A very thought provoking read! While I would certainly agree with your statement on how the brains has a built-in-mechanism to suppress negative memories over time and thus the past will almost always be remembered fondly than it deserves, I would add that the US was a nation that was on the rise post WW2, compared to the other nations when it came to education, military strength, technological innovation, industrial production, etc. There is no doubt that that the human race has progressed over the course of this time, US specifically has been in a state of decline, as government spending and debt have reached new levels and productivity growth has slowed. At the same time, there are emerging nations that are quietly yet quickly catching up, which has weakened the US's negotiating power at a global scale. Unfortunately, one of the undesired natural side effects of capitalism is inequality, and if over a period of time, the government does not work in unison with companies to build the right infrastructure in place to equip people and societies with jobs and other resources, negative sentiment is bound to take hold. I think, that is a driving factor today in many of America's societies that have been left behind, though as a whole human society and the race has progressed further.
Nice article. One thing that I would add is that Americans defined as “poor” in 2023 have far fewer material possessions than the median person did in 1960 (or 1970 for that matter).
An unfortunate side effect of progress is that we keep ratcheting up the definition of what it is to be “poor”.
Great article. I’d love to see a comparison of what bundle of goods were considered poor in the 1960s. I’ve seen middle class compared across countries with photos of daily groceries or meals. But across time in the U.S. would be powerful to see too.
I'm finishing an essay on this topic from a different interaction but we've landed on the same thing. The apocalypse is always in front of us though, never behind us. There's a lot of psychology baked in that most of us are unaware of.
It's popular to accuse Boomers of nostalgia bias. Kids of the Fifties and Sixties didn't text each other. We met face to face. We were Free Roaming Children. We hopped on our bicycles or on a bus and went wherever we wanted, after dark as well up to quite late at night. The Modernists counter that the absolute quality of modern housing makes it incomparable with previous times. But it's Adam Smith's Linen Shirt. The ubiquity of electronic devices results in people staying home more and mixing less. Who needs to go to a club to play chess or bridge when you can do it online? Regulation results in a decay in performance of common items from shower heads to flushing toilets to washing machines to vacuum cleaners. Immigration of work-seekers creates the Boom Town Effect. Immigration of welfare-seekers does not.
Good stuff, but in terms of political progress, not sure how telling people who “feel” poorer that they’re actually not is gonna help with building long-lasting coalitions that can sustain progress. People’s perceptions of wellbeing are relative, yet this doesn’t make them less true — or “actionable”, see Jan 6 — I believe trying to address inequality would help out the cause of “progress” much more than understanding how the human mind is all kinds of fallible, which, still, is a must for sustainable, less habitat-degrading progress
The one thing I would quibble with in this otherwise excellent piece is in regard to environmental degradation. Clean energy is certainly a possible future, but we have major risks to consider with biodiversity loss from several centuries of rampant overuse of fossil fuels. There's no reason we can't change this trend, and new technologies are making clean energy production easier and cheaper, but the present administration's war on anything positive for the climate is deeply concerning.
A very thought provoking read! While I would certainly agree with your statement on how the brains has a built-in-mechanism to suppress negative memories over time and thus the past will almost always be remembered fondly than it deserves, I would add that the US was a nation that was on the rise post WW2, compared to the other nations when it came to education, military strength, technological innovation, industrial production, etc. There is no doubt that that the human race has progressed over the course of this time, US specifically has been in a state of decline, as government spending and debt have reached new levels and productivity growth has slowed. At the same time, there are emerging nations that are quietly yet quickly catching up, which has weakened the US's negotiating power at a global scale. Unfortunately, one of the undesired natural side effects of capitalism is inequality, and if over a period of time, the government does not work in unison with companies to build the right infrastructure in place to equip people and societies with jobs and other resources, negative sentiment is bound to take hold. I think, that is a driving factor today in many of America's societies that have been left behind, though as a whole human society and the race has progressed further.
"US specifically has been in a state of decline, as government spending and debt have reached new levels and productivity growth has slowed."
I am not sure that the US has been in decline so much as the rest of the world is converging a bit. Perhaps relative decline?
Yes, relative decline would be a better way to frame it.
Nice article. One thing that I would add is that Americans defined as “poor” in 2023 have far fewer material possessions than the median person did in 1960 (or 1970 for that matter).
An unfortunate side effect of progress is that we keep ratcheting up the definition of what it is to be “poor”.
Absolutely.
Great article. I’d love to see a comparison of what bundle of goods were considered poor in the 1960s. I’ve seen middle class compared across countries with photos of daily groceries or meals. But across time in the U.S. would be powerful to see too.
One could argue just being able to question progress is progress, compared to more restrictive eras...
I'm finishing an essay on this topic from a different interaction but we've landed on the same thing. The apocalypse is always in front of us though, never behind us. There's a lot of psychology baked in that most of us are unaware of.
It's popular to accuse Boomers of nostalgia bias. Kids of the Fifties and Sixties didn't text each other. We met face to face. We were Free Roaming Children. We hopped on our bicycles or on a bus and went wherever we wanted, after dark as well up to quite late at night. The Modernists counter that the absolute quality of modern housing makes it incomparable with previous times. But it's Adam Smith's Linen Shirt. The ubiquity of electronic devices results in people staying home more and mixing less. Who needs to go to a club to play chess or bridge when you can do it online? Regulation results in a decay in performance of common items from shower heads to flushing toilets to washing machines to vacuum cleaners. Immigration of work-seekers creates the Boom Town Effect. Immigration of welfare-seekers does not.
And back then, obesity wasn't the default.
Good stuff, but in terms of political progress, not sure how telling people who “feel” poorer that they’re actually not is gonna help with building long-lasting coalitions that can sustain progress. People’s perceptions of wellbeing are relative, yet this doesn’t make them less true — or “actionable”, see Jan 6 — I believe trying to address inequality would help out the cause of “progress” much more than understanding how the human mind is all kinds of fallible, which, still, is a must for sustainable, less habitat-degrading progress
The one thing I would quibble with in this otherwise excellent piece is in regard to environmental degradation. Clean energy is certainly a possible future, but we have major risks to consider with biodiversity loss from several centuries of rampant overuse of fossil fuels. There's no reason we can't change this trend, and new technologies are making clean energy production easier and cheaper, but the present administration's war on anything positive for the climate is deeply concerning.