This is why we're all totally screwed | Hacker News Reader

This is why we're all totally screwed

unlimitedmagazine.com

11 pointsDuncanKinney27 comments

This post misses the mark widely, IMO. Instead of being alarmist about the perennial decline of society, realize that there has been a real cultural shift, and it may be for good reason.

I think the brighter bulbs in my generation noticed that our parents weren't happy. Now, instead of asking "how can I do what's expected of me so that all will praise my sense of duty and commitment to family and community", we're asking "how can we be happy?"

I'm 33. I don't think of myself as an adult in every sense. Rather than shouldering the traditional trappings of adulthood, instead I think about what I want to achieve, and seek the most efficient, least burdensome ways to get there. My bills are on autopay. I clean when it's messy enough to bother me. I'm not married, and I'm not all that interested in having dependents. I date women who are as successful as I am, so I'm never supporting them.

The idea that any of this has anything to do with my work ethic, and my commitment to delivering the highest quality output in whatever I do is ludicrous. Hyperbole indeed. If anything, my mind is greatly freed up to focus on what matters most to me, precisely because I care not for being socially accepted into the mature, responsible adult club. There is precious little in my life that is burdensome, and it's by design.

I don't think that's what the author is suggesting tho. You said it yourself "I date women who are as successful as I am, so I'm never supporting them."

That implies that your out actually DOING something. That you choose not to adhere to social norms is no problem at all (I'm the same way). You've still embraced the trappings of maturity. Your pulling your own weight. That's great! I salute you sir.

It's when you decide that even pulling your own weight is a bit to much to handle that things get dicey.

Wow, I am flabberghasted by the fact that not only did the self-deprecating humor and manic drawings go right over the head of the author, but the fact that he thinks that mundane responsibility for completing the niggling chores of modern society is somehow important to the future of our society.

I can think of many likely facts that could lead to our downfall: the inability of free markets to account for environmental costs, the consolidation of wealth and power, nuclear proliferation, overpopulation, etc. Who the fuck cares if someone forgets to pay their electric bill?

While I have no idea of the original authors intents.. I think your wrong.

Society's don't crumble around large problems, but rather millions of little ones. As more and more folks actively check-out of society the more the productive elements of society have to cope with that. Those little things really do add up, and they're nearly impossible to handle. Ask any parent of a petulant child.

So ya.. when one person doesn't pay their electric bill.. no big deal. What happens when a million people don't? Ten million?

Those big things don't worry me. We'll deal with the environmental issues (we've already made tremendous headway over the years), we'll deal with wealth distribution and everything else. Those are known problems. Be wary of the millions of little things that go unnoticed everyday. That's when things become dangerous.

If that were true - and the author of this silly sad little finger-wagging essay were right about the horrible hidden meaning of Allie's hilarious cartoons - then Dilbert itself should have heralded the end of economy, jobs, and the world altogether!

Please, please develop a sense of humor. Please.

Humans have been stupid and irresponsible all throughout history - only now we can admit it. And laugh at it. And grow up.

We're all screwed because we write more about the difficulties in attaining adulthood nowadays, which means we must be more infantile than the baby boomers.

We're all screwed because people donate more to cancer research these days, which means we must have more cancer than the baby boomers.

We're all screwed because we write more about software design now, which means we must have worse computer software than the baby boomers.

etc, etc.

From her drawings, I would gather that the author of the original post is ENTP and/or has ADD. If she is ENTP more than likely she is very creative and could possibly find a work around. I see her indifference to doing common household chores as an opportunity for her to create some amazing product that solve these problems. Be honest; who wants to do these task? The other alternative is ADD. ADD doesn't mean you can't focus, only means that you can only focus on stuff you find interesting. ADDs are known for their hyperfocus:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperfocus

But whatever it is, the problem is central to the author of the original post and does not extrapolate to the rest of the population.

The author seems to have very strong opinions about what everyone else should be doing (see the second comment):

http://www.unlimitedmagazine.com/2010/06/the-antiquated-guid...

