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Strongly disagree with this take. > If you look at Robert Sapolsky's work into primate societies and neuroendocrinology, he'll tell you that inequality is one

Strongly disagree with this take. > If you look at Robert Sapolsky's work into primate societies and neuroendocrinology, he'll tell you that inequality is one of the biggest stressors of primate tribes, and the implications for humans are obvious. Yet inequality grows ever greater Are the billionaires of the world really part of your tribe (the core set of people you interact with daily)? If not, then the only reason you spend any mental energy on these people is because of your media diet (which is under your control). You are going out of your way to ruminate over these people's lives - - what good is that doing? The person in your mirror decides how your time and energy is spent, you have the power to spend that time and energy on better things than what amounts to jealousy. > I'd look also at children. We just don't have as many of them as we once did Lower birth rate is highly correlated with affluence and education. The explanation for changing demographics is more complicated than "ennui". The world is far from perfect and some things are certainly trending for the worse - - but I think life is getting much better overall. Check out this classic talk [0] for a good summary, and check out this article [1] for an explanation why progress can be hard to notice. [0] https://www.ted.com/talks/steven_pinker_is_the_world_getting_better_or_worse_a_look_at_the_numbers https://www.ted.com/talks/steven_pinker_is_the_world_getting... [1] https://rabbitholemag.com/how-progress-blinds-people-to-progress/ https://rabbitholemag.com/how-progress-blinds-people-to-prog...

philomath_mn 4y ago
Also: > I agree that the late 19th to mid 20th century time period sounds amazing When was the last time you had a tooth pulled without pain killers or antibiotics? How many of your siblings died from cholera, smallpox, or measles? How many were crippled by polio? How many women have you known who died during childbirth? What percentage of the population lived and died as slaves then vs now? That time period was only good for the rare subset of people "worth" writing about, and even they encountered a great deal more suffering and hardship than we are likely to experience. The few minutes you spent typing this comment, in a temperature controlled room, free from severe hunger, out of immediate danger, likely without a serious illness, would probably have been the most peaceful and comfortable moment in the lives of most of the people from that period.
hotpotamus 4y ago
I suppose a billionaire was the leader of my tribe for many years until I was laid off from that company last year. So my livelihood and healthcare were dependent on his whims which is incredibly stressful. Like multiple people crying on conference calls stressful. As for the birthrate, I'm sure it's far from simple, but women report wanting more children then they actually have - it would suggest that something is stopping them from reaching that ideal, wouldn't it? And as for your other comment, yes I think many of the advances of that period were extraordinary which is why I think it was such an amazing period of time. Surgery was just barely practical at the start and by the mid 20th we were transplanting organs. Polio was eradicated in that time period and childhood disease was greatly reduced as well. It was in fact the heyday of antibiotics - they were novel and resistant bacteria hadn't developed yet. I've listened to Steven Pinker and Lyman Stone and James Pethokoukis and Arthur Brooks and plenty of other American Enterprise Institute approved talking heads who they like to trot out to tell me that actually unlimited greed is a good thing and we just don't know why Americans are more unhappy than ever and dying en masse younger than they used to of cirrhosis and fentanyl overdose and self-inflicted gunshot wounds. I keep trying to see the same clothes on the Emperor that they tell me they see, but he just looks naked to me.

philomath_mn 4y ago

Also: > I agree that the late 19th to mid 20th century time period sounds amazing When was the last time you had a tooth pulled without pain killers or antibiotics? How many of your siblings died from cholera, smallpox, or measles? How many were crippled by polio? How many women have you known who died during childbirth? What percentage of the population lived and died as slaves then vs now? That time period was only good for the rare subset of people "worth" writing about, and even they encountered a great deal more suffering and hardship than we are likely to experience. The few minutes you spent typing this comment, in a temperature controlled room, free from severe hunger, out of immediate danger, likely without a serious illness, would probably have been the most peaceful and comfortable moment in the lives of most of the people from that period.

hotpotamus 4y ago

I suppose a billionaire was the leader of my tribe for many years until I was laid off from that company last year. So my livelihood and healthcare were dependent on his whims which is incredibly stressful. Like multiple people crying on conference calls stressful. As for the birthrate, I'm sure it's far from simple, but women report wanting more children then they actually have - it would suggest that something is stopping them from reaching that ideal, wouldn't it? And as for your other comment, yes I think many of the advances of that period were extraordinary which is why I think it was such an amazing period of time. Surgery was just barely practical at the start and by the mid 20th we were transplanting organs. Polio was eradicated in that time period and childhood disease was greatly reduced as well. It was in fact the heyday of antibiotics - they were novel and resistant bacteria hadn't developed yet. I've listened to Steven Pinker and Lyman Stone and James Pethokoukis and Arthur Brooks and plenty of other American Enterprise Institute approved talking heads who they like to trot out to tell me that actually unlimited greed is a good thing and we just don't know why Americans are more unhappy than ever and dying en masse younger than they used to of cirrhosis and fentanyl overdose and self-inflicted gunshot wounds. I keep trying to see the same clothes on the Emperor that they tell me they see, but he just looks naked to me.