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"We live in an amazing world and it's wasted on the crappiest generation..."
- jamesbressi 17y ago[Louis C.K. on Conan] Some of the best and truest words about technology, its convenience and just how much more miserable (or unappreciative) we are. I'm sure most of you have seen this, but it is worth repeating and watching. Love it. Nuggets: - Rotary Phones (and hating people with 0's in their number) - Life before common credit-card use - Cell phones and impatience - In-flight wifi - Air travel - and funny in-betweens
- steveplace 17y agoThe fact that you did a tl;dr summary helps to reinforce his point.
- hyperbovine 17y agoWhat was there to read? I skipped it because I'm trying to avoid YouTube.
- itg 17y agoOh look, another typical aging misanthrope complaining about whatever generation is after him. Improvements in tech has made life easier but that doesn't necessarily mean the world is AMAZING, especially for a lot of young people in this economy.
- zeeone 17y agoI think he's making a good point. You can't deny that the technological advances in the last 15 years were bigger than than in the last 200. He's just saying that all of that is easily taken for granted.
- Psyonic 17y agoThe routine is funny. That said, without constant effort to appreciate it, everything is easily taken for granted. Give Cinderella a year or two after she married the prince, and she's probably a stuck up bitch who yells at the maid.
- othello 17y agoI beg to differ. You could argue that the advances in technology since 1995 (while substantial, notably in IT) do not compare with the breakthroughs accomplished since 1810. Although we do enjoy faster and more mobile access to internet and computing in general, most of the advances over the past 15 years are incremental improvements over technologies that already existed back then. What breakthroughs comparable to the advent of e.g. the train, the plane or antibiotics occured over the last 15 years?
- raquo 17y agoYet there are now a lot more incremental advances per year than 200 years ago. Revolutions can only happen only so often. Apart from that, an "average technology" today has on average much more applications than back then, IMHO (convergence, I would call that). And it's adopted faster and is available to more people (=cheaper). Also, I think that today's breakthroughs have much more prerequisites in humanity's knowledge and capabilities in different fields than 200 years ago.
- scythe 17y agoThe introduction of HIV protease inhibitors in 1995-6 was pretty big. http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/abstract/338/13/853 http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/abstract/338/13/853 > Mortality among the patients declined from 29.4 per 100 person-years in 1995 to 8.8 per 100 person-years in the second quarter of 1997.
- culled 17y agoI'm not quite sure if you're saying that technology has been progressing at a faster rate in the past 15 years than it has in the previous 200 (which I'd agree with) or that we've had greater progress in the past 15 years than we did in the previous 200 combined (which is absurd).
- deleted 17y ago[deleted]
- alanthonyc 17y agoHe was joking. He was making people lsugh. There was no other guy on the plane complaining about the internet going down, it was him. http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1885790,00.html http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1885790,00.html
- portman 17y agoThank you for this link. I had never seen it. This is an amazing quote that I wish he had said on Conan: If you had a jetpack, you'd be like, "I have the shitiest jetpack. I can't believe I got this jetpack. Who's your service provider? Did they make the new one? Hate this thing, it sucks." Then we'd all sit there and talk about that.
- goatforce5 17y agoFrom the article: It's funny how many different ways you can react to that clip. I even read something by a marketing expert who said, "Louis CK is on to something. We have to figure out how we can to get consumers to really appreciate our product; there's no brand value anymore." Does that surprise you? That even the marketing industry's like: "Yes!" Life imitates Bill Hicks? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDW_Hj2K0wo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDW_Hj2K0wo (edited to fix formatting)
- joshklein 17y agoYou do know this is a comedy routine right?
- Alex3917 17y agoIt's actually an interview. And he's acting as a humorist, not a comedian. So I think the criticism is somewhat valid.
- jraines 17y agoWhen comedians go on late-night shows they work bits of their material into the interview. This is a bit -- he's said elsewhere that the guy in the story is him.
- _delirium 17y agoIt's got a nice meta-joke in it too. He's adopting the persona of the back-in-my-day nostalgist, to argue that in the past, things were better because people appreciated how much worse things were in the past.
