3 ms·

It's awfully reductionist to describe the whole of personal computing, the internet, and mobile phones as "Netflix in your pocket". I recognize that household

It's awfully reductionist to describe the whole of personal computing, the internet, and mobile phones as "Netflix in your pocket". I recognize that household income has stagnated and there's significant disparity in wealth. However, if you're going to claim that the median standard of living has decreased in most of the West over the last 50 years, you're going to need to cite some evidence. It's shocking to see pushback on the transformative nature of modern computing on Hacker News of all places.

simiones 5y ago
Looking at the inequality-adjusted human development index, the USA has seen a decrease in this measure between 2010 and now at least: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_inequality-adjusted_Human_Development_Index https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_inequalit...
- nkohari 5y ago
  The USA and Spain are the only Western countries with decreases in their IHDI scores since 2010, and they are extremely small decreases. This data effectively disproves the statement "Standards of living have decreased in much of the US and EU".
base698 5y ago
Technopoly is a great book. It opens with this: > Thamus inquired into the use of each of them, and as Theuth went through them expressed approval or disapproval, according as he judged Theuth’s claims to be well or ill founded. It would take too long to go through all that Thamus is reported to have said for and against each of Theuth’s inventions. But when it came to writing, Theuth declared, “Here is an accomplishment, my lord the King, which will improve both the wisdom and the memory of the Egyptians. I have discovered a sure receipt for memory and wisdom.” To this, Thamus replied, “Theuth, my paragon of inventors, the discoverer of an art is not the best judge of the good or harm which will accrue to those who practice it. So it is in this; you, who are the father of writing, have out of fondness for your off-spring attributed to it quite the opposite of its real function. Those who acquire it will cease to exercise their memory and become forgetful; they will rely on writing to bring things to their remembrance by external signs instead of by their own internal resources. What you have discovered is a receipt for recollection, not for memory. And as for wisdom, your pupils will have the reputation for it without the reality: they will receive a quantity of information without proper instruction, and in consequence be thought very knowledgeable when they are for the most part quite ignorant. And because they are filled with the conceit of wisdom instead of real wisdom they will be a burden to society.”

simiones 5y ago

Looking at the inequality-adjusted human development index, the USA has seen a decrease in this measure between 2010 and now at least: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_inequality-adjusted_Human_Development_Index https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_inequalit...

nkohari 5y ago
The USA and Spain are the only Western countries with decreases in their IHDI scores since 2010, and they are extremely small decreases. This data effectively disproves the statement "Standards of living have decreased in much of the US and EU".

base698 5y ago

Technopoly is a great book. It opens with this: > Thamus inquired into the use of each of them, and as Theuth went through them expressed approval or disapproval, according as he judged Theuth’s claims to be well or ill founded. It would take too long to go through all that Thamus is reported to have said for and against each of Theuth’s inventions. But when it came to writing, Theuth declared, “Here is an accomplishment, my lord the King, which will improve both the wisdom and the memory of the Egyptians. I have discovered a sure receipt for memory and wisdom.” To this, Thamus replied, “Theuth, my paragon of inventors, the discoverer of an art is not the best judge of the good or harm which will accrue to those who practice it. So it is in this; you, who are the father of writing, have out of fondness for your off-spring attributed to it quite the opposite of its real function. Those who acquire it will cease to exercise their memory and become forgetful; they will rely on writing to bring things to their remembrance by external signs instead of by their own internal resources. What you have discovered is a receipt for recollection, not for memory. And as for wisdom, your pupils will have the reputation for it without the reality: they will receive a quantity of information without proper instruction, and in consequence be thought very knowledgeable when they are for the most part quite ignorant. And because they are filled with the conceit of wisdom instead of real wisdom they will be a burden to society.”