The problem with the world improving in an irrefutable way on average is that this can be and is used to defend the status quo in almost any field and can lead to complacency and a false sense of optimism. The world became better due to science, technology, various policies, cultural changes, etc. and will only improve if these are continued. It is not always clear what brought improvement and whether that sort of improvement will keep scaling. This is just my long-winded way of saying that I don't like it when people say the system is great, don't change anything, don't complain, and in a few more generations we'll all be fine.
> this can be and is used to defend the status quo in almost any field and can lead to complacency and a false sense of optimism
So, should we stick to lies about world becoming worse to not become complacent?
It is a highly politicized approach to the truth. The truth must be kept out of reach of political thinking. We need to keep our optimism at levels based on facts, not on our political goals. We need to stick to the truth based on empirical data even if it is not aligned with our political goals. At least if world wants to become much better.
I hate the way politicians argue their points. They ignore anything good about their opponents and anything bad about their own ideas. And maybe this is the reason why our world is not great.
> I don't like it when people say the system is great
I don't think anyone saying that. But from the other hand, our system is much better then it might be, and we'd better remember that, because if it wasn't, if we were in a local minimum, then we could change it in any direction to make it better. We need to remember that we are not at a minimum or a maximum, we need to think carefully about gradients before deciding were to move. So maybe we should say that our world is great, to not break it, to not make it worse?
The problem with "fight the status quo" people is that they tend to demand more authoritarianism and centralization to fight something that isn't that bad. Authoritarianism tend to lead to worse outcomes and hurt progress, things progress faster with liberal ideals than authoritarian ideals.
There’s nothing about a “fight the status quo” mentality that inherently favors authoritarianism and it’s not helpful to claim otherwise.
That said, it is helpful to remember both knowing- and unconscious authoritarians will twist any framework into an excuse to establish and flex authority — that’s their whole modus operandi, after all.
If by "centralization" you mean giving more power to central entities that can intervene to fight local abuses and coordinate policies, I don't see a path were we can do without it.
We're in this situation in no small part because big enough companies can just buy their way when facing local entities, and the only recourse that is working is to ask a higher up regulator to intervene. Weakening the regulation entities makes it basically impossible to have anything done.
In particular, I find that "fight the status quo" people want to change some external "system" more than the individual people (ie., themselves). It is easier to blame and demand change of external entities, while being comfortably numb about oneself and one's way of living. For example, see this article by the political professor Eric Kaufmann: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ssqu.13268
some variants of 'fight the status quo' are explicitly opposing the centralization of power and the too big to fail entities in non-authoritarian societies.
Focusing on the bad is natural and makes sense because that’s what can be improved, but I feel like your mental health will be better if you focus on the bad when it’s productive and you can do something about it, and at other times realise that things aren’t that bad
Yep, its a very bizarre argument that we should focus on the good as if there will be some terminal state where things get better of and only if we believe.
There is no end, it's tradeoffs all the way down. And the good things that are happening are hard won victories from people not accepting the status quo.
