6 ms·

“We” can’t even effectively distribute food, healthcare and housing yet but yeah I’m sure capital will totally figure it out if we build enough machines that ju

“We” can’t even effectively distribute food, healthcare and housing yet but yeah I’m sure capital will totally figure it out if we build enough machines that just accumulate more wealth to the richest people in history. I love cool new tech but I’m perfectly aware it will not do shit to solve any problem other than “eliminate or make labor cheaper”

piloto_ciego 2mo ago
I mean, there are less starving people than there were in most of the world. We've made progress. In my lifetime we've made progress! I mean, there are momentary set backs and they are egregious, I agree with that for sure, but the world is wildly better than it was in the early 90s or early 00s. I was there (cue Elrond meme), I remember. And god forbid you were gay back then, or had an ailment that needed some high tech treatment, or needed to talk to someone on the other side of the planet for any reason, or wanted to have access to knoeledge. We've come so far, and the people yapping about how "everything is the worst" are reactionary. Yes there are problems, I don't want to downplay them. But largely, until very recently, things were getting better en masse and zoomed out enough in time that trend will likely continue if we don't blow it all up or do something stupid like decide that science is too scary to do. What I mostly see in these threads is "Capitalist Realism" - people can't even imagine things turning out some way other than "capital controls everything forever."
- throwaway-11-1 2mo ago
  Your response is not addressing my claims, homelessness is increasing, life expectancy is lagging poorer countries and there are still food security issues not being addressed in the richest country in history. I’m discussing material outcomes and you want to focus on social progress….which is fine I guess? Anyway I have receipts https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/chart-collection/u-s-life-expectancy-compare-countries/#Life%20expectancy%20at%20birth,%20in%20years,%201980-2024 https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/chart-collection/u-s-lif... https://www.unc.edu/discover/u-s-life-expectancy-drop-caused-by-more-than-pandemic/ https://www.unc.edu/discover/u-s-life-expectancy-drop-caused... https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/food-nutrition-assistance/food-security-in-the-us/key-statistics-graphics https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/food-nutrition-assistance/fo... https://www.security.org/resources/homeless-statistics/ https://www.security.org/resources/homeless-statistics/
  - ben_w 2mo ago
    Those are all US stats. US got problems. World's much bigger than the US, and is getting better: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/life-expectancy?time=1770..2023&country=~OWID_WRL https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/life-expectancy?time=1770... https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/prevalence-of-undernourishment?country=~OWID_WRL https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/prevalence-of-undernouris... https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/total-population-living-in-extreme-poverty-by-world-region https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/total-population-living-i...
    - throwaway-11-1 2mo ago
      Yeah that’s totally fair and really good to see. It’s maybe the one perspective that gives me some hope
      - omicronxt 2mo ago
        Our world in data is neoliberal think tank supported by billionares. They got bad reputation of misrepresenting data to favor capitalism as inherently progressive.
        bit-anarchist 2mo ago
        > Our world in data is neoliberal think tank How so?

piloto_ciego 2mo ago

I mean, there are less starving people than there were in most of the world. We've made progress. In my lifetime we've made progress! I mean, there are momentary set backs and they are egregious, I agree with that for sure, but the world is wildly better than it was in the early 90s or early 00s. I was there (cue Elrond meme), I remember. And god forbid you were gay back then, or had an ailment that needed some high tech treatment, or needed to talk to someone on the other side of the planet for any reason, or wanted to have access to knoeledge. We've come so far, and the people yapping about how "everything is the worst" are reactionary. Yes there are problems, I don't want to downplay them. But largely, until very recently, things were getting better en masse and zoomed out enough in time that trend will likely continue if we don't blow it all up or do something stupid like decide that science is too scary to do. What I mostly see in these threads is "Capitalist Realism" - people can't even imagine things turning out some way other than "capital controls everything forever."

throwaway-11-1 2mo ago
Your response is not addressing my claims, homelessness is increasing, life expectancy is lagging poorer countries and there are still food security issues not being addressed in the richest country in history. I’m discussing material outcomes and you want to focus on social progress….which is fine I guess? Anyway I have receipts https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/chart-collection/u-s-life-expectancy-compare-countries/#Life%20expectancy%20at%20birth,%20in%20years,%201980-2024 https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/chart-collection/u-s-lif... https://www.unc.edu/discover/u-s-life-expectancy-drop-caused-by-more-than-pandemic/ https://www.unc.edu/discover/u-s-life-expectancy-drop-caused... https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/food-nutrition-assistance/food-security-in-the-us/key-statistics-graphics https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/food-nutrition-assistance/fo... https://www.security.org/resources/homeless-statistics/ https://www.security.org/resources/homeless-statistics/
- ben_w 2mo ago
  Those are all US stats. US got problems. World's much bigger than the US, and is getting better: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/life-expectancy?time=1770..2023&country=~OWID_WRL https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/life-expectancy?time=1770... https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/prevalence-of-undernourishment?country=~OWID_WRL https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/prevalence-of-undernouris... https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/total-population-living-in-extreme-poverty-by-world-region https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/total-population-living-i...
  - throwaway-11-1 2mo ago
    Yeah that’s totally fair and really good to see. It’s maybe the one perspective that gives me some hope
    - omicronxt 2mo ago
      Our world in data is neoliberal think tank supported by billionares. They got bad reputation of misrepresenting data to favor capitalism as inherently progressive.
      - bit-anarchist 2mo ago
        > Our world in data is neoliberal think tank How so?