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> But I can't understand the attitudes of people who are choosing to move to such a place where access to water is such a risk. Denial is incredibly powerful.

> But I can't understand the attitudes of people who are choosing to move to such a place where access to water is such a risk. Denial is incredibly powerful. Most people can't really comprehend that there isn't enough water in that region (even though it should be obvious). We've lived in a time of plenty for so long the idea that something as fundamental as water could be limited just seems impossible. You see this everywhere, and only tend to notice the denial when the problems don't impact you. Comments pointing out concerns that impact tech or everyone are frequently downvoted to oblivion here on HN. I saw a comment claiming that democracy in the US has been under threat, something no one who was observing the US from outside would deny, get downvoted to oblivion and decried as pure hyperbole. We're all living in a constant and escalating state of cognitive dissonance, the world around is collapsing in multiple ways, but locally you aren't allowed to acknowledge this. The "this is fine meme" summarizes our current environment perfectly.

patrick451 4y ago
That may all be true. But we've also had chicken littles screaming about the falling sky since the beginning of time. Y2k comes to mind. I was in high school at the time, and still remember all the breathless articles. The trains would stop, the water treatment plants would fail, the traffic lights would go haywire. Somewhere within each semi truck, grid sub-station and bank mainframe was a tiny ticking time bomb that would rollover in a few short months to 00 and implode into chaos. For the want of a few bits, the implements of modern life would become useless hunks of scrap. The crusty cobol programmers were working round the clock to stop it but there simply weren't enough of them or the source code was missing or nobody had a compiler anymore. We were doomed. Turns out, the damned lights didn't even flicker at midnight. And with rise of click-driven journalism, it's even worse.
- emptyparadise 4y ago
  Do you think Y2K fixed itself?

patrick451 4y ago

That may all be true. But we've also had chicken littles screaming about the falling sky since the beginning of time. Y2k comes to mind. I was in high school at the time, and still remember all the breathless articles. The trains would stop, the water treatment plants would fail, the traffic lights would go haywire. Somewhere within each semi truck, grid sub-station and bank mainframe was a tiny ticking time bomb that would rollover in a few short months to 00 and implode into chaos. For the want of a few bits, the implements of modern life would become useless hunks of scrap. The crusty cobol programmers were working round the clock to stop it but there simply weren't enough of them or the source code was missing or nobody had a compiler anymore. We were doomed. Turns out, the damned lights didn't even flicker at midnight. And with rise of click-driven journalism, it's even worse.

emptyparadise 4y ago
Do you think Y2K fixed itself?