3 ms·

You gotta love a society which persistently makes the world a worse and worse place and then complains when people don't want to have sex or have kids. I'm not

You gotta love a society which persistently makes the world a worse and worse place and then complains when people don't want to have sex or have kids. I'm not one of those weirdos who can't see that materially in some superficial ways, our lives are better than ever: medicine, toys, entertainment, and a lot of other stuff, better than ever. Not only that, I can even acknowledge that capitalism is what has provided this bounty to us. But what it also does is underline all the time that you, personally are not "adequate" unless you want to be the kind of person who hustles all the time, who is seeking an angle or an alpha, who wants to be an entrepreneur of some kind. I think this just doesn't appeal to most people the message society is sending loud and clear is that if you just want to have a nice life and you don't want to constantly figure out new ways to improve your capital, you'll get left behind. I think for many people this doesn't seem like a cool world to have a baby in.

praptak 1y ago
Even the purely materialistic improvements have negative externalities which the rich western countries could mostly ignore but cannot anymore. I'm obviously talking the climate catastrophe plus the huge bunch of political problems.
- gosub100 1y ago
  Negative externalities like having jobs and higher quality of life?
  - praptak 1y ago
    Like producing enough carbon dioxide to change the climate.
AnimalMuppet 1y ago
I think it's more than just "you aren't adequate". I think it's that the material prosperity isn't feeding our souls, or our hearts, or whatever word you want to use. We're better off, but less connected, and we need personal connection, not just internet connection. We're dying inside, even in the midst of all the stuff. We're poor in a way that material prosperity can't fix.
- nathan_compton 1y ago
  I think its actually counterproductive to use words like soul or heart or whatever, since these things aren't real. We need to figure out how to articulate what counts as healthy for humans without reference to bullshit.

praptak 1y ago

Even the purely materialistic improvements have negative externalities which the rich western countries could mostly ignore but cannot anymore. I'm obviously talking the climate catastrophe plus the huge bunch of political problems.

gosub100 1y ago
Negative externalities like having jobs and higher quality of life?
- praptak 1y ago
  Like producing enough carbon dioxide to change the climate.

AnimalMuppet 1y ago

I think it's more than just "you aren't adequate". I think it's that the material prosperity isn't feeding our souls, or our hearts, or whatever word you want to use. We're better off, but less connected, and we need personal connection, not just internet connection. We're dying inside, even in the midst of all the stuff. We're poor in a way that material prosperity can't fix.

nathan_compton 1y ago
I think its actually counterproductive to use words like soul or heart or whatever, since these things aren't real. We need to figure out how to articulate what counts as healthy for humans without reference to bullshit.