Re:Rethinking Fear
by coldtea on Wednesday January 26, 2022 @08:54PM
(#30095123)
>Since you started it, I'll ask for a citation on this too. I'm sure you have a subjective sense in which this seems true, but I'm not personally convinced that humanity and human problems have changed all that much, nor that stoicism as currently understood is all that different than Epictetus's conception.
Human problems haven't changed all that much (in some sense).
But the application of Epictetus philosophy has changed greatly, from sincere following for centuries in times when it was a survival tool, to a lifestyle accessory in times when it's a fad (of which several others have come and go in the 30 years I've followed the space, and more will) - from people who have no modesty or charity (philanthropia), but like to "play the stoic" as one in the 70s would play the world savvy playboy type or in previous decades the rugged boostrapped guy, and so on.
>Extreme poverty is now very rare (1 in 7 people)
That's a feel-good statistic, about third world people being able to get a few dollars whereas they had even less before.
You can be several steps away from "extreme poverty" in the Hans Rosling/Steven Pinken sense to have serious money issues (and not because of some personal irresponsibility of lack of trying).
Billion nominally out of this "extreme poverty" are struggling very hard and very real, with exhausting jobs, eviction, feeding and educating their kids, paying the rent every month, covering health payments, and so on. Everywhere, including the first world, job precariousness, shitty jobs, money anxiety, debt and so on is very common (most people). To the point that e.g. https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/19/56percent-of-americans-cant-...
Human problems haven't changed all that much (in some sense).
But the application of Epictetus philosophy has changed greatly, from sincere following for centuries in times when it was a survival tool, to a lifestyle accessory in times when it's a fad (of which several others have come and go in the 30 years I've followed the space, and more will) - from people who have no modesty or charity (philanthropia), but like to "play the stoic" as one in the 70s would play the world savvy playboy type or in previous decades the rugged boostrapped guy, and so on.
>Extreme poverty is now very rare (1 in 7 people)
That's a feel-good statistic, about third world people being able to get a few dollars whereas they had even less before.
You can be several steps away from "extreme poverty" in the Hans Rosling/Steven Pinken sense to have serious money issues (and not because of some personal irresponsibility of lack of trying).
Billion nominally out of this "extreme poverty" are struggling very hard and very real, with exhausting jobs, eviction, feeding and educating their kids, paying the rent every month, covering health payments, and so on. Everywhere, including the first world, job precariousness, shitty jobs, money anxiety, debt and so on is very common (most people). To the point that e.g. https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/19/56percent-of-americans-cant-...