<![CDATA[Everyone thinks everything has gotten worse]]>Everyone thinks everything has gotten worse

Here’s some things that actually haven’t:

  • Weather forecasting: it’s better than ever (outside of the US)
  • Solar: cheaper than natural gas
  • Coal: essentially dying from not being cheaper than natgas or solar
  • Timekeeping: now accurate over galactic timescales
  • Flash storage: surpassing spinning rust
  • Public transit ridership in the US: Amtrak is posting the best numbers ever
  • Union membership in the US: rising
  • Murder rates: falling in the US and worldwide on average, believe it or not
  • CFC’s: essentially abolished and gone, the biggest environmental win of our lifetimes
  • Acid rain: increasingly a nearly-solved issue
  • Electrical access: still rising worldwide
  • Internet access: most people are now connected everywhere
  • China is leading the way in green tech and actively working to get off fossil fuels
  • You can charge an EV from 0 to 80% in 15 minutes with the newest chargers and tech, and it’s still getting faster

And so much more. Lots of quiet wins that people never hear about because all they do is doomscroll.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/topic/3a967d01-a2fb-46f3-af11-964035aa2ea6/everyone-thinks-everything-has-gotten-worseRSS for NodeMon, 10 Aug 2026 22:36:15 GMTMon, 10 Aug 2026 02:39:46 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to Everyone thinks everything has gotten worse on Mon, 10 Aug 2026 10:24:02 GMT]]>@Elizafox Something else that still works in the UK:

* Phone up and report a gas leak. Someone will probably come and fix it, for free, within not very many minutes.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://c.im/users/TimWardCam/statuses/117070721336674990https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://c.im/users/TimWardCam/statuses/117070721336674990Mon, 10 Aug 2026 10:24:02 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Everyone thinks everything has gotten worse on Mon, 10 Aug 2026 10:20:55 GMT]]>@WaardRichard @Elizafox I think that a lot of these discussions also don't account for a floating baseline. Improvements are measured in relation to the system you occupy. So, even if things "improve", depending on inequality, things can still feel like a regression to you. Many of these statistics gloss over this reality, your personal experience is not population sized statistic.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/koen_hufkens/statuses/117070709103078904https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/koen_hufkens/statuses/117070709103078904Mon, 10 Aug 2026 10:20:55 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Everyone thinks everything has gotten worse on Mon, 10 Aug 2026 10:15:47 GMT]]>@koen_hufkens @Elizafox Yes, I agree. There are problems with longtermism as well and there seems to be a relation between owid and effective altruism, the latter I absolutely do not support.
The context is that Max Roser says this in response to what the newspapers are presenting us and that is mostly very negative news.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://social.edu.nl/users/WaardRichard/statuses/117070688907324339https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://social.edu.nl/users/WaardRichard/statuses/117070688907324339Mon, 10 Aug 2026 10:15:47 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Everyone thinks everything has gotten worse on Mon, 10 Aug 2026 10:07:02 GMT]]>@Elizafox @aburka

Agreed! 👍

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/grb090423/statuses/117070654498372386https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/grb090423/statuses/117070654498372386Mon, 10 Aug 2026 10:07:02 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Everyone thinks everything has gotten worse on Mon, 10 Aug 2026 09:48:48 GMT]]>@Elizafox Rain? What rain? There is a drought here. The rivers and springs are drying up. You are a dreamer.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://sueden.social/users/Irmgard/statuses/117070582822255684https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://sueden.social/users/Irmgard/statuses/117070582822255684Mon, 10 Aug 2026 09:48:48 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Everyone thinks everything has gotten worse on Mon, 10 Aug 2026 09:44:38 GMT]]>@WaardRichard @Elizafox It is also valuable to remember that the world can also become much worse, and that losses are more easily attained than gains.

For example, undoing the damage done by the current US administration to science over the past year will most likely take a decade or more.

