4 ms·

That is a consequence of procrastination, which is the consequence of anxiety, which is the consequence of barely meeting ends. Basically in order to be produc

That is a consequence of procrastination, which is the consequence of anxiety, which is the consequence of barely meeting ends. Basically in order to be productive under those circumstances you have to ignore reality, which can be problematic for the people around you. But at the same time everything is relative on your perception of reality. We spend today 50-100 times more energy per person that people 100 years ago, and most of those people were happy. We upgraded our expectations, specially because of mass media and advertisements and feel always dissatisfied because they will compare us with people that have more than we have.

raxxorrax 7y ago
It is often argued that people are far richer today than before. But you still can loose everything within a few months, so the pressure for economic success hasn't receded that much. And that is the security that is relevant to economic anxieties.
o-__-o 7y ago
>you have to ignore reality my mum has not been financially stable for over a decade. in this time she has been starting to "reset" what she finds acceptable. just recently she had to downsize her house and she has already focused on only what I can describe are ways to spend money to avoid reality. she recently listed a train of things she wants to do to her new house that sounds like she wants to stay there for the rest of her life. when asked about the conflict between staying and her next year goals is met with internal strife. she couldn't accept the fact that she needed to use what little money she had to lift herself out of her situation. instead she put priority on installing a dishwasher in her 600sqft apt to help the next person. your brain is the greatest troll ever to exist
bumby 7y ago
>people 100 years ago, and most of those people were happy. I’m asking out of general curiosity and not snark, but is there a reliable source to this? A cursory search on my end didn’t return anything. I often wonder if the obsession with “happiness” is a relatively recent phenomenon borne of our own privilege.
- pintxo 7y ago
  Considering it being prominently featured in the US Declaration of Independence, it seems not to be too new.
  - bumby 7y ago
    Fair point, but that document was written by, and largely for, the privileged class of its day. I’m more curious if there are any metrics that actually show people were more happy in the past.
  - lonelappde 7y ago
    The declaration of independence quote was originally John Locke's "life, liberty, and property", but Jefferson changed it to be coy. https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/46460 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/46460
- octodog 7y ago
  This is a relatively recent area of study for the fields of international development and development economics. The UN has a World Happiness Report and there are a number of institutions that are now trying to directly measure happiness as well as the usual well-being indicators (like health, education, freedom, wealth). The data seems to show that improving those indicators seems to increase happiness up to a certain level, after which they have much more marginal effects. One theory is that once basic needs are met, happiness becomes "relative" to the people around you, so rich countries/societies getting richer doesn't further improve happiness. I can't speak to what was going on 100 years ago but based on the above I'd imagine they were a lot less happy than we are now - as a lot of people were not having their basic needs met.
chrisweekly 7y ago
>"people 100 years ago, and most of those people were happy." citation?
lonelappde 7y ago
> most of those people were happy. Is that known? Expectations are also imposed. We have to commute to our jobs and pay for our apartments that conform to building codes.
tehjoker 7y ago
It is possible to be more materially poorer and happier than a US citizen by changing the deal society makes for them from one of high consumption and high precarity (meaning uncertain job, high cost of housing, expensive transportation, roll of the dice hospital bills) to one of lower consumption and higher social solidarity (meaning less gas, less fancy stuff, less packaging, possibly fewer exotic foods, but secure food, jobs, housing, medical care, and a society that isn't socially alienating). Obviously, the more materially rich your society is, the better the latter deal is, but happiness comes from feelings of safety, not being overworked, and solid social ties.
michaelgrafl 7y ago
I don't think I ever feel dissatisfied because of Ads. I'm pretty cool with what I have. I am scared of losing my job though, because of a lapse in mental health or whatever. Not because my expectations are high, but because I'm afraid of having to sell my house in a hurry and move into a small apartment with my wife and my 3 children, as well as the feelings of failure and shame.
watwut 7y ago
> We spend today 50-100 times more energy per person that people 100 years ago, and most of those people were happy. 100 years ago was 1920. That is two years after WWI. That is destroyed countries moving from crisis to crisis, veterans struggling to become part of society ...
- bryanrasmussen 7y ago
  I wonder how happy they were 90 years ago, and the relative amount of energy expenditure per person.
  - watwut 7y ago
    1930 - great depression - pretty bad. It also made all race problems worst quickly. 3 years before nazi gets power - Germany solidly on the path there. 6 years before stalin purge in Russia - solidly hellos country at that point. So I guess it depends which part of world you talk about, tho none of it sounds perfect.
philipkglass 7y ago
In 1920, the United States consumed 21.3 quadrillion BTU of primary energy. The population at the time was 106 million. https://www.eia.gov/totalenergy/data/annual/showtext.php?t=ptb1601 https://www.eia.gov/totalenergy/data/annual/showtext.php?t=p... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1920_United_States_Census https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1920_United_States_Census In 2018 the United States consumed 101.2 quadrillion BTU of primary energy, with a population of 327 million. https://flowcharts.llnl.gov/content/assets/images/charts/Energy/Energy_2018_United-States.png https://flowcharts.llnl.gov/content/assets/images/charts/Ene... https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/us-population/ https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/us-population... Primary energy consumption per capita in the United States increased about 54% in the last 100 years, not 5000%. Global energy consumption per capita has grown by nearly 300% since 1920: http://theoildrum.com/files/per-capita-world-energy-by-source.png http://theoildrum.com/files/per-capita-world-energy-by-sourc... This is still much less than 5000%.

