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Why is everyone so nihilistic, but only in the short-term? To think success requires winning a zero-sum game, but forgetting that the winner is still a puny hum

Why is everyone so nihilistic, but only in the short-term? To think success requires winning a zero-sum game, but forgetting that the winner is still a puny human in a meaningless universe. Of course there are still achievements to strive towards. There are personal goals. There is the appreciation of your peers. There is social capital to convince others. I think the countless grassroots movements stand as tribute to this. And not just open-source software, but countless online forums and communities dedicated to making the world a better place. If your children have the best (as discussed above) opportunities thrust upon them, why must you spit in the face of good fortune, claiming your children would be better off if other children had fewer opportunities? In such a theoretical and hopefully future society, I think power itself becomes much less consequential. What's the point of power if you have everything you want. Or do you think if everyone's happy, they'll gladly follow some mad power-hungry lunatic into genocide just for shits and giggles?

p-e-w 3y ago
> What's the point of power if you have everything you want. To those that seek power, it is an end, not a means. And there is no limit to what people want. Indeed, it expands faster than real possibilities do. By the standards of a thousand years ago, even today's "poor" people live like kings. But that doesn't mean anything. A "post-scarcity" society would resemble the society of today far more closely than most people realize.
- orbisvicis 3y ago
  > To those that seek power, it is an end, not a means. Perhaps that's just a psychological condition inculcated by modern society. > today's "poor" people live like kings. The actual standard of living doesn't matter as relatively poor people continue to make poor short-term economic decisions even after escaping poverty. That's why it's often called a disease.

p-e-w 3y ago

> What's the point of power if you have everything you want. To those that seek power, it is an end, not a means. And there is no limit to what people want. Indeed, it expands faster than real possibilities do. By the standards of a thousand years ago, even today's "poor" people live like kings. But that doesn't mean anything. A "post-scarcity" society would resemble the society of today far more closely than most people realize.

orbisvicis 3y ago
> To those that seek power, it is an end, not a means. Perhaps that's just a psychological condition inculcated by modern society. > today's "poor" people live like kings. The actual standard of living doesn't matter as relatively poor people continue to make poor short-term economic decisions even after escaping poverty. That's why it's often called a disease.