This is one of my gripes with longtermism. The long arrow of time might point toward progress but glosses over significant (preventable) regressions.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/koen_hufkens/statuses/117070566431700509https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/koen_hufkens/statuses/117070566431700509Mon, 10 Aug 2026 09:44:38 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Everyone thinks everything has gotten worse on Mon, 10 Aug 2026 09:39:25 GMT]]>@mihamarkic @codeofamor @Elizafox ... which are being used less and less.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/DamonHD/statuses/117070545917625711https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/DamonHD/statuses/117070545917625711Mon, 10 Aug 2026 09:39:25 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Everyone thinks everything has gotten worse on Mon, 10 Aug 2026 09:37:23 GMT]]>@eobet @YinYinFalcon @aburka @Elizafox They *can't* update for climate change. More energy in the system means more random factors leads to more unpredictability. There are more butterflies in play.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://wandering.shop/users/kaleissin/statuses/117070537942420089https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://wandering.shop/users/kaleissin/statuses/117070537942420089Mon, 10 Aug 2026 09:37:23 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Everyone thinks everything has gotten worse on Mon, 10 Aug 2026 09:20:47 GMT]]>@Elizafox A couple of years ago I'd have agreed with you about the flash, but it costs 3x what it did then.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://beige.party/users/woe2you/statuses/117070472626743490https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://beige.party/users/woe2you/statuses/117070472626743490Mon, 10 Aug 2026 09:20:47 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Everyone thinks everything has gotten worse on Mon, 10 Aug 2026 09:12:16 GMT]]>@halotroop2288 @Elizafox
Many more people take Amtrak than fly between NY and Washington, DC; and between NY and Boston

Obviously this has been the case before, up to some time in the 20th century, but it's been a while

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://rants.au/users/sabik/statuses/117070439146313079https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://rants.au/users/sabik/statuses/117070439146313079Mon, 10 Aug 2026 09:12:16 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Everyone thinks everything has gotten worse on Mon, 10 Aug 2026 09:11:34 GMT]]>@Elizafox
In many countries, life has become much better for women in some ways.

I'm not saying it's perfect, or problem solved. But I am heartily glad I was born in the 20th C and not in the 15th.

If all we do is say that everything has gotten worse, then there is no response but to shrug our shoulders and suffer.

When we recognize where things have gotten better, we can point to that and say I'll have more of that please.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mstdn.social/users/Remittancegirl/statuses/117070436397869372https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mstdn.social/users/Remittancegirl/statuses/117070436397869372Mon, 10 Aug 2026 09:11:34 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Everyone thinks everything has gotten worse on Mon, 10 Aug 2026 08:58:59 GMT]]>@Elizafox Weather forecasting in Tokyo was astonishingly good a couple of years ago. More recently, climate change has made it more unpredictable. Still surprisingly good compared to the bad ol' days.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://ieji.de/users/oheso/statuses/117070386934301108https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://ieji.de/users/oheso/statuses/117070386934301108Mon, 10 Aug 2026 08:58:59 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Everyone thinks everything has gotten worse on Mon, 10 Aug 2026 08:58:00 GMT]]>@Elizafox Thanks for this!

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://flickering.style/users/valentine/statuses/01KZNE98V3AJ47ZPG1NDQ3B3SChttps://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://flickering.style/users/valentine/statuses/01KZNE98V3AJ47ZPG1NDQ3B3SCMon, 10 Aug 2026 08:58:00 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Everyone thinks everything has gotten worse on Mon, 10 Aug 2026 08:17:13 GMT]]>@aburka @Elizafox not everyone lives in The Land of the Orange Devil.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.nl/users/xerge/statuses/117070222660874790https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.nl/users/xerge/statuses/117070222660874790Mon, 10 Aug 2026 08:17:13 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Everyone thinks everything has gotten worse on Mon, 10 Aug 2026 08:03:48 GMT]]>@Paija2021 @Elizafox Yes, weather forecasting will show different things for me, mum, colleagues, my other app and the reports on radio, but all of these will also change randomly every hour or so, to the effect of even ten C difference for the next day. 100% rain - 0% rain.

