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I believe we have reached a point where most people are in an equilibrium of comfort and desire, where the desire to innovate and do more, is perfectly balanced

I believe we have reached a point where most people are in an equilibrium of comfort and desire, where the desire to innovate and do more, is perfectly balanced out by the present comforts we are able to enjoy. People are so doped up on Netflix, cheap takeaway, porn etc. There is relative safety, lack of disease and war for the most part. People no longer desire to improve the world. It's about maximising the small pleasures for as long as possible and then dying. America used to innovate, improve the world, improve our knowledge. Now it has stagnated. The populace is obese, lazy, and getting dumber.TV and porn were bad ideas.

bsanr2 7y ago
This is the kind of response that comes from, and please excuse my language, someone who doesn't know what the fuck they're talking about. There is barely a safety net. There is barely any institutional support for innovation. Accessing either is a competitive process that is purposely obfuscated to reduce costs. The downside involved in preparing for and executing on innovative ideas is potentially lethal for the individual, even if it might be incredibly advantageous for society for even one person to be successful. If you want people to fly high, you start by putting a trampoline under them, not a trap pit of crocodiles. Things are as bad as they are because the people with the means to push us onward do not understand the problem.
- xerxesaa 7y ago
  It's not obvious to me your comment has more truth than the one you're replying to. Either argument could be made. Why the rude animus towards the original poster?
  - bsanr2 7y ago
    The parent argument has been made for going on 3 decades now and is the source of the austerity and institutional divestment that has proven unworkable at best, and disastrous at worst. It's telling that a single f-bomb is interpreted as more rude than calling the American public - which is by far the most overworked workforce in the West and among such as far as the developed world as a whole is concerned - "lazy." Reply to him next. See what he says.
zelly 7y ago
It's stagnation all the way down. Not only porn, video games, and TV, but cannabis and opiates have taken the 21st century by storm. Before that, the most popular drug was cocaine (and amphetamines). It's symbolic how as Americans lost that rip-roaring innovation culture, they retreated to their couches and numbed themselves with literal opium.

bsanr2 7y ago

This is the kind of response that comes from, and please excuse my language, someone who doesn't know what the fuck they're talking about. There is barely a safety net. There is barely any institutional support for innovation. Accessing either is a competitive process that is purposely obfuscated to reduce costs. The downside involved in preparing for and executing on innovative ideas is potentially lethal for the individual, even if it might be incredibly advantageous for society for even one person to be successful. If you want people to fly high, you start by putting a trampoline under them, not a trap pit of crocodiles. Things are as bad as they are because the people with the means to push us onward do not understand the problem.

xerxesaa 7y ago
It's not obvious to me your comment has more truth than the one you're replying to. Either argument could be made. Why the rude animus towards the original poster?
- bsanr2 7y ago
  The parent argument has been made for going on 3 decades now and is the source of the austerity and institutional divestment that has proven unworkable at best, and disastrous at worst. It's telling that a single f-bomb is interpreted as more rude than calling the American public - which is by far the most overworked workforce in the West and among such as far as the developed world as a whole is concerned - "lazy." Reply to him next. See what he says.

zelly 7y ago

It's stagnation all the way down. Not only porn, video games, and TV, but cannabis and opiates have taken the 21st century by storm. Before that, the most popular drug was cocaine (and amphetamines). It's symbolic how as Americans lost that rip-roaring innovation culture, they retreated to their couches and numbed themselves with literal opium.