[lm28469]

We're retiring later and later, working more per week, purchasing power is going down, quality of goods is going down, life expectancy is decreasing, child mortality is increasing, teenage suicide is increasing, illiteracy is increasing, &c.

But trust us this time we'll do incredible things, the same things but more of it, faster and cheaper, will automatically make things amazing!

[deepsun]

Crime rates going down and down. Purchasing power grows everywhere in the world (but we want much nicer things now, so don't feel it). Travel is more accessible that it ever was in humanity history. Information keeps getting more and more accessible.

And literacy rates are increasing. I don't know why you say it's not, just google "literacy rates trend".

[paulryanrogers]

Efficiency gains have primarily benefited the capital owners. Workers ability to buy essentials like housing and healthcare have not gotten worse, not better.

I can cover every wall of my living space in flat screen color television more cheaply than feed, house, heal, and educate another child in my family.

[Atomic_Torrfisk]

> Purchasing power grows everywhere in the world

Sure consumer goods are cheaper, but I don't need more "stuff". The essentials I need for my family: food, energy, housing, and most importantly time are much less accessible. Sure, we could buy bulk, move to a LCOL area and work remote, but not everyone can do that.

This is the trend that a lot of people in my generation complain about.

[martin-t]

> Crime rates going down and down.

This scares me. Humans are getting so domesticated and docile they might soon be content with being pets. I am not sure US independence or French revolution could happen today.

I am obviously not a fan of crime against other peaceful individuals. But crime against an oppressive regime is still crime by that regime's rules.

[cheema33]

> We're retiring later and later, working more per week

That may be true. But, if somebody offered me a time machine to travel back in time and live at any point in history, would I take it? Hell no.

> purchasing power is going down

That is not a new thing.

> quality of goods is going down

Phones are better. Computers are better. Cars, planes, washing machines ...

> life expectancy is decreasing

On the whole, this is not the case.

> child mortality is increasing

Globally?

> illiteracy is increasing

Globally?

You seem to have a negative view of things. And sure, many things are not great. But the examples you gave are not it.

[pixl97]

Ya some people don't know the difference between their country falling apart versus the world falling apart.

[__turbobrew__]

> But, if somebody offered me a time machine to travel back in time and live at any point in history, would I take it? Hell no.

If given a choice I would rather be born in 1940s. 80 years of relative peace, prosperity, cheap education, cheap housing, only single parent needs to work, stronger community network, less overpopulation, better access to doctors, better wealth equality, and you get to partake in the first generation of computers before computers became a method of spying and manipulation of purchasing decisions. Honestly I would much rather be hacking on v6 unix than what I am currently doing.

Sign me up.

[littlexsparkee]

We've passed 7 of 9 climate tipping points so there's that. What kind of view do you expect a person to have if they pay any sort of attention?

[lm28469]

Not globally, just in the place we let these things run at full speed without regulations: the US

[andrepd]

> But, if somebody offered me a time machine to travel back in time and live at any point in history, would I take it?

This question always implies "to the high middle ages, or to 300CE". Of course I wouldn't. But to the 1990s? Probably I would.

[coldtea]

If you work most jobs, whether cognitive or manual labor, after some point you can't do them anymore, due to physical and cognitive decline, medical issues, and the plain fact that you can do that shit as a hobby if you really like it, but you shouldn't need to go to some fucking office or greet people in your local Walmart in your late 60s and 70s just to survive.

We call this stopping of work at that point retirement.

How about that?

[anamexis]

Retirement is the withdrawal from active working life, i.e. having a job. It is not a US concept.

[lm28469]

It's the part where you stop being a wage slave and can enjoy some freedom, I know, such an alien concept