Are we living in an age of mediocrity?
Driven by unknown forces people are more interconnected than ever, and yet they're lives come off as mediocre and isolated from one another.
I'm not old enough to comment on a generational difference between baby boomers and millennials, but, I can make some economic and socioeconomic insights.
First, the single greatest force that has transformed the lives of anyone born post 90's, has been the advent of the world wide web. As everyone knows, the internet is addicting, not in-of-itself; but, because people simply find it of economic usefulness in making purchases, job searches, virtue signaling, vanity, and the harmless chatting. Yet, people spend time engaging in the same activities as everyone else does. Such, as making purchases online through Amazon, clicking on the majority of how income is made by Google, through ad's, and watching television on Netflix.
Second, these trends have actually driven down the cost of products and goods of Google, Amazon, and Netflix, along with many other companies... which can be viewed as hedonic services, in my view. Which, means that these behaviors are becoming increasingly self-reinforcing. In another thread, I point this out with actual deflation happening for cell service, internet, and streaming services on the internet, due to the economics of technology being able to accommodate for increases in demand fueling more investments into the same industry, whilst driving down operating costs, whilst further driving profits from such hedonic goods. Meaning efficiency is increasing at incredible speeds to compensate for an increase in demand. Something intelligent is driving this trends to say the least...
Third, and not surprisingly, people are buying the same things, otherwise known as fads. Chocolate, Netflix, and popcorn can all be bought through the internet. In fact, Amazon has made so much money from this tendency that it's owner, Jeff Bezos, is the single richest man in the world. Ratings for goods make people want to buy the same things because of the desire for satisfaction. Apple still thrives over it's image as an alternative to PC's, which is an interesting and complex fad that has thrived for many years.
With, the above factors in mind, I am led to believe that millennials and even baby boomers are living a mediocre life. We're buying similar goods, be it an electric Tesla car, and virtue signaling, or making a subscription for Netflix and organizing our Fridays to be watching our favorite serials on a PlayStation or Xbox console, and then having the illusion of choice to play your favorite game on the same consoles. (Please keep in mind, that were at the fifth iteration of the Sony PlayStation that can now handle virtual reality or 4k gaming and video playback.) Furthermore, Amazon has become our one-stop shop for anything that has a price tag on it, such as books, magazines, or even soon to arrive grocery stores.
Now, looking at the issue with a slant, I'm not sure anyone would call the above, any kind-of social behavior, or is it? Would you call the above social behavior?... To me it seems driven by highly intelligent algorithms that are designed to address your wants. Data mining your search history, credit card history, cookies saved, IP logs, and consumer behavior has driven this increase in internet goods, which affect exactly what kind of ads will be displayed for you by Google.
I want to end this by saying that nothing about this is alarming to the current millennials. This is simply the environment we have been accustomed to participate in. Which, brings me to the question about whether you enjoy your superficial individuality on the internet? I mean, all of this hasn't been your choice to make, rather than sophisticated algorithms based on your history on the internet.
If any of this holds true, thus, is modern life becoming more mediocre?
I'm not old enough to comment on a generational difference between baby boomers and millennials, but, I can make some economic and socioeconomic insights.
First, the single greatest force that has transformed the lives of anyone born post 90's, has been the advent of the world wide web. As everyone knows, the internet is addicting, not in-of-itself; but, because people simply find it of economic usefulness in making purchases, job searches, virtue signaling, vanity, and the harmless chatting. Yet, people spend time engaging in the same activities as everyone else does. Such, as making purchases online through Amazon, clicking on the majority of how income is made by Google, through ad's, and watching television on Netflix.
Second, these trends have actually driven down the cost of products and goods of Google, Amazon, and Netflix, along with many other companies... which can be viewed as hedonic services, in my view. Which, means that these behaviors are becoming increasingly self-reinforcing. In another thread, I point this out with actual deflation happening for cell service, internet, and streaming services on the internet, due to the economics of technology being able to accommodate for increases in demand fueling more investments into the same industry, whilst driving down operating costs, whilst further driving profits from such hedonic goods. Meaning efficiency is increasing at incredible speeds to compensate for an increase in demand. Something intelligent is driving this trends to say the least...
Third, and not surprisingly, people are buying the same things, otherwise known as fads. Chocolate, Netflix, and popcorn can all be bought through the internet. In fact, Amazon has made so much money from this tendency that it's owner, Jeff Bezos, is the single richest man in the world. Ratings for goods make people want to buy the same things because of the desire for satisfaction. Apple still thrives over it's image as an alternative to PC's, which is an interesting and complex fad that has thrived for many years.
