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Comment by mekster | Hacker News Reader

I just find it hard that these times, it's more like heaven from human history point of view.

At least in there, there's no active war (there is a threat but bullets aren't flying around or you have problem acquiring food and water), and cities are moderately safe, you can buy stuff with a few clicks, many entertainments to choose from, convenient phones etc etc. And you get to take advantage of those without earning a fortune.

It's so absurd to think this is some sort of hell. They don't know actual hell like past and some present people are experiencing.

Why don't those people appreciate the situation they're in?

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The working culture in South Korea absolutely seems like hell compared to most of human history. People had much more free time in agricultural societies, and they mostly spent it outdoors, instead of slaving it in the offices doing meaningless work to make shareholders richer.

Exactly. And hedonic adaptation makes all that entertainment with phones, TVs etc meaningless.

Lack of free time is hell. Especially if you spend all your days in the same drab office building. Office work is fine in and of itself, but humans are meant to move, to be outside for a good portion of the day. Work-life balance is more important than the latest gadgets.

People starving, born with disabilities/incurable diseases, people at the front line of a war, especially if critically wounded, people caught as a prisoner being tortured, people living their lives as a slave with physical violence and any other serious situations I couldn't imagine, seem like worse than someone at least with physically safe condition and possibly a way to escape if one wants to.

Hedonic adaptation. Humans can quickly become accustomed to circumstances, rich or poor, and then they can start criticizing it. This is in fact one of the prime drivers for innovation in the world, because those that thought everything was already good enough wouldn't be the ones innovating.

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