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They survived in the past by having low expectations and knowing hardship was a fact of life. And also that life was unfair to the extreme.

by e40 3y ago

voxl 3y ago
I would argue that they didn't survive, unless they were predisposed to it. If you were depressed 500 years ago you died.
- johnchristopher 3y ago
  I don't follow your take. If you were sick 500 years ago your survival chances were low. If you are sick today your survival chances are lower (but not as much). Why is depression any different ?
- tim333 3y ago
  Depression must have had some survival value or it would have evolved out.
  - badpun 3y ago
    Same could be said of hunger or tiredness. In other words, depression can be an unwanted, but inevitable byproduct of our internal workings - same as being tired is.
    - tim333 3y ago
      My guess is it caused people to stay home and keep their head down when things were going badly. Which may have been functional in a violent tribal ancestral environment but maladapted for the modern world.
- e40 3y ago
  I disagree. Life 500 years ago was a constant struggle to stay alive. That left very little time to sit around and be depressed. For those humans, at that time, who were mentally ill, I agree, they either died from exposure or were protected by other humans. That protection was expensive, though, and wasn't available to many families.
  - lilbaby 3y ago
    Why would you want to survive, though. Just for the sake of it? Actually it feels somewhat unfair, how hard it is to die, nowadays. You literally have to commit a violent act towards your body to do it. I'd love to just sort of blamelessly die by exposure or something. No fault of mine and no fucking life on Earth, thank you very much.
DoesntMatter22 3y ago
This sums up so well the current state of the world. Quality of life is relatively high so people expect a lot. For most of human history life was extremely hard, tons of death during child birth and diseases running rampant. Not to mention you don't have enough food. Now life js unfair if you can't afford the latest iPhone. Not a criticism of OP, because indie startup stuff is very hard, relativly.
- johnchristopher 3y ago
  > Now life js unfair if you can't afford the latest iPhone. Not once in my life have I heard anybody saying life is unfair because they can't afford an iPhone (or a ps5 or whatever expensive but dispensable good), except from children or teenagers. But I have heard it from people who couldn't find jobs or had to work two jobs to barely make rent and couldn't plan to have children and raise kids. Or from people who couldn't afford an education at the right time to get their adult life on tracks.
  - DoesntMatter22 3y ago
    Oh I've heard it from adults before. Were they acting like children? Sure. Even so, in the past, children were working pretty hard themselves to try to eek out an existence with their parents and the concept of life being unfair because you couldn't have a device wasn't even a thought.
    - johnchristopher 3y ago
      > Even so, in the past, children were working pretty hard themselves to try to eek out an existence with their parents and the concept of life being unfair because you couldn't have a device wasn't even a thought. Damn Fair Labor Standards Act and that pesky National Child Labor Committee and that man, am I right ? edit, because it scratches me: > Sure. Even so, in the past, children were working pretty hard themselves to try to eek out an existence with their parents and the concept of life being unfair because you couldn't have a device wasn't even a thought. Don't know which specific past you are referring to but I'd venture to guess that there were far fewer of such inaccessible goods though. Anyway. I'd rather live in a present where children (and adults ?) think life is unfair because they can't have an iPhone than a present in which children are forced to work in coal mines or plants so their whole family don't die from starvation. That's not what's wrong with the world today.
aquarkortwo 3y ago
They also had strong communities in many cultures/cases. Community, "sharing the load", and having a sense of purpose (e.g. kids, community members) helps a huge amount.

They survived in the past by having low expectations and knowing hardship was a fact of life. And also that life was unfair to the extreme.

by e40 3y ago

They survived in the past by having low expectations and knowing hardship was a fact of life. And also that life was unfair to the extreme.

voxl 3y ago

I would argue that they didn't survive, unless they were predisposed to it. If you were depressed 500 years ago you died.

johnchristopher 3y ago
I don't follow your take. If you were sick 500 years ago your survival chances were low. If you are sick today your survival chances are lower (but not as much). Why is depression any different ?
tim333 3y ago
Depression must have had some survival value or it would have evolved out.
- badpun 3y ago
  Same could be said of hunger or tiredness. In other words, depression can be an unwanted, but inevitable byproduct of our internal workings - same as being tired is.
  - tim333 3y ago
    My guess is it caused people to stay home and keep their head down when things were going badly. Which may have been functional in a violent tribal ancestral environment but maladapted for the modern world.
e40 3y ago
I disagree. Life 500 years ago was a constant struggle to stay alive. That left very little time to sit around and be depressed. For those humans, at that time, who were mentally ill, I agree, they either died from exposure or were protected by other humans. That protection was expensive, though, and wasn't available to many families.
- lilbaby 3y ago
  Why would you want to survive, though. Just for the sake of it? Actually it feels somewhat unfair, how hard it is to die, nowadays. You literally have to commit a violent act towards your body to do it. I'd love to just sort of blamelessly die by exposure or something. No fault of mine and no fucking life on Earth, thank you very much.

DoesntMatter22 3y ago

This sums up so well the current state of the world. Quality of life is relatively high so people expect a lot. For most of human history life was extremely hard, tons of death during child birth and diseases running rampant. Not to mention you don't have enough food. Now life js unfair if you can't afford the latest iPhone. Not a criticism of OP, because indie startup stuff is very hard, relativly.

johnchristopher 3y ago
> Now life js unfair if you can't afford the latest iPhone. Not once in my life have I heard anybody saying life is unfair because they can't afford an iPhone (or a ps5 or whatever expensive but dispensable good), except from children or teenagers. But I have heard it from people who couldn't find jobs or had to work two jobs to barely make rent and couldn't plan to have children and raise kids. Or from people who couldn't afford an education at the right time to get their adult life on tracks.
- DoesntMatter22 3y ago
  Oh I've heard it from adults before. Were they acting like children? Sure. Even so, in the past, children were working pretty hard themselves to try to eek out an existence with their parents and the concept of life being unfair because you couldn't have a device wasn't even a thought.
  - johnchristopher 3y ago
    > Even so, in the past, children were working pretty hard themselves to try to eek out an existence with their parents and the concept of life being unfair because you couldn't have a device wasn't even a thought. Damn Fair Labor Standards Act and that pesky National Child Labor Committee and that man, am I right ? edit, because it scratches me: > Sure. Even so, in the past, children were working pretty hard themselves to try to eek out an existence with their parents and the concept of life being unfair because you couldn't have a device wasn't even a thought. Don't know which specific past you are referring to but I'd venture to guess that there were far fewer of such inaccessible goods though. Anyway. I'd rather live in a present where children (and adults ?) think life is unfair because they can't have an iPhone than a present in which children are forced to work in coal mines or plants so their whole family don't die from starvation. That's not what's wrong with the world today.

aquarkortwo 3y ago

They also had strong communities in many cultures/cases. Community, "sharing the load", and having a sense of purpose (e.g. kids, community members) helps a huge amount.