News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining? by MikeBattaglia on Saturday January 28, 2023 @04:34PM (#34562187)
There are some pretty clear indications that the derivative of civilization is strongly negative at the moment, particularly if you live in Europe.

Actually, the fact that people are supposed to pretend things are OK, while everyone over there is possibly a few steps away from being drafted into war, is another sign that things have headed in the wrong direction in exactly the manner OP is suggesting.

Re:Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining? by pjam on Saturday January 28, 2023 @04:43PM (#34562280)
What are these clear indications (beside the potential draft point)?
Re:Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining? by davedx on Saturday January 28, 2023 @04:46PM (#34562303)
“Everyone” in Europe is definitely not a few steps from being drafted into war. This is ridiculous polemics.
Re:Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining? by courgette on Saturday January 28, 2023 @05:06PM (#34562485)
Also, what a fun draft that would be. What Western Europe country could realistically support and train a large uptick in reluctant new recruits?

You need a backbone of experienced military professional and infrastructure to do that ( eg : France used to have a lot of military center to host / train people. Those have been abandoned in the late 90s )

Re:Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining? by AndreasHae on Saturday January 28, 2023 @04:46PM (#34562309)
> everyone over there is possibly a few steps away from being drafted into war

Why do you think so? Might be different in Eastern Europe, but as a Central European I think it’s quite unlikely that a direct conflict is going to happen.

Re:Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining? by cudgy on Sunday January 29, 2023 @12:03PM (#34570068)
There already is a direct conflict. Wake up and get your head out of the sand.
Re:Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining? by ginvok on Saturday January 28, 2023 @04:59PM (#34562408)
Uh, no? This is definitely an outside perspective.
Re:Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining? by pjc50 on Saturday January 28, 2023 @04:59PM (#34562411)
There was a huge negative spike around the invasion, but the bigger effect has been the rapid rise in fuel prices. Russia are now clearly losing and Russia is in less of a position to threaten.

Nobody in UK discourse is talking about conscription. Mind you, UK political discourse has gone increasingly off the rails with trying not to deal with corruption and incompetence of Tories.

Re:Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining? by geysersam on Saturday January 28, 2023 @05:54PM (#34562877)
Is Russia clearly loosing? I hope so. But I'm not so sure. They didn't win immediately like they thought they would. But long term they might have better chance than Ukraine to win a war of attrition. (If murdering 100000s people and conquering ruined cities can be called "winning".)

Read [1] recently and it paints an bleaker picture than some other analyses.

https://www.russiamatters.org/analysis/whats-ahead-war-ukrai...

Re:Ask HN: Why Is Everything Declining? by doktrin on Sunday January 29, 2023 @12:04AM (#34565126)
This might be of interest to you :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deK98IeTjfY

It's a video essay on ammunition stockpiles on Ukraine and Russia by the youtuber Perun. It doesn't paint a rosy picture per se, but it does directly refute at least a few of the points made by the author of the RM blog you linked.