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People don't set their standard of a good life against a 3000 year old kingdom they've never seen or think about. Nor are they impressed when people resort to m

People don't set their standard of a good life against a 3000 year old kingdom they've never seen or think about. Nor are they impressed when people resort to mining the ancient past or far-off countries for the deepest pits of misery they can find to make things sound good by comparison.

snozolli 2y ago
Nor are they impressed when people resort to mining the ancient past or far-off countries for the deepest pits of misery they can find to make things look good by comparison. Practicing gratitude is a pretty common strategy for combating depression. If young people today in developed nations don't even understand how bad humans used to have it (and still do, in some places), how can they possibly be grateful for what they have? Maybe AI-generated, historical influencers should be a thing. "Walked two miles to the river to fill my clay jug. Set my baby down and a croc took her."
- edflsafoiewq 2y ago
  But it was the Faustian striving ever upwards that built a better world. Anyway, I'm not sure this is gratitude so much as the gratification in having someone you can look down on.
api 2y ago
It's entirely rational to be upset when things get worse, such as housing prices. IMHO housing prices are the big one for most young people in the developed world today... dig into why they're so upset and you get to housing prices pretty fast. I'm talking about deep existential despair and doomerism though, like people discussing suicide or refusing to have children because they're convinced the world is ending because of online discourse and/or paranoia. Edit: speaking of perspective: one of my favorites is to go find a global salary comparison calculator and input my first world tech salary. If you are on this site chances are you are at least in the global 5% if not the global 1%.
goatlover 2y ago
Maybe having a better view of human history would help combat the largely false narrative that things are overall getting worse, and there's little hope for future generations?

snozolli 2y ago

Nor are they impressed when people resort to mining the ancient past or far-off countries for the deepest pits of misery they can find to make things look good by comparison. Practicing gratitude is a pretty common strategy for combating depression. If young people today in developed nations don't even understand how bad humans used to have it (and still do, in some places), how can they possibly be grateful for what they have? Maybe AI-generated, historical influencers should be a thing. "Walked two miles to the river to fill my clay jug. Set my baby down and a croc took her."

edflsafoiewq 2y ago
But it was the Faustian striving ever upwards that built a better world. Anyway, I'm not sure this is gratitude so much as the gratification in having someone you can look down on.

api 2y ago

It's entirely rational to be upset when things get worse, such as housing prices. IMHO housing prices are the big one for most young people in the developed world today... dig into why they're so upset and you get to housing prices pretty fast. I'm talking about deep existential despair and doomerism though, like people discussing suicide or refusing to have children because they're convinced the world is ending because of online discourse and/or paranoia. Edit: speaking of perspective: one of my favorites is to go find a global salary comparison calculator and input my first world tech salary. If you are on this site chances are you are at least in the global 5% if not the global 1%.

goatlover 2y ago

Maybe having a better view of human history would help combat the largely false narrative that things are overall getting worse, and there's little hope for future generations?