And then something eventually happens from all of that forecasting and since by then they cycle through every possible scenario, one of those will be right 😄

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://beige.party/users/sahqon/statuses/117070169956320581https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://beige.party/users/sahqon/statuses/117070169956320581Mon, 10 Aug 2026 08:03:48 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Everyone thinks everything has gotten worse on Mon, 10 Aug 2026 07:54:46 GMT]]>@Elizafox Maybe weather forecasting is better than ever SOMEWHERE, but where I live it has become noticeable worse in the last year or so. I use 3 weather apps and they used to be accurate in 1-2 days range, but currently you cannot be sure that it will not rain in 6-8 hours.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://toot.lv/users/Paija2021/statuses/117070134424971879https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://toot.lv/users/Paija2021/statuses/117070134424971879Mon, 10 Aug 2026 07:54:46 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Everyone thinks everything has gotten worse on Mon, 10 Aug 2026 07:54:24 GMT]]>@codeofamor @Elizafox And yet, at the same time, somehow increasing production of coal power plants 😵‍💫

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/mihamarkic/statuses/117070132939987268https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/mihamarkic/statuses/117070132939987268Mon, 10 Aug 2026 07:54:24 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Everyone thinks everything has gotten worse on Mon, 10 Aug 2026 07:53:41 GMT]]>@Elizafox “All they do is doomscroll.“ Should Internet access be counted as a win then?

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodonczech.cz/users/ptesarik/statuses/117070130119406123https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodonczech.cz/users/ptesarik/statuses/117070130119406123Mon, 10 Aug 2026 07:53:41 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Everyone thinks everything has gotten worse on Mon, 10 Aug 2026 07:38:21 GMT]]>@Elizafox Yes thanks for reminding, some things got better. As Max Roser puts it: "The world is awful. The world is much better. The world can be much better.
It is wrong to think these three statements contradict each other. We need to see that they are all true to see that a better world is possible."
https://ourworldindata.org/much-better-awful-can-be-better

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://social.edu.nl/users/WaardRichard/statuses/117070069861725710https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://social.edu.nl/users/WaardRichard/statuses/117070069861725710Mon, 10 Aug 2026 07:38:21 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Everyone thinks everything has gotten worse on Mon, 10 Aug 2026 07:29:04 GMT]]>@YinYinFalcon @aburka @Elizafox part of the reason for that is climate change, makes weather much more changeable and unpredictable.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mstdn.games/ap/users/115798900176839373/statuses/117070033375793253https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mstdn.games/ap/users/115798900176839373/statuses/117070033375793253Mon, 10 Aug 2026 07:29:04 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Everyone thinks everything has gotten worse on Mon, 10 Aug 2026 07:26:16 GMT]]>@Elizafox Improvements in medicine in recent decades have been staggering. I wish they were covered more.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://beige.party/users/RolloTreadway/statuses/117070022324255987https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://beige.party/users/RolloTreadway/statuses/117070022324255987Mon, 10 Aug 2026 07:26:16 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Everyone thinks everything has gotten worse on Mon, 10 Aug 2026 06:48:42 GMT]]>@grumpysmiffy

Some apps give a diff but I don't know if anyone has a list of which ones do that.

Tusky (android only) https://tusky.app/ does, for example

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://masto.nyc/users/gbargoud/statuses/117069874625177458https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://masto.nyc/users/gbargoud/statuses/117069874625177458Mon, 10 Aug 2026 06:48:42 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Everyone thinks everything has gotten worse on Mon, 10 Aug 2026 06:44:34 GMT]]>@Elizafox @aburka Yeah, it's great. The weather for the foreseeable future: ☀️

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://tech.lgbt/users/catraxx/statuses/117069858387753659https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://tech.lgbt/users/catraxx/statuses/117069858387753659Mon, 10 Aug 2026 06:44:34 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Everyone thinks everything has gotten worse on Mon, 10 Aug 2026 06:33:00 GMT]]>@Elizafox Electrification is actually going pretty well when one considers the inherent efficiency of it, even if renewable electricity produced is a fraction compared to total energy usage, the gap is much smaller when considering how much energy is lost under legacy methods.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://donphan.social/users/Umbreon/statuses/117069812918436916https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://donphan.social/users/Umbreon/statuses/117069812918436916Mon, 10 Aug 2026 06:33:00 GMT