Re:Steven Pinker thinks your sense of imminent doom is wrong
by mechE321 on Tuesday September 14, 2021 @03:34PM
(#28529879)
The lower down a bit of suffering is on Maslow's hierarchy of needs, the easier it is to measure on a societal scale.
Everyone's starving to death? Easy to measure. Everyone's living in an economically precarious situation? A bit more difficult to measure. Everyone's living life with a vague sense of listlessness and ennui? Much more difficult to measure.
Tackling the easily measured physical suffering both takes priority and has the most obvious means of feedback.
Re:Steven Pinker thinks your sense of imminent doom is wrong
by n4r9 on Friday September 17, 2021 @05:45AM
(#28563216)
Sure, it's the obvious thing to try. I'm challenging Pinker's implicit assertion that because physical suffering has decreased, overall suffering has necessarily decreased.
Everyone's starving to death? Easy to measure. Everyone's living in an economically precarious situation? A bit more difficult to measure. Everyone's living life with a vague sense of listlessness and ennui? Much more difficult to measure.
Tackling the easily measured physical suffering both takes priority and has the most obvious means of feedback.