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Because - speaking from a lot of experience, both personally and professionally - human beings hate bad news. They reject the wet blankets, the naysayers, the d

Because - speaking from a lot of experience, both personally and professionally - human beings hate bad news. They reject the wet blankets, the naysayers, the doomers, the party poopers...you get the idea. I mean, the fact we have so many metaphors for the act of being the person giving a group bad news, should tell you how poorly humans look on it. Humans want to believe the sun will rise tomorrow, the birds will sing, the lines will go up, and everything will be fine (or better) than it was yesterday. This attitude is especially prominent in tech. There's a very real desire to immediately replace whatever was old with whatever is new, regardless of utility or viability. We're participants in (or supporters of) a system of startup-expansion-acquisition-repeat that only focuses on building something new that has a perceived valuation, not something that's actually beneficial. There's no attitude to look back or be objective, because tomorrow will just be better anyway. So when your business leaders, capital investors, regulators, engineers, and developers are all "high on their own supply" of new > old and complex > simple, that attitude seeps out into other aspects of society as a whole. Nobody likes naysayers who are right. It's just our curse, I guess.

anal_reactor 2y ago
> I mean, the fact we have so many metaphors for the act of being the person giving a group bad news, should tell you how poorly humans look on it. Who told you this? Because science shows again and again that humans respond stronger to negative stimuli than positive. This is also why media is mostly filled with bad news, and "good news only channels" always fail. BTW we have so many words for people who bring bad news unnecessarily exactly because people overreact to bad news, and quite often it reaches comical proportions, and needs to be called out. Like the guy who shows up at a party just to tell everyone that every beer shortens the lifespan for one minute. And even if what you say is true, think about it: this is a mechanism that has somehow evolved across all cultures independently. Either this, or it is a biological atittude, predating the idea of "culture". Therefore, it's not a stretch to assume that it has its purpose, and "people doing whatever they have been doing for thousands of years" is NOT a reason to panic.
- johnnyanmac 2y ago
  >science shows again and again that humans respond stronger to negative stimuli than positive. just because we respond more doesn't mean we like it more. they only trust the fear instillled on them by whatever authority they worship. They will dismiss it from peer and even family. That's one factor in why the nuclear family is shredding apart as a concept.
  - anal_reactor 2y ago
    > they only trust the fear instillled on them by whatever authority they worship Of course they do. Imagine walking down the street, seeing a homeless guy on drugs yelling that the end is coming, and being shit scared that the end is truly coming.
    - johnnyanmac 2y ago
      Yes. But again, this authority is "people they see on TV" over their trusted family and friends (who I assume, aren't homeless doomees. I hope). That's just such an inverse of the human element.
      - anal_reactor 2y ago
        > That's just such an inverse of the human element. It's almost like believing your village's shaman more than your own family. Or believing your priest more than believing your family. Or believing the king more than believing your family. Truly unprecedented times we've found ourselves in.
        johnnyanmac 2y ago
        Yes, exactly. You're being facetious but I don't go to my metaphorical priest for opinions on the best fashion. I don't go to a shaman for financial advice. And I don't trust a king telling me my kid is fine as she's clearly not breathing. We had centuries of specialization to not rely on one all knowing person for everything. Through TV it's not even like you can consult such people anyway. I'm not even entirely convinced most actually trust the administration. I've just seen enough people who'd rather die than ever admit they were wrong. Not much you can do at that point of fatal pride.
licebmi__at__ 2y ago
Hard disagree, people were quick to believe that migrants were eating pets, that trans people were taking over the country, that cancel culture was destroying free speech, even that a cabal of satanic pedophiles were operating on a pizza place. Not only they were willing to believe, but actively pursued media that agreed with their biases of how awful things really were and how worse were getting.

anal_reactor 2y ago

> I mean, the fact we have so many metaphors for the act of being the person giving a group bad news, should tell you how poorly humans look on it. Who told you this? Because science shows again and again that humans respond stronger to negative stimuli than positive. This is also why media is mostly filled with bad news, and "good news only channels" always fail. BTW we have so many words for people who bring bad news unnecessarily exactly because people overreact to bad news, and quite often it reaches comical proportions, and needs to be called out. Like the guy who shows up at a party just to tell everyone that every beer shortens the lifespan for one minute. And even if what you say is true, think about it: this is a mechanism that has somehow evolved across all cultures independently. Either this, or it is a biological atittude, predating the idea of "culture". Therefore, it's not a stretch to assume that it has its purpose, and "people doing whatever they have been doing for thousands of years" is NOT a reason to panic.

johnnyanmac 2y ago
>science shows again and again that humans respond stronger to negative stimuli than positive. just because we respond more doesn't mean we like it more. they only trust the fear instillled on them by whatever authority they worship. They will dismiss it from peer and even family. That's one factor in why the nuclear family is shredding apart as a concept.
- anal_reactor 2y ago
  > they only trust the fear instillled on them by whatever authority they worship Of course they do. Imagine walking down the street, seeing a homeless guy on drugs yelling that the end is coming, and being shit scared that the end is truly coming.
  - johnnyanmac 2y ago
    Yes. But again, this authority is "people they see on TV" over their trusted family and friends (who I assume, aren't homeless doomees. I hope). That's just such an inverse of the human element.
    - anal_reactor 2y ago
      > That's just such an inverse of the human element. It's almost like believing your village's shaman more than your own family. Or believing your priest more than believing your family. Or believing the king more than believing your family. Truly unprecedented times we've found ourselves in.
      - johnnyanmac 2y ago
        Yes, exactly. You're being facetious but I don't go to my metaphorical priest for opinions on the best fashion. I don't go to a shaman for financial advice. And I don't trust a king telling me my kid is fine as she's clearly not breathing. We had centuries of specialization to not rely on one all knowing person for everything. Through TV it's not even like you can consult such people anyway. I'm not even entirely convinced most actually trust the administration. I've just seen enough people who'd rather die than ever admit they were wrong. Not much you can do at that point of fatal pride.

licebmi__at__ 2y ago

Hard disagree, people were quick to believe that migrants were eating pets, that trans people were taking over the country, that cancel culture was destroying free speech, even that a cabal of satanic pedophiles were operating on a pizza place. Not only they were willing to believe, but actively pursued media that agreed with their biases of how awful things really were and how worse were getting.