2 ms·

It’s interesting and kind of sad that the region which was once the frontier of Western society (socially, technologically, etc.) is now often the leader in res

It’s interesting and kind of sad that the region which was once the frontier of Western society (socially, technologically, etc.) is now often the leader in restricting things. There is a theory that American society needs a frontier and without one, problems arise. More and more, I’m buying this idea but unfortunately I think we’ll have to wait a few centuries until serious space colonization becomes a viable thing in the way “escaping to the West” was a thing two hundred years ago. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frontier_Thesis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frontier_Thesis

samtho 3y ago
It’s unfortunate that the everything really becomes enshitified. It’s a slow march as generational knowledge is lost and we collectively forget what we were trying to escape only to be trapped in a cage made of that very thing - only this time, we made it. There is such a bias for bad news to surface that people think society is consistently getting worse and it seems like there is this obsession with using law to “fix” every societal ill when most of these “fixes” just pushes the problem out of view. We have a track record of taking (what we may perceive as) societal issues and turning them into a legal issue, the result of which has contributed to, for example, the United States being a nation with one of the highest (if not, the highest) percentage of its citizens currently incarcerated - a fact we should be absolutely ashamed of, not to mention the treatment of those reentering society. We live in a pseudo police-state who’s laws are written by people who are affected the least by them or consider (or care) about externalities caused by a direct or indirect consequence of the law. We have turned drug use/addiction (by proxy with “possession”) from a medical problem to a legal problem. Some states have done the same with abortion. The content of libraries are being challenged because, “think of the children!” My county criminalizes working on your own vehicles on your own property, and California’s emissions requirements have created an undue burden on those with little means via a smog exemption date that is fixed and the requirement of specific emissions equipment that is frequently stolen, preventing vehicles from keeping registration current without a very costly, multi-thousand dollar repair. This leads to cars being prematurely scrapped because people just simply cannot afford it.
- shiroiuma 3y ago
  These aren't problems with "everything becoming enshittified". The problems you cite are mostly unique to the US among developed nations. Other countries don't have the problems with abortion bans, catalytic converter thefts, etc. that you're seeing in the US, and certainly not the ridiculous incarceration rate.
Aerroon 3y ago
I think the problem is that once a set of rules is in place then people will try to entrench them within those rules for their own benefit (social, monetary etc). Once that happens there isn't a good way to break those entrenchments, so you need to find another frontier or niche to flourish (or create a revolution). This applies to government, businesses, and even regular social interactions. At the heart of it is that people need to feel like they can accomplish something before they even try. There needs to be enough low-hanging fruit for people to grab onto to start the journey. This builds them up more and more. Eventually they do to things that, at first, seemed impossible.

samtho 3y ago

It’s unfortunate that the everything really becomes enshitified. It’s a slow march as generational knowledge is lost and we collectively forget what we were trying to escape only to be trapped in a cage made of that very thing - only this time, we made it. There is such a bias for bad news to surface that people think society is consistently getting worse and it seems like there is this obsession with using law to “fix” every societal ill when most of these “fixes” just pushes the problem out of view. We have a track record of taking (what we may perceive as) societal issues and turning them into a legal issue, the result of which has contributed to, for example, the United States being a nation with one of the highest (if not, the highest) percentage of its citizens currently incarcerated - a fact we should be absolutely ashamed of, not to mention the treatment of those reentering society. We live in a pseudo police-state who’s laws are written by people who are affected the least by them or consider (or care) about externalities caused by a direct or indirect consequence of the law. We have turned drug use/addiction (by proxy with “possession”) from a medical problem to a legal problem. Some states have done the same with abortion. The content of libraries are being challenged because, “think of the children!” My county criminalizes working on your own vehicles on your own property, and California’s emissions requirements have created an undue burden on those with little means via a smog exemption date that is fixed and the requirement of specific emissions equipment that is frequently stolen, preventing vehicles from keeping registration current without a very costly, multi-thousand dollar repair. This leads to cars being prematurely scrapped because people just simply cannot afford it.

shiroiuma 3y ago
These aren't problems with "everything becoming enshittified". The problems you cite are mostly unique to the US among developed nations. Other countries don't have the problems with abortion bans, catalytic converter thefts, etc. that you're seeing in the US, and certainly not the ridiculous incarceration rate.

Aerroon 3y ago

I think the problem is that once a set of rules is in place then people will try to entrench them within those rules for their own benefit (social, monetary etc). Once that happens there isn't a good way to break those entrenchments, so you need to find another frontier or niche to flourish (or create a revolution). This applies to government, businesses, and even regular social interactions. At the heart of it is that people need to feel like they can accomplish something before they even try. There needs to be enough low-hanging fruit for people to grab onto to start the journey. This builds them up more and more. Eventually they do to things that, at first, seemed impossible.