With, the above factors in mind, I am led to believe that millennials and even baby boomers are living a mediocre life. We're buying similar goods, be it an electric Tesla car, and virtue signaling, or making a subscription for Netflix and organizing our Fridays to be watching our favorite serials on a PlayStation or Xbox console, and then having the illusion of choice to play your favorite game on the same consoles. (Please keep in mind, that were at the fifth iteration of the Sony PlayStation that can now handle virtual reality or 4k gaming and video playback.) Furthermore, Amazon has become our one-stop shop for anything that has a price tag on it, such as books, magazines, or even soon to arrive grocery stores.
Now, looking at the issue with a slant, I'm not sure anyone would call the above, any kind-of social behavior, or is it? Would you call the above social behavior?... To me it seems driven by highly intelligent algorithms that are designed to address your wants. Data mining your search history, credit card history, cookies saved, IP logs, and consumer behavior has driven this increase in internet goods, which affect exactly what kind of ads will be displayed for you by Google.
I want to end this by saying that nothing about this is alarming to the current millennials. This is simply the environment we have been accustomed to participate in. Which, brings me to the question about whether you enjoy your superficial individuality on the internet? I mean, all of this hasn't been your choice to make, rather than sophisticated algorithms based on your history on the internet.
If any of this holds true, thus, is modern life becoming more mediocre?
Comments (38)
Criticizing other people's lives is, and has always been, a popular pastime.
Well, it's not really a caricature if you take under consideration how much work goes into maintaining the internet as we know it, although it seems like a caricature given the amount of information available on anything that has value.
If you zoom out and look at the internet, we had some highly monopolistic behavior in the market due to Microsoft in the 90's and 00's, right? Then, you had Google racing to the top, making the majority of their money through ad's, since their inception. Then there was Apple, working silently on their own goods, such as iPhones and Mac. And as of fairly recent you have Amazon, which is a giant marketplace for anything that is a product.
Quoting praxis
Well, I don't mean to stereotype, but, what about all this meme shit on the internet? Twitter is like some kind of organism that thrives off of memes and some such...
Where did I criticize? I made no value judgements on my thoughts about other people.
If you reeallly think about it you can even say I'm talking about myself with respect to the "world" as I've seen and experienced it online or offline.
Quoting Shawn
"Mediocre" means "not very good."
Well, that's relative, isn't it? I mean, I explicitly or implicitly wanted someone from an older generation to expound on that. I already stated that I'm a millennial, and personally have been enjoying my self labeled mediocre life. I justify that with my life having been spent in-large-part on the internet/world-wide-web buying goods on Amazon for myself and utilizing products from Google or Twitter to [I]socialize[/i] with others*. :party:
*Is that a reification in thought to say that your [I]socializing[/i] with others on Twitter or on a place like this? :brow:
This is a pretty popular claim. I don't think so, (or should that be no more than ususal?) but it depends on where you live and how you interpret what you see. I was young in the 1970's and I much prefer it now (despite all the challenges).
The young people I know (and I know a lot) seem curious and hold good values and care about others. But they are a mix, like they always have been.
I would be interested in how one would even measure the difference between our current age and, say 1975, or whenever.
Anyone who reflects that they have become a mindless consumer in a bland world (which was a significant preoccupation in the 'me generation' 1970's) has a choice to change how they live.
Well, just off the top of my head, you guys were extremely concerned with the environment back in the 70's, which was suppressed ever since. Back then some books really sent shockwaves throughout the times about peak oil and such. We even had a President that wanted solar panels on the White House in Washington.
I was always preoccupied with understanding the counterculture of the 60's that led to concern over spirituality, equality, and to much extent egotism.
How has it been since then?
Not really. All our cars were V8 and we set fire to tyres and bushland just to watch them burn.
What about that peanut farmer, Jimmy Carter? He was a cool guy that hasn't been respected at all. Had some really interesting ideas that oil shitted on? Climate change and especially peak oil was whispered around that time in government circles.
A sample:
"The symptoms of this crisis of the American spirit are all around us. For the first time in the history of our country a majority of our people believe that the next five years will be worse than the past five years. Two-thirds of our people do not even vote. The productivity of American workers is actually dropping, and the willingness of Americans to save for the future has fallen below that of all other people in the Western world.
As you know, there is a growing disrespect for government and for churches and for schools, the news media, and other institutions. This is not a message of happiness or reassurance, but it is the truth and it is a warning.
