Post #2935982

2022-09-02 07:32 UTC

@MaximilienMoreau@mastodon.social @Wired@mstdn.social 1. US-PRC relations certainly aren't perfect or even ideal right now, but they're certainly not at Cold War level. 2. Not really sure what the "new technologies" or the "expected productivity increases" being referred to here were in 1997, and I don't know what "big economic boosts" specifically mean according to the writer 3. I'm not familiar enough with Russian politics to know whether the term "kleptocracy" is correct, but there is definitely a lot of nationalism, and it is threatening at least one country in Europe. However, I wouldn't call it "quasicommunist". Also, I'm not sure when the last time was when Russia WASN'T basically run by a mafia. 4. East/West integration seems to have gone fine? I mean there's some issues in the East for sure, particularly queer rights and some racism, but I don't know if that counts as an "integration" thing. (also Brexit doesn't count since the UK never used the Euro anyway and AFAIK it wasn't related to east/west relations at all) 5. Well we're not at that point yet, but we are approaching it rapidly, so this could definitely be one.

Replies (1)

@LeBonk@wetdry.world 2022-09-02 07:38

@MaximilienMoreau@mastodon.social @Wired@mstdn.social 6. I'm sure it definitely seemed that way circa Q4 2001, but that feeling's largely subsided with the defeat of ISIS and the wearing-off of the nationalism the so-called "war on terror" stoked. Also, crime is still trending down. There was a notable uptick at the start of CoViD-19, but that's worn off as far as I'm aware. 7. There's definitely still pollution, it's definitely causing some health problems, and our medical system is definitely underprepared in a number of ways, but not at the scale this seems to be suggesting. 8. I mean gas is up of course, mainly due to that one day in 2020 when oil prices went negative and killed off a bunch of small businesses, re-strengthening OPEC's cartel and allowing them to create artificial scarcity, but alternative energy has been continuing to grow quickly (particularly renewables) 9. CoViD-19 definitely tried, but it's only managed just under 6.5 million kills so far and we've already got vaccines going out, so I'd say this one's a win. 10. If anything, the social and cultural backlash is pushing for MORE progress. There's certainly been a flareup of nazi shit, but overall people are working on kicking that wheel forward. All that said, though, right now it's looking like around 25-75 years from now is gonna be the rough part. The real sink-or-swim for our species is still ahead of us, but we are on the way to preparing for it.

Open ##2935983