- pavs 17y agoI think you misunderstood, or it was poorly phrased. But I think the point he was trying to make is that, not that everything in the world is amazing, but rather we live in a time where we (generally speaking) take everything for granted and don't take the time (at least occasionally) to appreciate things for what they are. I think the keyword here is "appreciation". We snap too quickly if things doesn't always work as they were intended to. Neil deGrasse Tyson made an interesting point about how people would have reacted to iphone if you showed it to them 10 years ago[1]. Yet we bitch and moan about flash and multi-task and copy&paste on iPhone (albeit, some are very legitimate criticism to some extend). [1]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xag3oOzvU68#t=2m18s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xag3oOzvU68#t=2m18s
- jasonlotito 17y agoExcept, appreciate doesn't provide progression. All that progression that we are supposed to appreciate isn't built on appreciation. 200 years ago, crossing the entire country was a bigger undertaking then it was 50 years ago, and 50 years ago it was a bigger undertaking then it is now. If 50 years ago, people merely appreciated, progress wouldn't have happened. Rather, people weren't happy it was fast enough. As for why we bitch and moan? Because we care. It's not new, people have been complaining for ages. It's just with the internet, it's easier then ever to find people to bitch and moan with, or about, or to. However, it was funny. =)
- pavs 17y agoI agree with your point. However appreciating something doesn't mean you have to stop doing everything and marvel at its beauty. I believe progression is a result of appreciation (from the person who is involved in creating it), not exclusively from nagging from consumers (a bit of a generalization maybe).
- jasonlotito 17y agoTrue. I was too black and white. Good points. =)
- startuprules 17y agoI assume he is talking about the baby boomer generation? He doesn't specify the age of the people he's complaining about in his stories.
- jamesbressi 17y agoI don't think he was polarizing any particular generation, because every single generation is GUILTY of taking progress for granted. Much like freedom, progress and technology is taken for granted until it is interrupted or impeded upon. But I digress...
- deleted 17y ago[deleted]
- Alex3917 17y agoTwo more contrasting views on technological progress: Brad Paisely - Welcome to the future: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0Yg9wjctRw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0Yg9wjctRw Lindsay Mac - Rain: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5KMmVLkzvw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5KMmVLkzvw
- roboneal 17y agoHis best analogy was people complaining that there flight from NYC to LA was "delayed an hour" and comparing it to the fact it often took years to cross the country ("people dieing and babies being born in the group you traveled with").
- jamesbressi 17y agoI was hoping he was going to deliver an Oregon Trail, something like: "New York to California in 5 hours?! That used to take 30 years, you die of dysentery, your oxen would get ill and you'd have to float your wagon across a river. Now, you watch a movie, take a dump and you're home."
- dgordon 17y agoFinally. An Oregon Trail reference that remembers that fording the river never, ever worked. Caulk the wagon and float was the way to go.
- smokey_the_bear 17y agoit worked if you were starting really late in the season and the rivers were very low, but then the heat would get you later.
- nostrademons 17y agoThe FaceBook group is called "I tried to ford the river and my fucking oxen died" for a reason.
- Aron 17y agoMan.. can we not just appreciate the fact that we now have WAGONS that move your STUFF without you having to CARRY IT?!
- pw0ncakes 17y agoThe awesomeness of air travel has faded into the background and now we see the shittiness of service, the high prices, and the cramped seats. Airplanes are still amazing technology, but they're wrong for most of their uses. High-speed rail makes more sense for mid-distance travel. At 300 mph, I'd even consider using it for New York to California-- much prettier, and not dependent on a fuel that will be very expensive in 10-20 years.
- tfh 17y ago"how quickly the world owes him something that didn't exist ten seconds ago" 99% of the internet users today :)
- frou_dh 17y agothat HE didn't know existed ten seconds ago Get it right because it emphasises the entitlement douchiness :-)
- esornoso 17y agoYou're sitting on a chair in the sky.
- presidentender 17y agoTHE CHAIR IS NOW DIAMONDS.
- oconnore 17y agoWhen your Superbowl ad turns into an instant meme, surely you have achieved sainthood in the marketing community.
- sofal 17y agoFor reference: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=494066 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=494066 42 comments http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1003875 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1003875 2 comments http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=495561 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=495561 2 comments http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=474588 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=474588 1 comment http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=918637 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=918637 0 comments
- caffeine 17y agoGeez, I can't BELIEVE that my incredible world-wide communication network containing the knowledge of ALL humanity and powering the future .... has REDUNDANT content! It sucks!
- samd 17y agoYes, it is only this latest generation that takes things for granted. I wonder if he wakes up every morning utterly flabbergasted that his home is comfortably warm, he has clean running water, and wild animals haven't tried to kill him in the night. Somehow I doubt it.
