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The Zen of learned helplessness? Meh. We do ourselves a disservice by teaching an idealized picture of history. The world has been a terrible, awful place fo

by kromem 4y ago

The Zen of learned helplessness? Meh. We do ourselves a disservice by teaching an idealized picture of history. The world has been a terrible, awful place for nearly all of its existence. This right now is probably the golden age relative to the rest of it, but we're so caught up in our doom scrolling that it FEELS overwhelmingly bad. Yes, bad things happen to people around the world. But bad things have always been happening to people around the world. The average person just generally wasn't aware unless it was happening to them. We're spoiled with a modernity privilege we can't see and thus can't appreciate. If learned helplessness is the trick that makes life tolerable, by all means go for it. To each their own. But no, it's not worse than we think. It's better than we realize.

quickthrower2 4y ago
The article is more of a thought experiment technique than a water cooler rant.
hourago 4y ago
"In April of 1815, Mount Tambora exploded in a powerful eruption that killed tens of thousands of people on the Indonesian island of Sumbawa. The following year became known as the “year without a summer” when unusually cold, wet conditions swept across Europe and North America." Yep. People do not realize how uncertain the world was back then. You may get a year of lack of food without even knowing why. Today we know much more, and that may overwhelm us. But not knowing and not be able to do anything is worse.
goodpoint 4y ago
> The Zen of learned helplessness? You are very much missing the point. > This right now is probably the golden age relative to the rest of it, but we're so caught up in our doom scrolling that it FEELS overwhelmingly bad. How it feels is what really matters. There's little benefit in having a much better material life than any king from the past if people are unhappy. The developed world is facing an unprecedented mental health crisis especially around depression and anxiety and you cannot handwave it away by calling people "spoiled". The typical HN starry-eyed techno-optimism is not helpful.

by kromem 4y ago

quickthrower2 4y ago

The article is more of a thought experiment technique than a water cooler rant.

hourago 4y ago

"In April of 1815, Mount Tambora exploded in a powerful eruption that killed tens of thousands of people on the Indonesian island of Sumbawa. The following year became known as the “year without a summer” when unusually cold, wet conditions swept across Europe and North America." Yep. People do not realize how uncertain the world was back then. You may get a year of lack of food without even knowing why. Today we know much more, and that may overwhelm us. But not knowing and not be able to do anything is worse.

goodpoint 4y ago

> The Zen of learned helplessness? You are very much missing the point. > This right now is probably the golden age relative to the rest of it, but we're so caught up in our doom scrolling that it FEELS overwhelmingly bad. How it feels is what really matters. There's little benefit in having a much better material life than any king from the past if people are unhappy. The developed world is facing an unprecedented mental health crisis especially around depression and anxiety and you cannot handwave it away by calling people "spoiled". The typical HN starry-eyed techno-optimism is not helpful.