4 ms·
Are things really broken, or has our perception changed? Some of both, I think. > Why are so many people jobless? Perception -- Unemployment is lower today th
by starbase 3y ago
Are things really broken, or has our perception changed? Some of both, I think.
> Why are so many people jobless?
Perception -- Unemployment is lower today than in 82 of the last 94 years.
> Why are so many companies going bankrupt?
Perception -- Bankruptcies, currently around 50k companies per year, are also at historic lows. Before about 2015, 100k to 150k was the norm.
> Why so many people are homeless?
Perception -- Homelessness appears to be on the decline, having fallen from 210 per 100k population to 170 per 100k in the span of 10 years.
> Why there are so many people under mental health issues?
I have a several hypotheses on this one.
Broken -- Lifestyles in the developed world have evolved faster than our biology. Men have few paths to fulfill their drive to build and conquer. Women have few (if any) children to nurture. And children have little unsupervised play and exploration, and practically zero responsibility. These stresses push some people (e.g., the man who would build a home on the frontier but can't bear an office job) over the brink and into mental illness.
Broken -- In the past, people with severe mental illness were less likely to reproduce. Many were institutionalized, killed, or left to their own devices. This limited the proliferation of genes that code for mental illness. Now that we've spent several generations trying to keep everyone comfortably afloat, it's only natural that we see more people carrying (and expressing) genes that code for mental illness. Same principle explains the increase in other conditions that are no longer likely to be fatal: Asthma, poor eyesight, premature birth, etc.
Perception -- We diagnose more often (and for less severe cases) and the taboo against having a mental illness is lower than it used to be.
- jsjsof 3y agoFunny how you trust numbers fudged by politicians more than your perception.
- VirusNewbie 3y agoInsightful, I agree with a lot of these. A lot of my peer group somewhat reluctantly had kids, and were pleasantly surprised by the experience of having families and settling down. A handful of very left leaning female friends eschewed pursuing relationships for career growth and academia, and they are quite vocally regretful of not having families. I'm not saying societal pressure to pair up and have a family was always good in all circumstances, but for a subset of the population, it was probably a net win to be 'pressured' into marriage and kids. Finally, I do think the fall of organized religion plays into this. When I attended a somewhat liberal church, I would regularly talk to people of all age groups, of various political leanings and careers and economic groups. Now that I'm not attending church, I mostly interact with other intelligent tech folks who are well to do, or their wives/girlfriends/husbands, or people in my neighborhood (who are also well off). I can see how this might slowly breed tribalism and an echo chamber, and I'm sure it applies in other areas as well.
- admissionsguy 3y ago> Perception -- We diagnose more often (and for less severe cases) and the taboo against having a mental illness is lower than it used to be. I am certain that perception is the correct explanation for the last one as well. And I bet mental wellbeing is at historic highs now. Anecdotally, looking at my family history two generations back, they were monumentally fucked up, but that was the norm. This also holds generally. Only very recently has the norm shifted such that basically everyone (in the West) is seen as having the right to a degree of self-actualization and happiness, and consequently mental distress is recognized as a problem (though arguably there is still a long way to go).