These changes did not happen overnight. They've come upon us gradually over the last generation, years that were filled with shocks and tragedy.
We were sure that ours was a nation of the ballot, not the bullet, until the murders of John Kennedy and Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. We were taught that our armies were always invincible and our causes were always just, only to suffer the agony of Vietnam. We respected the presidency as a place of honor until the shock of Watergate.
We remember when the phrase "sound as a dollar" was an expression of absolute dependability, until ten years of inflation began to shrink our dollar and our savings. We believed that our nation's resources were limitless until 1973, when we had to face a growing dependence on foreign oil.
These wounds are still very deep. They have never been healed. Looking for a way out of this crisis, our people have turned to the Federal government and found it isolated from the mainstream of our nation's life. Washington, D.C., has become an island. The gap between our citizens and our government has never been so wide. The people are looking for honest answers, not easy answers; clear leadership, not false claims and evasiveness and politics as usual.
What you see too often in Washington and elsewhere around the country is a system of government that seems incapable of action. You see a Congress twisted and pulled in every direction by hundreds of well-financed and powerful special interests. You see every extreme position defended to the last vote, almost to the last breath by one unyielding group or another. You often see a balanced and a fair approach that demands sacrifice, a little sacrifice from everyone, abandoned like an orphan without support and without friends.
Often you see paralysis and stagnation and drift. You don't like it, and neither do I. What can we do?"
Poignant speech, upon which the American voter responded with Reagan. Yeah, the 80's were something else entirely.
I was born in 1951. I think the most important differences between my life and those of younger people is that working people are more vulnerable than they once were. Globalization, corporatization, stagnation of standard of living, weakness of labor unions, failure of the Democratic party to protect its constituents.
Everyone wants to believe there's something special about themselves, right? Liberals tend to think this way. Though, I don't want the topic to be too much about politics, but whatever works, right?
But, that aside, and the veneers of having a literate group in science and technology is quite important to the GDP of a nation, right?
Are you saying that even our mediocrity is mediocre?
What Biden did was monumental towards the average worker in America, especially women.
Are you happy about his New Deal and Infrastructure bill?
:100: Since 1963 too (my YoB), the precariat has only grown moreso in this ever-accelerating 'neoliberal' plutonomy. Globally and locally.
The Leisure class has always needed a robust Symbolic class to leverage the neverending, ever-expanding exploitation of the Laboring masses. From the Pyramids & the Great Wall, Roman roads-aqueducts & medieval Cathedrals to the US military industrial complex, Walmart & Amazon it's always been so.
They're enjoying their cake.
Prices are good enough for them to have it and eat it too. :party:
I meant your depiction of mindless consumers.
Amazon is building one of their giant distribution centers just down the street from where I live, incidentally, taking the place of prime farmland.
Thinking about Amazon for a second, you have an organizational ability to collect all the goods at the best price, meaning that economically you have the cheapest good provided to you without thinking much about it, then it's pretty mindless product peddling, no?
Well, contrary to your argument nobody is saying, "Let them have cake", anymore. So, it's all about progress and GDP growth, right?
Progress for whom? The socioeconomic immiseration of the vast majority of people on this planet is relatively constant over time. "GDP" measures wealth concentration while ignoring – obfuscating – the externalization, or burden shifting, of the "GDP's" costs to communities and the environment. Anthropogenic climate change, no? So yeah, the +five millennia-long Pyramids-scheme (i.e. megamachine) of oligarchic civilization grinds on ...
In economics there's a saying, that a rising tide lifts all boats...
Quoting 180 Proof
I find this hard to believe in certain regards. Can you actually support this argument?
Seems like a variation of Reagan's fabled 'trickle-down economics'. What is it with the disciples of Hayek and water?
I'm planing on reading The Great Transformation by Polanyi. Have you read it?
Optimism is a choice. :cool:
I don't have the attention span, forgive me.
It's my understanding that Marx didn't plan the manner in which socialism ought to become scientific to then become communism. Also, his Capital was meant for Germany. Maybe in a possible world near you Germany became communist and never went to war with the Europe. Who knows these things.
I'm somewhat skeptical about arguments that a planned economy cannot compete with capitalism, with the caveat that you have scientific socialism down. China is working hard at it.
My further understanding is that the Wealth of Nations got more rep with the powers that be at the time, and even China has some predisposition towards mercantilism.
Just my two cents.
Clearly not. This age is well below the mean.
Has it passed the House yet? I'll believe it when I see it signed. Yes, it's a good thing, but it won't solve the problem.
Everyone's buying the same stuff though.
Yay!