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If your argument is that, all that happened and it all turned out fine: Are you sure we (socioeconomically, on average) are better off today then we were in the

by 827a 2y ago

If your argument is that, all that happened and it all turned out fine: Are you sure we (socioeconomically, on average) are better off today then we were in the 1980s?

baxtr 2y ago
Probably depends who you refer to by "we". On a global level, the answer is definitely yes. Extreme poverty decreased, child mortality decreased, literacy and access to electricity has gone up. Are people unhappier? Maybe. But not because they lack something materially.
- 827a 2y ago
  I think in this case its fair to assume what I meant was "the secretaries whose jobs were replaced in the 80s and people like them", or "the people whose jobs will be replaced with AI today"; not "literally the poorest and least educated people on the planet whose basic hierarchy of needs struggle to be met every day."
milesrout 2y ago
I am sure of that. I think people forget the difference in living conditions then. Things that were common in that era that are rare today: 1. Living in shared accomodation. It was common then for people to live in boarding houses and bedsits as adults. Today these are largely extinct. Generally, the living space per person has increased substantially at every level of wealth. Only students live in this sort of environment today and even then it is usually a flat (ie. sharing with people you know on an equal basis) not a bedsit/boarding house (ie. living in someone's house according to her rules--no ladies in gentlemen's bedrooms, no noise after 8pm, etc.). 2. Second-hand clothes and repairing clothes. Most people wear new clothes. People buy second hand because it is trendy. Nobody really repairs anything because that is all they can afford. People just buy new. Nobody darns socks or puts elbow patches on jackets where they have worn out. Only people that buy expensive shoes get their shoes resoled. Normal people just buy cheap shoes more often and they really do save money doing this. Today the woman that would have been a typist has a different job, and a more productive one that pays more.

by 827a 2y ago

If your argument is that, all that happened and it all turned out fine: Are you sure we (socioeconomically, on average) are better off today then we were in the 1980s?

baxtr 2y ago

Probably depends who you refer to by "we". On a global level, the answer is definitely yes. Extreme poverty decreased, child mortality decreased, literacy and access to electricity has gone up. Are people unhappier? Maybe. But not because they lack something materially.

827a 2y ago
I think in this case its fair to assume what I meant was "the secretaries whose jobs were replaced in the 80s and people like them", or "the people whose jobs will be replaced with AI today"; not "literally the poorest and least educated people on the planet whose basic hierarchy of needs struggle to be met every day."

milesrout 2y ago

I am sure of that. I think people forget the difference in living conditions then. Things that were common in that era that are rare today: 1. Living in shared accomodation. It was common then for people to live in boarding houses and bedsits as adults. Today these are largely extinct. Generally, the living space per person has increased substantially at every level of wealth. Only students live in this sort of environment today and even then it is usually a flat (ie. sharing with people you know on an equal basis) not a bedsit/boarding house (ie. living in someone's house according to her rules--no ladies in gentlemen's bedrooms, no noise after 8pm, etc.). 2. Second-hand clothes and repairing clothes. Most people wear new clothes. People buy second hand because it is trendy. Nobody really repairs anything because that is all they can afford. People just buy new. Nobody darns socks or puts elbow patches on jackets where they have worn out. Only people that buy expensive shoes get their shoes resoled. Normal people just buy cheap shoes more often and they really do save money doing this. Today the woman that would have been a typist has a different job, and a more productive one that pays more.