Ask HN: Is now the best time to be alive?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20064200

by temp99990 • 7 years ago

12 22 7 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

I’ve been thinking a lot about how we live in a world of abundance, and somewhat more depressingly realizing that the earth is being ravaged by climate change and grateful to be alive now rather than 100 years from now.

Anyone else feel the same way?

LinuxBender• 7 years ago

I think we are potentially close to the best time to be alive.

There is a lot of work being done on reversing age related diseases, so maybe in another 30 to 100 years, we will reach escape velocity so to speak, and people will no longer die of "old age".

This assumes we don't make humans extinct through warfare.

smt88• 7 years ago

It is for wealthy people in safe countries. I think people in, for example, Syria would gladly trade for a different decade or maybe even century.

ohiovr• 7 years ago

We are going to have a lot of excitement in our lives coming in the months and years ahead but few will enjoy it. On the other hand some people would never shine had it not been for service in the midst of catastrophy.

simonblack• 7 years ago

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.” - Dickens

Nothing is all good, and nothing is all bad. Now is as good a time as any other to be alive.

shoo• 7 years ago

in the greater scheme of things, probably almost all elements of Places \cross Times lack the conditions to support life . But right here has been amazingly, unusually good for quite a long time: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geological_history_of_Earth#/m...

cm2012• 7 years ago

the wise man bowed his head solemnly and spoke: "theres actually zero difference between good & bad things. you imbecile. you fucking moron"

shrimp_emoji• 7 years ago

https://i.imgur.com/ohchNyd.png xD

nocubicles• 7 years ago

Pragmatically thinking I can't imagine what could be better age or place to be alive.

We have abundance of food and can pick what and when we eat. We can travel freely and its relatively cheap. We work less hours and the work is physically not demanding. We have time for self fulfillment and hobbies. Medicine is widely available at least in Europe. Technology and communication is widely available and cheap.

What could be better? As a westerner and tech worker I can't really even imagine what else could be better in everyday life. More money wouldn't change much or make my life better. I don't want to live 150 years old if it means just existing.

sdan• 7 years ago

Adding on to this: If you can make one or two SaaS apps that become popular, even if they're small programs, in theory, you'll still be able to live a regular life without working at all. I think it's a pretty good time to live, but obviously 20 years from now people will probably think the same.

gremlinsinc3• 7 years ago

20 years from now will be better... I think anytime in the future is good to be alive at that time because you're alive at the 'latest' point in time. Everyone who died yesterday would love to be alive today. We can only know what we have and can experience today though, someday there may be FTL travel, that'll be exciting. Someday we may even find friendly or even non-friendly E.T.'s that'll be exciting too. Someday robots may do ALL menial tasks while mankind enjoys our time in research and scientific endeavors. Money may not even exist and we might value knowledge and learning above all else.

This time is definitely the best time we've had, but the future looks very interesting. I long for immortality tech not because I fear for death, I fear missing out on what the future holds.

jryan492• 7 years ago

Why do we always think climate change is going to be impossible to solve and it's some predestined, doomed dark future. I imagine some sort of new tech will be invented within the next 100 years that will easily solve it. Not saying we shouldn't start now though...

uxcolumbo• 7 years ago

According to the IPCC report we don’t have hundred years.

gremlinsinc3• 7 years ago

The higher the feeling of urgency the more people we can put on the problem, the faster we can solve it the more likely we are to solve it. The longer we wait the harder it becomes to solve because it creates a feedback loop.

If we just procrastinate and say let our children worry about it and they do the same it'll definitely be too late. We can't always just pass the buck and hope someone else figures out a fix.

jryan492• 7 years ago

I agree we shouldn't wait, but maybe the people who aren't on board would be more receptive to "the world is ending we're all going to die" doomsday preacher style I see so often.

I really think thought it really comes down to economics. Even if they do believe it's happening and it's urgent, the people's livelihoods who are threatened by elimination of carbon are going to come up with an infinite amount of rationalizations to put it off. It's also easy when it's not your job/money on the line to say "yeah we should fix this".

quickthrower22• 7 years ago

I’d swap places with my kids so they could enjoy pre climate change and I’d live in that future, assuming we don’t solve the problem.

badpun2• 7 years ago

How do you imagine climate change affecting them specifically?

quickthrower22• 7 years ago

Depending on where they live more adverse weather. Fire, flooding, drought, food supply issues.

alimw• 7 years ago

I don't think we are necessarily happier or more fulfilled than we were as hunter-gatherers. For many of us the disconnect between the situation in which we find ourselves and the situation for which we evolved is psychologically problematic.

tmm84• 7 years ago

I grateful to live in the time I currently live in because I have no idea how much worse or better the "future" is. It is easy to look back and say that somethings are better than in previous decades or centuries.

As for 100 years from now, the future of the world hasn't been written so it is up to the people of today and tomorrow to make sure we write a good one. If we succeed then 100 years from now may just end up being a better time to live in.

antisemiotic• 7 years ago

Too late to explore the Earth, too early to explore the stars, just in time to buy psychedelics off the internet due to legal loopholes... wait, that was 10 years ago.

Ask HN: Is now the best time to be alive?

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