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No way to approach this other than gross simplification, but we have seen generally that as technology improves, standard of living goes up. Autonomous machines
by alansaber 7mo ago
No way to approach this other than gross simplification, but we have seen generally that as technology improves, standard of living goes up. Autonomous machines breaking that trend, maybe, the only argument I find persuasive is that it makes the centralisation of power easier.
- miltonlost 7mo ago> , standard of living goes up For some of humanity, perhaps. For the rest of the planet being destroyed, warmed up, bleached, demolished, turned into data centers, all this technology is destructive.
- pylua 7mo agoDo you think people are happier now than they were in the 80s/90s/00s? I don’t think so, at least not in the us. Granted I was younger during those times .
- zozbot234 7mo agoYes, dramatically so. The 1980s and 1990s sucked, we live in the future.
- kjkjadksj 7mo agoLook at home prices and then tell me it sucked.
- zozbot234 7mo agoWhat home prices? There are many places (second-rate cities or rural) where home prices are just fine. Not everyone has to live in SF.
- cheesecompiler 7mo agoHousing prices are not binary: they have skyrocket in every major city and city-adjacent suburb. The middle class has consistently declined since the 70s.
- kg 7mo agoWe periodically see posts on HN about the 'loneliness epidemic' and simultaneously the solution for home prices is to live in a rural area where you have maybe two neighbors and it's a 30-minute drive to see your friends or colleagues. As someone who grew up in a rural area I don't miss it and I think people who call it a good standard of living have interesting criteria. That cheaper rural home also comes with secondary costs, like a longer commute.
- deaux 7mo agoI was very much there during the 1990s, people were median happier than in 2026. Unless you mean globally, in which case it's near impossible to tell. But GP likely meant the US or Europe.
- anal_reactor 7mo ago> But GP likely meant the US or Europe. Reminds me of movies "Aliens attack Earth. By Earth by obviously mean USA. By USA we obviously mean New York City. By New York City we obviously mean Manhattan.". Half of Europe was literally undergoing complete economic collapse in 90's.
- deaux 7mo agoYour supposed connection of country-level economic situation and happiness reminds me of this great comment: "I can't stand the conflation of "satisfied" and "happy." It's insane. There is more happiness in one Zimbabwean (country "happiness" rank: 143) than in one hundred Icelanders (country "happiness" rank: 2, worldwide antidepressant consumption rank: 1.) Go stand in a crowd of people and count the fucking smiles and the fucking laughter. "It is all part of this broader wave of newspeak. If you can quite literally redefine happiness, you can redefine anything. Nothing has meaning anymore. You will live alone, you will consume antidepressants, you will be protected from the sunlight, you will not smile, you will not laugh, and you will be happy." [0] [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46295573 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46295573
- anal_reactor 7mo agoHmmmm maybe economic success removes discomforts which removes unhappiness but this means that moments of happiness don't feel as good compared to the baseline. Like, people in rich countries are more stably content, while people in poor countries have more emotional variance over time.
- tasuki 7mo agoWhich half?