If all that stuff makes you happy, great. I like some of it myself (cooking, pushups, books). But "cleaning all the things" and "wear a tie" don't make everyone happy, and there is no reason Allie should force herself to do it even if Unlimited Magazine thinks it's what every adult should do.

That's not the author with the comment, the author is Max Fawcett. That's me, the web editor, with a cheap throw to other content on our site.

Sorry, my mistake.

The author of the post isn't explicitly labelled, but your name (and Jeff Lewis) appears to the right of the blog post. I got confused.

Don't miss the comment by Allie Brosh (3rd from the top) wherein she schools the author on the actual (humorous & self-deprecating) spirit of her post.

She didn't really "school the author" in that he points out her humor falls into the "funny because it's true" category and it's the fact that she and her readers think it's true that really disturbs him.

Good point: in order for the author to be "schooled" he would have to realize the folly of being alarmed that her whimsy resonated with over 500 people on a planet with half a billion english speaking internet users.

If one person whining was why we're all totally screwed, then we're all screwed starting long ago...

This is the internet.

I personally think this is more of a cycle based on individuals and less of an inevitable decline in society

I think there are people who refuse to grow up in every generation. Those people eventually have kids and in my experience most kids in that situation tend to take on the adult role in the relationship. Kids who are forced into the adult role early tend to be responsible adults when they reach the appropriate age so you get responsible adults from childish parents.

I think there are generations where the majority of people are irresponsible but I think you see that more in macro examples and less in individual anecdotes (The baby boomer generation allowing their governments to spend far and away more than they took in with tax revenue for example)

Yes, and many baby boomers in their teens and twenties had comparable attitudes to the one satirized in the original article.

True. Erma Bombeck could laugh at herself and her everyday life struggles, and her writings resonated with bajillions.

Coincidentally, she once wrote: "When humor goes, there goes civilization."

So maybe we're doomed after all, but because Max couldn't pick up on the humor.

I have a feeling that you are right, but I can't entirely shake of the feeling that our society really is getting softer and less willing to do a lot of sacrifice to get what we want.

Dan Carlin talks about it in his latest hardcore history podcast (http://dancarlinhh.libsyn.com/media/dancarlinhh/dchha33_BLIT...), but he doesn't seem to have a good answer to it.

There can't be much doubt however that the variation between individuals are much greater than the variation between generations.

Finally, the reason the author hasn't fixed her problems is properly that she doesn't have to: if her life mostly works anyway, why do more if you aren't forced to?

It's a really interesting question isn't it. Hard work has never been questioned as the cornerstone of a successful life. I've always wondered if that's a faulty assumption... can we build and imagine great things while still focusing on the enjoyment of living?

Hell if I know:)

The people with the cleanest desks are not always the most productive or efficient workers.

This is true but the people with the messiest desks seldom are.

Strongly disagree. Progress has always relied upon those with the messiest desks.

Not really disagreeing. The guy with the messy desk thinks up the revolution, and maybe even starts on it. Then the people with the clean desks step in and make it actually happen.

Who raised these irresponsible children?? They should be ashamed of themselves.

Looking to comments on an internet post to asses the maturity of a generation is like indexing Hacker News comments to determine the technical prowess of the mid-west. People who write comments on blogs are, by their nature, on the outsides of the statistical bell curve. Just as the average hacker news reader doesn't represent the technical capacity of an average internet reader. If you want to make informed guesses about the state of a generation...please stop reading blogs and, furthermore, stop reading the comments.

A group of people that are incapable of basic life tasks like cleaning and paying bills are not going to cause the apocalypse. This is sensational garbage from doomsayers.

I hate that everyone is clowning on my generation. That is so shady dog.

All I got to say is America has the best incentive system in the world, meaning hard work will be rewarded.

Though there will be those losers in my gerneration you described there will still be people out there who will make up for the losers short fall because they want to get that chedda.

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