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What's the bigger challenge in your life: Complexity or Hardship?
2272 sats \ 4 comments \ @tomlaies 27 Oct alter_native
I just read an interesting thread about a theory that the falling birthrates might not be caused by hardship but by complexity (and micro-annoyances) in every day modern life. And that a lot of people cannot really distinguish the two.
So, that has me interested in people here. Do you primarily think your life would be better if it was less hard? Or do you primarily think there are too many annoyances in every day life and everything that could be simple is too complex? Important: Don't answer what you think is true generally in modern society. That would introduce a bias. Answer what your personal life would immediately benefit from now.
Too much hardship20.0%
Too much complexity80.0%
10 votes \ poll ended
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3 sats \ 1 reply \ @orangecheckemail_isthereany 28 Oct
Some things I would mention in this context of declining birth rates: We live in an increasingly toxic world in the sense of insufficiently studied and plausibly toxic food additives and food-like substances introduced into the food supply in the (check out the American health crisis roundtable organized by Rfk Jr and Calley Means that happened a few weeks ago), toxic exposures generally in the form of microplastics, air pollution, PCB's, endocrine disruptors etc. All that stuff probably isn't that good for fertility.
There's also the question: Do fewer people want to have kids? If so that could be because they feel they cannot afford it and that's where bitcoin jumps in. Having a neutral non-inflationary monetary system would probably help with this part. If the cost of living is so high relative to wages due to money printing, cantillion effects etc and the downstream effects, then introducing extra costs associated with sustaining children probably does not seem so attractive or even possible to many would-be parents.
There's also the climate alarmism that causes some people to think they'd better not have kids because "it's bad for the planet".
These are a few things I can think of off the top of my head that might explain lowered birthrates.
In one sense life has become easier because of increased technology. In another sense it's become way harder: my grandpa took care of 5 kids and built a house on a single wage while my grandma stayed at home. Economically speaking life has become way way way way way harder and I'd expect people on this platform to have some ideas about how that transformation might have happened or been enabled. Would my grandparents have had 5 kids if they could barely survive economically with both of them working before they had kids? The answer to me seems obvious. In this context of lowered birthrates the second point strikes me as more salient.
Would yo be willing to go a little more into specifics? "Too much hardship" or "too much complexity" seems a little too abstract, non-specific, vague etc to me.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @tomlaies OP 28 Oct
Would yo be willing to go a little more into specifics? "Too much hardship" or "too much complexity" seems a little too abstract, non-specific, vague etc to me.
That's on purpose. Answer with what your personal understanding of your lifes problems are. Do you consider them hard thing to do or would you consider them as things that could be easy
As you have already noted and it's also slightly addressed in the thread: There are lots of thing that could be considered hard or complex depending on your point of view.
Let me give you one example of things I suspect things that could be view differently:
  • A guy named Ivan Incel from Iowa has trouble finding a life partner. He's nearing his 30s and is afraid to die alone. Bad situation. Is that hardship or complexity issue? I'm sure he personally blames it on something but that doesn't matter for the complex/hard question: Is finding a girlfriend just a hard thing to do? Or is the dating world needlessly complex to navigate? Let me repeat that the reason doesn't really matter he can view any reason as hardship and personal/societal suffering or as an annoying complex thing.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @DesertDave 28 Oct
Completely for sure. I have no hardship. People looking at my life would say I do. To them it seems stressful. For me simplicity is key. I focus on one puzzle at a time. Only that is right in front of my face. So their is no struggle or stress.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @nitter 27 Oct bot
https://xcancel.com/simonsarris/status/1849945257271521597
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