- Monitoring of power consumption for illegal computer usage? Check.
- Superintelligent AIs under tight supervision? Check.
- Bootlegged neural nets passed around on torrenting networks? Check.
- Poverty and homelessness running rampant? Check.
Folks, we're officially living in a cyberpunk dystopia.
EDIT:
To those who are illiterate, notice that I said 'small improvement' rather than 'downright worse'
But you can looks for yourself. Most people int he US today are far better off than most people were in the 1950s and 1960s. Median household income is up, life expectancy is up, educational attainment is up, percentage of income spent on food/housing/debt is all down, and on and on. Are there losers in the current social arrangement, of course but they represent a smaller fraction of society.
I think you are the one who's disconnected. Ask your average crackhead on the block if they're happy, and then compare the answer to your average college dropout stocking groceries. People who haven't seen both sides tend to think happiness is made by Maslow's hierarchy of needs or is a linear function of material wealth - it's not. It seems like a joke, but this post https://www.reddit.com/r/drugscirclejerk/comments/8iyp0c/i_f... describes exactly what I mean. I genuinely believe some homeless people are more happy than some working-class people.
Case in point, you just spouted more metrics to me that have to do with the well being of the economy not the well being of the average person. I do not care about your numbers, because time and again they have been played. We should consider the idea that if we can take steps forward, we can also take steps backward.
And while we're at it I should ask - have you ever had to deal with a dead-end job with subpar pay? Were you ever forced to work in abusive environments? If so, then you can agree with me that it's a terrible state to be in - not the same as being homeless definitely but still terrible.
And if not, then why are you talking about things you don't know about? Do you really think economic metrics are a viable substitute for this lack of knowledge?
And I have know some addicts, including some who were periodically homeless who would swear to you that they were happy that way, and maybe they were in those moments. But it never lasts, and I think anyone who has spent time around addicts would know that.
> Case in point, you just spouted more metrics to me that have to do with the well being of the economy not the well being of the average person.
Rising median household income is very relevant to the average person. Decline in the amount the average American spends on food, clothing, and debt is also very relevant. And I think increasing lifespans are quite relevant to the average person as well.
> And while we're at it I should ask - have you ever had to deal with a dead-end job with subpar pay?
I waited tables in a country club, worked in a cafe for a few years, and I worked at a terrible rental car company for awhile. I once saw my assistant manager throw someone through a plate glass window while shouting a slur I wouldn't type. In fact while I worked at the cafe my alcoholic friend's junkie boyfriend was living alternatively in a park and in a storage unit. He said he preferred that to my "shitty job" and responsibilities, but he looked pretty fucking miserable from where I sat then and now. I also know a lot of people living in pretty abject rural poverty, and can say for certain that they struggle less than their parents did in similar situations.
So I guess I'm coming to this with a lot of economic information, some personal experience, and just understanding that its plenty fucking stupid to say being homeless is better than have a home and a job.
There's been a 20x increase in diabetes over the past 70 years. Suicide rates are the highest since WWII, and on par with Great Depression rates. Let's not mention climate change and inequality because that's cliche.
These are things that we do measure. What about the percentage of one's time spent in a car? Spent sitting down? Spent in anxiety? Every thing you point out is a justification for an overscaled system IMO.
> I waited tables in a country club, worked in a cafe for a few years, and I worked at a terrible rental car company for awhile. I once saw my assistant manager throw someone through a plate glass window while shouting a slur I wouldn't type.
Then you should know that if you worked those jobs forever, you'd feel pretty shitty. Both you and the beggar could be staring at the same logos all day, seeing the same people, even be living on the same street, all while worrying that you might be next. Like I said - perhaps we can practice reading this time - it's not worse, it's just better by a much smaller amount than the typical SV techbro probably imagines.
If you think that then you've never had any serious interactions with the working poor, the homeless, or the addicted. It's miles better. No one is saying things are perfect, but Americans have a much higher material quality of life on average than at any point in the past.
I get it, you're some high and mighty doomer who wants to talk down to everyone and spew some over wrought jeremiad, good for you.