QuilotoaWe live in one of the best times in the history of humanity, but many are frustrated because the last generation had it better.
No because we feel like we are on a downward trajectory…
yep. Rand calls it neomedievalism, where we’re going back to the peasant/noble tiers
Ayn Rand???
Nope! Corporation Rand
Not-So-Great Powers: U.S.-China Rivalry in the Neomedieval Age
At the same time that the U.S. Congress deliberated on legislation to counter China, it remained gridlocked over national debt limits. The current political acrimony adds to persistent American problems of wavering economic growth, bitter partisan feuding, and record levels of gun violence, among other long-standing issues. Meanwhile, Beijing’s demands that the United States “correct” […]
That’s the trouble. We feel like we are, but in fact, we are not. Hunger has decreased incredibly over the last decades. Infectious diseases are way down. The standard of living is way up over the last three decades. The tools and technologies available to us are far beyond what former generations even dreamed of. Global conflict deaths are down. The average lifespan has double since 1900.
The average lifespan has double since 1900.
Which is another way of saying child mortality is down, but wait! Look what direction that is trending!
Hunger has decreased incredibly over the last decades.
Food insecurity is currently a big problem for American children and families.
Infectious diseases are way down.
We just ended vaccine mandates, ended funding for RNA vaccines, and infectious diseases are on the rise.
The tools and technologies available to us are far beyond what former generations even dreamed of.
And largely are subscription services designed to prey on us rather than make life easier. I have a robot vacuum that takes more effort and maintenance than my grandparents’ Electrolux ever did.
Starting in the year 1900 and going back 300 000 years, would you trade places with the average human on Earth?
Who cares? I can’t time travel.
Food is available but becoming unaffordable. Ownership is being taken away. Simply existing is taking all our wages and then some.
There’s no point in technological progression if it is only being used to extract my life for someone else’s gain.
The point is, you wouldn’t because any time before that, the average human worked 10 to 12 hours a day, six days a week, lived to about 50, had no doctors, no indoor toilet, no indoor water. Water was likely a long distance away and had to be carried by hand to your hovel. You were a serf or serf-like or a slave. Worker’s rights were virtually non-existant. You had intestinal parasites with no health care to relieve you. You were at the whim of the wealthy. Up to half of children didn’t make it to the age of 5. 4 % of women died in childbirth. There were no cars, no planes, no electricity, virtually no leisure time. There was minimal heat in winter, no cooling in summer. We are indeed fortunate to be living now.
Frankly, I think my dad’s generation had it better. And I think I have it better than my millennial kids. And it looks like they will have it better than my teens.
I wouldn’t probably say I’d trade places with the average person because there are a lot of poor folks who have things worse than me. But quality is life in America is getting worse.
starlingukEverything you’ve mentioned is going back up again.
Fun fact: when research showed that vaccination against Covid results in way fewer hospital admissions, Trump blocked the publication.