- stcredzero 17y agoSpending a summer in Alaska can help give you an appreciation. I was there in 1992. Me before Alaska: "I'll never be a sell out." Me during Alaska: Covered in cold fish slime mixed with refrigerated seawater. Shivering my ass off shoveling crushed ice in the back of a refrigerated trailer. Sliding around on my belly in a tender boat hold with a gaff, wrangling 75 pound Halibut into a cargo net. Living in a tent on the beach, and going into town to make a phone call and pay $1.75 to take a shower. (Not an everyday occurrence!) Me after Alaska: "A nice cozy job in an climate controlled office? Sounds nice!" The guy who was my skipper for a very short time? He lived in the southwest near Dillingham and there were no roads near his house. He had no running water or electricity. To check his snail mail, he had to go down to the river, untie his boat and travel 2 miles downstream. (Not sure, but I think there were basically no roads anywhere.)
- yters 17y agoYeah, no kidding. Grow up in a third world country. You'll realize what luxury you live in. Hungry? Drive down the street for delicious fastfood. Even the poorest among us have electricity, running water, tv, computer, internet, etc. Most I didn't have when growing up.
- stcredzero 17y agoDinesh D'Souza asked someone why they wanted to immigrate to the US. Answer: "I want to go to a place where the poor people are fat and own TVs and VCRs."
- _delirium 17y ago
- tvon 17y agoJesus people, it's a fucking joke, stop taking it so personally.
- stcredzero 17y agoBelay that. Do take it personally, reflect on it, but then laugh anyways.
- brianobush 17y agoThanks for reminding me about dialing zeros... Forgot that artifact of pulse dialing.
- cma 17y agoA different take: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJjUVIIYptE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJjUVIIYptE
- kurtosis 17y agoThis observation is pretty hilarious. But surely the reason that technology progresses so fast is that there are always people complaining and striving to improve on these trivial inconveniences. I have no doubt that the motivation for the development of these technological wonders was due to some ungrateful jerk who insisted that the amazing could be even better.
- stcredzero 17y agoI have no doubt that the motivation for the development of these technological wonders was due to some ungrateful jerk who insisted that the amazing could be even better. Minus the fraction what was developed by those who thought, "Wouldn't it be marvelous if...?" Also minus the fraction who thought, "I bet I could make tons of money by..." Actually, I think we could to without the contribution from ungrateful jerks and be just fine!
- kurtosis 17y agofair enough, but in these cases we still get a second order benefit from ungrateful jerks. Let's complete the sentence "I bet I could make tons of money by X because people think Y sucks and would hand over cash to avoid X" of course, hats off to those solving problems for thinking "wouldn't it be marvelous if..?" I hope they don't go out of business
- stcredzero 17y agoI think we could do without that as well and still be fine. It's just as effective to think about it from the positive standpoint. (Some would argue it's more productive without the hurt feelings and acrimony.)
- akrito 17y agoI'm fine with this being reposted every month or so. In fact, I wouldn't mind if it were pinned to the top of the page.
- stcredzero 17y agoYour comment works both with a straight reading and as sarcasm. Both readings strike me as clever, though opposed.
- mcantor 17y agoThis video gets reposted here about once every three to six months, and I upvote it every time. To be clear about how deeply I appreciate this video, I am a member of this "crappiest generation". I'm 24. Hi-speed cable and mobile phones became ubiquitous while I was growing up, and I know that I take my entire life brutally for granted. Anyone in my generation who watches this video and says, "What a jerk! I don't do that!" is either a filthy liar, or they weren't born into the predominantly white-upper-middle-class privileges that Louis C.K. is making fun of. This usually is posted with the title, "Everything is amazing and no one is happy," which I think is far more poignant and fitting, because while my peers are largely guilty of the kind of "convenience entitlement complex" that Louis C.K. is talking about, it is hardly restricted to just us. The fact is, we do live in amazing world, where man can soar above the clouds while taking a dump, and satellites that cost scrillions of dollars to get into geosynchronous orbit are used to send naked pictures zipping across continents in the blink of an eye. I love this video so much, because if you listen with an open mind, it forces you to take a step back and look at what we're really missing.
- _delirium 17y agoIf everyone's unhappy about it, though, maybe the world isn't so amazing, subjectively speaking. That's the usual assumption in entrepreneurship, anyway: If you've produced a product you think everyone should love, and they don't love it, maybe something's wrong with the product, not the people.
- yters 17y agoPlato said rich people couldn't be virtuous, probably for this reason.
- dkarl 17y agoWhile the style and content of complaining varies up and down the economic ladder, the proportion of people who whine incessantly about everyday inconveniences seems about the same.
