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We're currently living in one of the calmest most peaceful times in human history. Humanity has solved a lot of problems and challenges already, and life is considerably easier for the vast majority of people in the developed world compared to any time previously.
With that in mind, the key really is to not sweat the stuff out of your control.
Only think about and care about what you can affect. Who you spend your time with, what you choose to do. Simple things like hobbies, work and education. These are the things that matter and actually should affect your mood.
It's hard to ignore the news, but try not to get wrapped up in it, yes there is bad shit going on, but since the dawn of time bad stuff has always been happening.
You and I both have the power to change a lot more about what is going on. It’s ok to decide not to even if you can control it because not everyone can be forced to make the sacrifice required to change the world. Your perspective is also very dependent on your location in the world right now. Sometimes it’s not the news, it’s your friends, family, and neighbors suffering.
Be careful not to minimize the hardships of other people right now, even if it’s quiet and peaceful outside your house (or the world, statistically or historically).
It's interesting after you read the news, it feels like the world is on fire. But if you step outside, the grass is still green, when you were expecting ashes
I only ever watch the news for any ufo, uap stuff. I know it's far fetched and basically filler on a slow news day but it's better than watching a story of the doom.
I used to love watching UFO stuff on Reddit, before A.I. videos became a thing
Even the obvious AI videos are entertaining to watch. Everytime I see them, I think "Wouldn't that be cool if that were real?"
The shit has always been hitting the fan, but there is less shit hitting the fan now compared to any previous time in human history.
Yes, be aware of what's going on in the world, but don't spend too much time on it if it doesn't affect you immediately and you can't affect it.
Care about being a good person in your small world. The people you choose to be with. Your hobbies, work and education. That is what should matter.
So, when I write a comment, and then delete it almost immediately, how are you able to reply to it several hours later?
I know reddit would issue a notification that couldn't be deleted (often abused to insult users without consequene); what happened here?
I'm curious because I've read notifications that later disappeared, so I figured that's what happened.
Out of deference to OP, my self-obsessed butt-hurt doomerism is behind this spoiler tag:
Tap for spoiler
The second thing I want to talk to you about is your thesis is shared by a very bad book which I think is called The Better Angels of Our Naure. If you're interested in testing your theory instead of it using it as a spiritual palliative, you could try the podcast If Books Could Kill's examination of it.For my part, I find that modernity suffers under the delusion of infinite progress towards an end goal. It's a secular replacement for Heaven in the afterlife, which socially and psychologically functions the same way as the afterlife--it keeps us calm as cows on their way to slaughter, whether it is the feudal slaughter or the capitalist slaughter makes no difference. And it puts our lives in a context that is forever improving.
I find the "life is better now" a little resonant with that delusion of progress.
As an experiment, I guess there's a lot to be said for it, but ultimately you will determine the outcome you want by the parameters you choose. For instance, if you choose things like life expectancy, modernity is obviously better. But if you value things like social cohesion, medieval europe might have been better, even with the intestinal parasites. Currently 40% of people (Americans?) say they don't have a single friend they rely on.
Finally, I take no comfort in what you are saying because I can see before my own eyes that my country--the United States--is methodically and deliberately preparing to commit a genocide (whether it completes it is another question) and I will not drink your nepenthe even though my life would be subjectively "better" and less worrisome as a result.
The nature of the fediverse means that any comment you post here is also basically posted on multiple different websites.
So when I get an inbox message that disappears, it's probably from someone on my server, but a message from a different server probably isn't going to get pulled?
I've alse seen people complain that edit propagation is a bit spotty.
I'm pretty sure some of the servers have federated agreements between them to delete stuff and whatnot, but yeah, you've got it.
It was in my notifications in full, so I replied to it.
I agree with what you said though. The perspective you choose is exactly that, a choice. The question comes down to what you want to choose. If the objective is to be happy and less anxious about life, then choosing the perspective as I outline really helps. Some people enjoy or prefer to view the loudest issues, to listen to the loudest people, the loudest groups, and that is a choice. I also appreciate some people find it hard to ignore these things so choice is harder, with the access to information available. There is no choice that is better or correct, just options we have in life.
As a thought experiment for yourself, do you think you would have felt safer during the height of the cold war with the imminent and constant threat of nuclear destruction compared to now where that threat has been alleviated somewhat?
