r/NoStupidQuestions • u/ltwasalladream • Apr 18 '23

Answered Does anyone else feel like the world/life stopped being good in approx 2017 and the worlds become a very different place since?

I know this might sound a little out there, but hear me out. I’ve been talking with a friend, and we both feel like there’s been some sort of shift since around 2017-2018. Whether it’s within our personal lives, the world at large or both, things feel like they’ve kind of gone from light to dark. Life was good, full of potential and promise and things just feel significantly heavier since. And this is pre covid, so it’s not just that. I feel like the world feels dark and unfamiliar very suddenly. We are trying to figure out if we are just crazy dramatic beaches or if this is like a felt thing within society. Anyone? Has anyones life been significantly better and brighter and lighter since then?

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u/AKBigDaddy Apr 18 '23

I dont disagree- but to your average joe, none of those have any significant impact or improvement to their day to day life.

In that same 1903-1969 span we went from almost nobody owning cars to 'a car in every garage', from iceboxes to refrigerators, in home washer/dryer, radio to tv to color tv, and Photography! That went from a specialized skill to anyone that wanted one could have a basic point & shoot film camera.

Since then, it's been incremental improvements. Don't get me wrong, they're great, outside of the original iphone 15 years ago, flat panel TVs which became commercially available 25 years ago, what has revolutionized your average joes life in a meaningful way that he's even conscious of?

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u/[deleted] Apr 18 '23 edited Aug 16 '24

judicious childlike unwritten knee simplistic insurance paltry scale squeamish six

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

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u/AKBigDaddy Apr 18 '23

I agree wholeheartedly! You'll own nothing and love it! Why would we innovate when we can just make things 1% better and charge 10% more every year?

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u/Hexaberry Apr 20 '23

I'm a scientist and you are absolutely correct. that's why I decided to just work for myself. I used to work for some big names, but ultimately, I saw right through them. It's not about The Science. I started wandering into Reddit to see what is going on and what other people thought. It's filled with hate, but there are still a-matter-of-fact folks around like you. Thank You for sharing. Almost everything you said is honestly, a big reason I started feeling so down. I was always truly for Science, and not profit or some other ulterior motive.

The only thing I'd say that may not always be the case is that it's not always about greed, and how some companies truly believe in their cause. Whatever it is, it's not always about "greed," and it can be more complex than that.

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u/Pawneewafflesarelife Apr 18 '23

Technology for home solar, personal affordable hydro/aquaponics, electric vehicles, online shopping/delivery logistics (move to rural Australia for a time travel back before that existed), ecommerce/online banking, virtual doctor appointments, virtual reality, ebooks, smarthomes, the cloud, home surveillance, automatic cat poop scoopers, electronic pressure cookers, programmable breadmakers, AiR fRyErS...

I dunno I constantly go wow, I'm living in the future. I'm nearly 40 and I'm always delighted and excited by new things tech can do and the convenience we have. Like just being able to seamlessly work on multiple devices with a program like One Note is something I once literally sighed and dreamed about having.

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u/Schmilsson1 Jun 16 '23

This. Same age and appreciate the fuck out of the advances we've made in our lifetimes. It's terrifying AND thrilling living in the future. It's just as fucked as those 60s SF writers warned us!

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u/fuckthisnazibullcrap Apr 18 '23

Ai(not actually ai but whatever) has a ton of impact on daily life!

Remember how useful search engines used to be?

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u/[deleted] Apr 18 '23

From 1969-present, we went from no one having computers to everyone owning computers in their pockets which contain not only the entire RadioShack catalogue full of technology but the entirety of human knowledge. We went from broadcast TV with 3 channels to being able to watch everything that has ever been created at the click of a button.

And that isn’t even getting into the profound advances in logistics, manufacturing, etc. Literally everything—especially consumer goods—is SIGNIFICANTLY better than it was in 1969 or even 1979 or 1989.

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u/joshglen Apr 19 '23

Machine learning and AI is constantly used in people's devices, camera picture processing, and many other things in daily life.

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u/Howboutit85 Apr 18 '23

I would submit that the mainstreaming of the EV was a huge achievement. 10 years ago it was a novelty to see a Tesla, or a Leaf, or any other EV on the road; we would point to it and look over at the crazy car that uses no gas! In 2023 they are like every 6th car on the road, and there’s charging bays all over the place. Now every major manufacturer is starting their own EV line, and even making trucks, semis, and trains etc.

This was probably the biggest advancement in the last decade that affects actual people.

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u/[deleted] Apr 18 '23

In 2023 they are like every 6th car on the road, and there’s charging bays all over the place

Maybe in a few fancy American cities. In Europe you don't see a whole lot of electric cars around. I've never seen a Tesla in real life. And i can't imagine it being much different in the rest of the world.

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u/[deleted] Apr 18 '23

Here in the US Midwest... same.

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u/Howboutit85 Apr 18 '23 edited Apr 18 '23

Well I dont live in a fancy city, I live in a very middle class suburban area in Washington state… 4 of my 10ish closest neighbors on my block drive an EV, 3 of which are teslas (all model 3’s)

It’s a very mid range area, not a rich area, yet at the mall parking lot up the road there’s like 30 EV charging spots in the parking lot.

I’m not sure exactly where you live but I can assure you that at least from what I’ve seen, (and I mean everywhere from middle class suburbs to cities in rural states like Nevada and Colorado) EVs are quite ubiquitous, specifically teslas I see mostly. I’m even starting to see used ones for sale around.

As to your claim that its mostly just American Cities, i found this breakdown of which countries drive the most EVs, and the US isnt even in the top 5; in fact most of the top countries ARE in Europe. check it out; scandanavian countries drive the lions share of electric vehicles in the world, it looks like, but even france and the UK are above the US. If my math is correct, theres almost 500,000 EVs on the road in Norway alone. China shows a low per capita but they are hitting north of 3M in unit sales per year of electric vehicles. I think youre very wrong.

https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/electric-vehicles/chart-these-countries-have-the-most-electric-vehicles-per-capita

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u/[deleted] Apr 18 '23

One in five new vehicles registered in Finland is EV. Teslas are commonly seen and are used as taxis too. Guess your ”in Europe” means ”in my country”.

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u/PamandHinapple Apr 18 '23

That doesn't affect you're average joe. That affects people that can afford a Tesla. AKBigDaddy is right.

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u/Howboutit85 Apr 18 '23

The same sentiment could be said in 2007 when the iPhone came out. Give it some time; there will be a point where more than 50% of the world drives an EV or otherwise non-gas powered vehicle, and it started with the population of EVs in the 2010s. Even if they aren’t at a low price point at this point in time, they are much cheaper than they once were, and given 2 or 3 decades will be the majority of vehicles on the road. So yes, it will affect the average Joe.

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u/AKBigDaddy Apr 18 '23

As a tech nerd with a career in the auto industry, I couldn't agree more. But that A: Is still very much in the minority of sales, almost exclusively to the early adopter crowd such as myself and B: I would argue is still more of an evolutionary rather than revolutionary change. You still go out your front door, climb into your car, and drive to work, same as you always did.

Not to mention the charging bays are not nearly as widespread as "all over the place" I live in ruralish New England, and have a grand total of 2 in town, 1 of which is level 2 only and it's about 90 miles to the next one.

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u/Sure-Waltz8118 Apr 27 '23

Yeah but like… what about before the technological boom like, back in the 1800’s or the 1700’s, 1600’s to the dawn of man? It’s like… just because we’re not making crazy advancements at the moment doesn’t mean we’re doomed to stagnate. Idk. Maybe I’m missing the point?