We Are (Still) Living in the Long Boring

https://freddiedeboer.substack.com/p/we-are-still-living-in-the-long-boring

by flail • 3 months ago

13 3 3 months ago

freddiedeboer.substack.com

MarkusQ2• 3 months ago

A person transported from 1926 to 1976 would find the world nearly unrecognizable.

I'm not one of these, but I met some. One thing I recall is their comparing the early 70s to the late 20s (there were a lot of parallels), and expecting another great depression. The "how" of life had changed, but the "what" and "why" were largely the same.

To get some sense of this, read books written in the 1920s. Do you find the world they describe unrecognizable?

A person transported from 1976 to 2026 would find it, after some orientation, quite familiar.

I am one of these, and I both agree and disagree. A lot has changed, but the core has remained the same.

The disappearance of cash is one of the biggest changes. Likewise the disappearance of tolerance for differences of opinion, privacy (showing ID to travel or buy things was something the bad guys did), distance (when you left somewhere you were gone, rather than "remote"), and third places.

There was no analog of LLMs except in fiction, but that was the case in 1926 as well.

lencastre• 3 months ago

what do you mean by “third places”?

MarkusQ2• 3 months ago

Places you spend time other than work and home. Places you contribute, compete, converse, hang out.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_place

They used to be a significant factor in people's lives before we found glowing rectangles to mesmerize us.

We Are (Still) Living in the Long Boring

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