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> You've probably noticed things no longer work as well as they once did. The author assumes these statements are obvious to the reader, but they are definitel

> You've probably noticed things no longer work as well as they once did. The author assumes these statements are obvious to the reader, but they are definitely not obvious to me. Are things getting worse? The examples he cites, with the possible exception of infrastructure spending, seem to me about the way they have always been.

seneca 6y ago
It may have something to do with age. I would wager I'm older than the average HN reader, and the steady decline of competence and quality has been pretty obvious in my lifetime. I've had discussions with friends in my age group about this exact topic and no one seemed to disagree. This is all susceptible to all sorts of cognitive tricks though. We may simply be old curmudgeons.
- tonyedgecombe 6y ago
  If you work in technology then this shouldn't be that surprising. We have gone from it being a small niche activity to becoming mainstream. When I started everybody I worked with was enthusiastic about it. Now for many it's just a job. Outside of that though I'm not so sure. I wouldn't like to go back to the seventies.
- andrewmutz 6y ago
  That's interesting. I am 41, and I assumed that I was older and that being older meant you had witnessed things always being mediocre
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
jpttsn 6y ago
I concur and I'd bet it's like saying "you've probably noticed kids these days are no good". It's something everyone in time always experiences.
achillesheels 6y ago
Yes things have. For instance, potato chip bags have shrunk since the 2008 financial crisis while pricing has increased. Mass market textiles are also no longer durable like they were even twenty years ago (has anyone purchased Marc Jacobs apparel recently?). I was just reflecting on The Organization Man last night and received from the get-go a nice little gem from a man giving a Yale commencement address in 1908: "Here merit is the sole test. Birth is nothing...Here only a natural order of nobility is recognized, and its motto, without a coat of arms or boat of heraldry, is 'Intelligence and integrity'." (p16 2002 UofPenn Press) And then the author, Walter H. Whyte, remarks: "But the very industrial revolution which this highly serviceable ethic begot in time began to confound it...by the 1880's the corporation had already shown the eventual bureaucratic direction it was going to take...the big organization became a standing taunt to this dream of individual success. Quite obvious to anyone who worked in a big organization, those who survived best were not necessarily the fittest but, in more cases than not, those who by birth and personal connections had the breaks." (pp16-17 ibid) The argument being, America escaped the moral inefficacies of the old world, yet it slowly crept back in once it became more profitable - and above all convenient - to be ambitious on a career ladder than ambitious before the nakedness of the sun and stars. Which means it is common to have to lie and conspire in order to get ahead - and how many people are willing to for a nicer car to drive around the neighborhood! The Visible Hand by Alfred D. Chandler, Jr. is a great read corroborating the growth of agglomerated industry, and Joseph Schumpeter's Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy also has some good passages relating to this phenomenon of the homestead getting saturated. But I'm an eternal optimist and see this as the price of progress :)

seneca 6y ago

It may have something to do with age. I would wager I'm older than the average HN reader, and the steady decline of competence and quality has been pretty obvious in my lifetime. I've had discussions with friends in my age group about this exact topic and no one seemed to disagree. This is all susceptible to all sorts of cognitive tricks though. We may simply be old curmudgeons.

tonyedgecombe 6y ago
If you work in technology then this shouldn't be that surprising. We have gone from it being a small niche activity to becoming mainstream. When I started everybody I worked with was enthusiastic about it. Now for many it's just a job. Outside of that though I'm not so sure. I wouldn't like to go back to the seventies.
andrewmutz 6y ago
That's interesting. I am 41, and I assumed that I was older and that being older meant you had witnessed things always being mediocre
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

jpttsn 6y ago

I concur and I'd bet it's like saying "you've probably noticed kids these days are no good". It's something everyone in time always experiences.

achillesheels 6y ago

Yes things have. For instance, potato chip bags have shrunk since the 2008 financial crisis while pricing has increased. Mass market textiles are also no longer durable like they were even twenty years ago (has anyone purchased Marc Jacobs apparel recently?). I was just reflecting on The Organization Man last night and received from the get-go a nice little gem from a man giving a Yale commencement address in 1908: "Here merit is the sole test. Birth is nothing...Here only a natural order of nobility is recognized, and its motto, without a coat of arms or boat of heraldry, is 'Intelligence and integrity'." (p16 2002 UofPenn Press) And then the author, Walter H. Whyte, remarks: "But the very industrial revolution which this highly serviceable ethic begot in time began to confound it...by the 1880's the corporation had already shown the eventual bureaucratic direction it was going to take...the big organization became a standing taunt to this dream of individual success. Quite obvious to anyone who worked in a big organization, those who survived best were not necessarily the fittest but, in more cases than not, those who by birth and personal connections had the breaks." (pp16-17 ibid) The argument being, America escaped the moral inefficacies of the old world, yet it slowly crept back in once it became more profitable - and above all convenient - to be ambitious on a career ladder than ambitious before the nakedness of the sun and stars. Which means it is common to have to lie and conspire in order to get ahead - and how many people are willing to for a nicer car to drive around the neighborhood! The Visible Hand by Alfred D. Chandler, Jr. is a great read corroborating the growth of agglomerated industry, and Joseph Schumpeter's Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy also has some good passages relating to this phenomenon of the homestead getting saturated. But I'm an eternal optimist and see this as the price of progress :)