memes

Eh, it depends on the author. I've seen a lot of modern Post-Apocalypse/Cyberpunk stuff make comedic quasi-self-references by way of media-within-the-media (A piece of modern literature in the Fallout setting describing a "dystopian" world in the self-proclaimed utopian Vaults, for instance).

But the point of the media-within-the-media is often to illustrate how we fixate on the drama of dystopia without acknowledging the banality of social evils.

Right now, in the mostly-free-press parts of the world, I now think that dystopian scifi no longer serves as a warning of what not to do but instead acts as a numbing agent to increased oppression.

This is going to sound very Maoist or whatever but we need more utopian scifi like Star Trek TNG. We need utopian visions imagined for us so we have something to work towards.

It was so refreshing to watch the Chinese TV show for Three-Body where the world was at peace with each other and trying to solve this bizarre global mystery. Sure, the Chinese government was painted as much more competent than American & European governments but Hollywood does the same thing with the US government too.

No-one is saying that all is fine. Yes, there are loads of big issues right now, but we're still living better and safer than 99% of all the humans that have ever lived. We are not living Ina dystopian world.

Yeah, and Jews in WWII would disagree with you.

It's always easy to find a very specific group of people that are having a horrible time, that doesn't mean that on average, humans live better and safer than in the entire history of humanity. Sure, the last 10 years saw a bit of a down turn, but thing are still way better than, say, 40 years ago.

I guess it's hard to remember how really hard life could be

Yeah standard of living overall is factually better than at any other point in the last few hundred years.

Really depends on who you are and where you live. I'm watching my Houston ISD getting torn apart before my eyes. Police were running around UH campus clubbing students and dragging them into squad cars just a few weeks ago. The derecho that blew through downtown knocked out 5-10% of the windows in various buildings and killed the power for a few days. Electricity costs have doubled in the last ten years, while summer heat is up a sold five degrees Fahrenheit on average.

Is my standard of living better than it was for someone living in the city a generation ago? Doesn't look like it. But hey, we've got weird new AI and the stock market is very up. Is it better than someone living in Houston in 1824? Yeah... I guess? But so much of that seems to hinge on having electricity and running water. And the more pipes keep bursting and lines keep getting knocked down, the less reliable these services seem.

Medicine alone has made getting to or living past your mid-30’s far less hard

Average life expectancy has been over 60 years of age since at least the 19th century. A lot of that came entirely out of the advent of vaccinations.

Good think we're not having trouble convincing people to get vaccinated in the modern era, I guess.

Oh well, at least frogurt is still relatively cheap.

Like I said, gratitude is hard.

It is hard to have gratitude when there is inequality

It is hard to have gratitude when competition is encouraged and enshrined by people who benefit from it

It is hard to have gratitude when the constructs in which we live seem unjust

It is hard to wake up and look around and find something to be grateful for

It is hard to be grateful when all you can see is what you don't have

Being genuinely appreciative of what you do have leads to a quieter mind and a happier life. We have one life.

It comes across as some stupid bullshit, I know. But the resentment and frustration aren't useful. Clarity of mind and purpose is, and is more sustainable than passion and anger.

My 2c.