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Re:Plunging test scores are a slow-moving catastrophe by andsoitis on Saturday September 26, 2026 @11:51AM (#49857685)
Is your point that earth is not at a "stable point" or "stable range" but it used to be?

Or are you talking about another system like "society" or "civilization"? Or something else altogether?

Re:Plunging test scores are a slow-moving catastrophe by vincent-uden on Saturday September 26, 2026 @11:55AM (#49857718)
Society, education and white-collar work in this case. Not saying I believe this does mean the collapse of white-collar work of course. Moreso that if that was the case, the point of no return could have already been passed without us knowing.
Re:Plunging test scores are a slow-moving catastrophe by dandellion on Saturday September 26, 2026 @12:09PM (#49857858)
For something as abstract as education, is there such a thing as a "point of no return"? It's not obvious to me that's something that degrades in the same way that climate or a physical system does, even if we can draw some parallels. I do think it's still a useful analogy, for example, it would imply that even though we're only starting to notice the ripples of that instability now, it has the implication that fixing it things would mean having to address much more than just what's apparent, we'd also have to fix everything that lead to this mess over the last few decades.
Re:Plunging test scores are a slow-moving catastrophe by vincent-uden on Saturday September 26, 2026 @12:23PM (#49858024)
I think there is for a snapshot in time of education or work which is how we commonly think of work right? It isn't true of course. But we sort try to group work into periods of stability between revolutions, industrial, digital or whatever.

We have a chance to adapt, that's for sure. But white-collar work might not exist (or just resemble) as it does today.

But I agree, the category is almost too malleable to analyze.

Re:Plunging test scores are a slow-moving catastrophe by Citizen_Lame on Saturday September 26, 2026 @12:17PM (#49857960)
Everything is a wave and there are always oscillations.