1
    - erikpukinskis 10y ago
      I am unsatisfied with the state of things, but I don't think low wages is fundamentally a problem. Ideally we are able to do more and more with less and less money. In an ideal society you don't need money at all unless you want to do a long-term project that requires a financial instrument.
TruthAndDare 10y ago
> They would look at us as moral degenerates. But despite this, our society manages to function quite well, roughly. Is that really how we should judge it? I can imagine a society full of slavery functioning well according to some measure. Does that say anything about the morality of slavery?

by kiba 10y ago

Lawtonfogle 10y ago

And our descendants will call us bigots. And when they explain why we will be filled with revulsion. Will we really be any less wrong than our ancestors?

hx87 10y ago
> Will we really be any less wrong than our ancestors? Absolutely. 1966 was terrible in many ways compared to today, but it was a much better world to live in than 1916.
- TruthAndDare 10y ago
  Will all change be for the better? Who determines what is better?

erikpukinskis 10y ago

> our society manages to function quite well, roughly. I don't think that's true at all. It's only true if "roughly" means "for specific kinds of people". I think that clause is necessary for the sentence to be true. And with it, we've contradicted the statement "our society generally functions well".

hx87 10y ago
It functions at least as well as it did 50 years ago.
- erikpukinskis 10y ago
  Probably. That's not really a useful observation though. "Not worse in aggregate" is basically the lowest bar you could set for a society.
- raddad 10y ago
  In 1966 we had a middle class. In 1966 minimum wage was $1.20 which is $8.29 in 2012 dollars.(1) (1) https://www.dol.gov/featured/minimum-wage/chart1 https://www.dol.gov/featured/minimum-wage/chart1
  - erikpukinskis 10y ago
    I am unsatisfied with the state of things, but I don't think low wages is fundamentally a problem. Ideally we are able to do more and more with less and less money. In an ideal society you don't need money at all unless you want to do a long-term project that requires a financial instrument.

TruthAndDare 10y ago

> They would look at us as moral degenerates. But despite this, our society manages to function quite well, roughly. Is that really how we should judge it? I can imagine a society full of slavery functioning well according to some measure. Does that say anything about the morality of slavery?