- erikpukinskis 17y agoIt makes sense to me. Happiness doesn't come from amazing "things". We can fly but we are coerced into constantly hating our bodies, poisoning ourselves, living in fear of things we don't understand, and viewing our neighbors as competitors. Our technology is amazing, but our cultural practices have evolved to make us miserable. Almost every enduring widespread cultural practice in the U.S. evolved and thrived precisely because it fostered mass spending. The cultural practices that made us healthy and self sufficient have long since died out. Darwin is dead, long live Darwin.
- pw0ncakes 17y agoThis is a general problem with infrastructure. Once something cool is built, it becomes an expectation. The same is true of the Internet.
- Sethnektochy 17y agoEvery generation can say something to this measure about the one before it. If we were happy and content, we would have never made it this far. It is our unhappiness that serves as a driving force to make things even better. Depression and assholitry are not setbacks, they are the driving evolutionary force.
- mortenjorck 17y ago2010: Wow, in-flight wi-fi! It's even fast enough to use YouTube! 2012: Wow, this in-flight wi-fi is slow. I'm barely going to get all these files into PowerPoint in time for the presentation...
- breakall 17y agoWhat a great video. Louis CK is one of the funniest comedians out there.
- deleted 17y ago[deleted]
- scscsc 17y agoFunny, I thought that the technologies he (clearly) enjoys (and appreciates) today were built by people who were thinking along the lines of: oh shit, it takes 30 years to walk to California, why couldn't we just fly there? It's ok to appreciate things, but it's also ok to expect (and ask for) the best possible service instead of settling for less.
- f33l 17y agoI agree that we do live in an amazing age we live in, even though I wouldn't put too much emphasis on being able to fly (as this has been around for about 60 years now). I think technologically speaking, a major breakthrough was definitely the internet and mobile communication. However, I would like to say something about the current generation. I believe the reason they are whiners is maybe because many youngsters in the west are facing the perspective of not being better off financially than the generation of their parents, putting lots of pressure upon them. I think many people (at least here in Europe) are skeptical of technology because they perceive globalization, outsourcing, technological advancement and increasing competition as interlinked factors, which do not necessarily improve their quality of life, but rather present them with additional unknowns. Again speaking for Europe, technology would be more widely accepted and hopefully appreciated, if there was a way to give the current generation more certainty that there will be enough water to flow all boats.
- Tycho 17y agoThe clip is comical in tone so the premises are inexact but it touches on something very important. As we watched the evening news the other day, my flatmate said 'what a terrible world we live in.' Since the news had just reported several abductions and murders, this may seem like a reasonable assertion. But my flatmate's problem is he never appreciates the good of modern society. He simply does not consider all the good things that happened today when he forms the equation. And this goes for a lot of people. All the benefits of technology, etc, are somehow not REAL benefits to us because some corporation is making profit, therefore everyone else must be sustaining some sort of net loss and there's no point feeling good about it. I'm not suggesting everyone should be permanently ecstatic - everyone's happiness is at root based on achievement of goals they set (or don't set) for themselves, and will fluctuate accordingly, and normalize to the social context. But equally there is no reason to hold a constantly pessimistic and critical world-view.
- vog 17y agoIn Germany there is a saying: Man erkennt Wohlstand nicht daran, dass die Leute weniger jammern, sondern daran, auf welchem Niveau sie jammern. (You don't recognize wealth by less complaining people, but by the level on which they are complaining.)
- Tycho 17y agoI like that. Here's one I just thought up: Envy is not poverty. Would you say that is analogous?
- vog 17y agoI think there is a connection, but there are important differences. First, envy is a different issue than complaining. People are complaining every day, which is mostly a good thing, because it encourages improvement and self-critism. Think of inventors or human rights fighters. However, envy is almost always a bad thing that shouldn't happen too often. It causes anti-social behaviour and thus must be fighted against. Second, poverty is not the opposite of wealth, it's the other extreme. Also, wealth means more than just material wealth, and this extended meaning is essential to the saying I cited above. In contrast, poverty means material poverty, which is kind of misleading in the context above.
- PhysicsAndYou 17y agoThere's something to be said about how fantastically developed the world is relative to even a decade ago let alone 100 years or more. That said; progress isn't made by mass contentment. We must always do analysis on the margin. Even if what people complain about is trivial compared to how far we've come, we don't go further without these goals. Large or small.
- hassenben 17y agoIt's very interesting to see how (almost) all these links have less than 15 points when it is the same content.... I guess there is nothing better than an attractive headline http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=494066 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=494066 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1003875 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1003875 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=495561 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=495561 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=474588 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=474588 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=918637 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=918637