Don't have to think about it too hard. I grew up in Reagan's America and remember them unveiling a new missile that could carry x number of warheads and thought, "This is fucking insanity."
Tap for spoiler
But now I worry about dying in a concentration camp and find myself wishing for nuclear annihilation because I'm tired of this entire human experiment on this planet. I think it's becoming clear to me that we are not capable of handling the technology we've created and we will ultimately destroy ourselves.I also don't think I have a choice about how I see the world. I think we all see the world according to the values that we have due to our genetics and our experience. For me, seeing the truth is a core value, and I can no more ignore the truth of things because it makes me anxious than you could pay attention to the truth despite it making you anxious.
What you call truth I call opinion. We are all entitled to our opinion, but opinion is a very personal and individual thing. I read the news daily and follow what is going on, the good and the bad. But my perception and view is totally different to yours. I see life and the world as an imperfect but remarkably interesting, exciting and enjoyable thing. Would I change things if I could? 100%!!! Do I worry or think about the stuff out of my control and that doesn't impact my life in the here and now? No, not at all. I think about my life, how I spend more time pursuing my hobbies, and the things I enjoy doing. I focus on my family and friends, their trials and tribulations, and try to help and improve their lives today and tomorrow.
Absent philosophical training, your enjoyment of life greatly depends on your personal circumstance.
Existential philosophy is largely (though not exclusively) the domain of comfortable people for whom the material and judicial rewards of the afterlife are unnecessary.
Tap for spoiler
While "are things better now / what will the future bring" are ultimately matters of opinion, I find the majority of people tend to believe whatever brings them the most comfort, even when those beliefs are logically nonsensical. From that emotional center, several fallacies are generated.The Just World Fallacy, for instance, grants people living in an oppressive system the peace to believe they in a just world, where Good People get richer and Bad People get poorer, but at the cost of acknowledging the system; this emotional need is so intense that people who suffer the most from oppressive systems are the most invested in ignoring the problems it generates.
In the past, the Just World answered the obvious inequities of reality with Messiahinism and then with personal salvation (or punishment) in the afterlife. Today, we've replaced that with the The Myth of Progress, letting people believe they are on a boat of social evolution that leads to first technological, then social, then finally moral perfection of the human species (perhaps ending in Rodenberry's vision of luxury space communism). Honestly, what is the difference between the early Christian belief that the Messiah will return and create a Heaven on Earth and the belief that eventually replicators will create a post-scarcity society?
Agency is another determinative emotional need. People need to feel in control of their lives. It's a relative of the Just World fallacy, but it is its own motor. Manifestation is ultimate expression of this--a bedrock belief that everything that happens to us, happens to us because we are THINKING about it. Lost your job? You must have been worried about getting fired. Win the lottery? You must have believed you could win! Can't find romance? It's because you doubt yourself. Everything in life is ultimately your fault, including not being a billionaire, which is possible for everyone if they just believe in themselves.
This absolutely ridiculous idea, and several like it, catapulted Oprah Winfrey to super-billionaire status, sold 20 million copies of the secret, is the animus behind vision boards, etc.
I'm not really trying to convince you of anything, because there is no reasoning about this. My two going theories are: we see what we see (or believe what we believe) when we're ready to see it (or ready to believe it). For instance, people don't become atheist the first time they hear an argument against the extistence of God, but when they're emotionally ready to live without God.
The other theory is that I'm just following the same programming as everyone else, looking for reason to emotionally comfort me. Maybe it suits me better to think the world is a miserable place only because the alternative is to think that there is something deeply BROKEN and WRONG with me given where I am in life right now. Maybe I don't want to believe in my own agency to control my future because I'm so tired of trying and failing and I just don't have any strength left for the struggle.
But regardless of what the truth is or is not, regardless of what is opinion and reality, we're currently stuck on the ball of dirt for however long, and it is up to us to make the best of it, however we see it. I agree with you there.
I think we are on 2 sides of the same coin. Although we have very different views and outlooks, I feel a lot of what you said has truth to it, albeit we are both giving our views and opinions and I honestly don't believe either of us is correct, just different.
Nice chatting to you 👍 and wish you the best.