raxxorrax 7y ago

It is often argued that people are far richer today than before. But you still can loose everything within a few months, so the pressure for economic success hasn't receded that much. And that is the security that is relevant to economic anxieties.

o-__-o 7y ago

>you have to ignore reality my mum has not been financially stable for over a decade. in this time she has been starting to "reset" what she finds acceptable. just recently she had to downsize her house and she has already focused on only what I can describe are ways to spend money to avoid reality. she recently listed a train of things she wants to do to her new house that sounds like she wants to stay there for the rest of her life. when asked about the conflict between staying and her next year goals is met with internal strife. she couldn't accept the fact that she needed to use what little money she had to lift herself out of her situation. instead she put priority on installing a dishwasher in her 600sqft apt to help the next person. your brain is the greatest troll ever to exist

bumby 7y ago

>people 100 years ago, and most of those people were happy. I’m asking out of general curiosity and not snark, but is there a reliable source to this? A cursory search on my end didn’t return anything. I often wonder if the obsession with “happiness” is a relatively recent phenomenon borne of our own privilege.

pintxo 7y ago
Considering it being prominently featured in the US Declaration of Independence, it seems not to be too new.
- bumby 7y ago
  Fair point, but that document was written by, and largely for, the privileged class of its day. I’m more curious if there are any metrics that actually show people were more happy in the past.
- lonelappde 7y ago
  The declaration of independence quote was originally John Locke's "life, liberty, and property", but Jefferson changed it to be coy. https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/46460 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/46460
octodog 7y ago
This is a relatively recent area of study for the fields of international development and development economics. The UN has a World Happiness Report and there are a number of institutions that are now trying to directly measure happiness as well as the usual well-being indicators (like health, education, freedom, wealth). The data seems to show that improving those indicators seems to increase happiness up to a certain level, after which they have much more marginal effects. One theory is that once basic needs are met, happiness becomes "relative" to the people around you, so rich countries/societies getting richer doesn't further improve happiness. I can't speak to what was going on 100 years ago but based on the above I'd imagine they were a lot less happy than we are now - as a lot of people were not having their basic needs met.

chrisweekly 7y ago

>"people 100 years ago, and most of those people were happy." citation?

lonelappde 7y ago

> most of those people were happy. Is that known? Expectations are also imposed. We have to commute to our jobs and pay for our apartments that conform to building codes.

tehjoker 7y ago

It is possible to be more materially poorer and happier than a US citizen by changing the deal society makes for them from one of high consumption and high precarity (meaning uncertain job, high cost of housing, expensive transportation, roll of the dice hospital bills) to one of lower consumption and higher social solidarity (meaning less gas, less fancy stuff, less packaging, possibly fewer exotic foods, but secure food, jobs, housing, medical care, and a society that isn't socially alienating). Obviously, the more materially rich your society is, the better the latter deal is, but happiness comes from feelings of safety, not being overworked, and solid social ties.

michaelgrafl 7y ago

I don't think I ever feel dissatisfied because of Ads. I'm pretty cool with what I have. I am scared of losing my job though, because of a lapse in mental health or whatever. Not because my expectations are high, but because I'm afraid of having to sell my house in a hurry and move into a small apartment with my wife and my 3 children, as well as the feelings of failure and shame.

watwut 7y ago

> We spend today 50-100 times more energy per person that people 100 years ago, and most of those people were happy. 100 years ago was 1920. That is two years after WWI. That is destroyed countries moving from crisis to crisis, veterans struggling to become part of society ...

bryanrasmussen 7y ago
I wonder how happy they were 90 years ago, and the relative amount of energy expenditure per person.
- watwut 7y ago
  1930 - great depression - pretty bad. It also made all race problems worst quickly. 3 years before nazi gets power - Germany solidly on the path there. 6 years before stalin purge in Russia - solidly hellos country at that point. So I guess it depends which part of world you talk about, tho none of it sounds perfect.

philipkglass 7y ago

In 1920, the United States consumed 21.3 quadrillion BTU of primary energy. The population at the time was 106 million. https://www.eia.gov/totalenergy/data/annual/showtext.php?t=ptb1601 https://www.eia.gov/totalenergy/data/annual/showtext.php?t=p... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1920_United_States_Census https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1920_United_States_Census In 2018 the United States consumed 101.2 quadrillion BTU of primary energy, with a population of 327 million. https://flowcharts.llnl.gov/content/assets/images/charts/Energy/Energy_2018_United-States.png https://flowcharts.llnl.gov/content/assets/images/charts/Ene... https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/us-population/ https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/us-population... Primary energy consumption per capita in the United States increased about 54% in the last 100 years, not 5000%. Global energy consumption per capita has grown by nearly 300% since 1920: http://theoildrum.com/files/per-capita-world-energy-by-source.png http://theoildrum.com/files/per-capita-world-energy-by-sourc... This is still much less than 5000%.