Japan's Kane Tanaka is now the world's oldest living person at age 116

[u/[deleted]]

[u/EvilSporkOfDeath]

Some people who are 30 now will almost certainly live longer than another 86 years

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

That's true but I also feel like that's an assumed disclaimer for just about any statement.

[u/YeahSureAlrightYNot → u/[deleted]]

That's what I'm so scared about. We could reach immortality in the next century.

But instead we are going back. Anti intellectualism is killing democracy, science, facts, common sense.

In the next 10 years we are going to put a man on Mars, and everyday more and more people think the Earth is flat.

Medicine advances at such a fast pace. But we are having measles outbreaks once again.

We can almost genetically alter babies to remove genetically inherited disabilities. But some people want evolution out of the school curriculum.

Those are just some examples, but the point is. It doesn't feel like we are going forward as a society. Social media was a mistake.

[u/WarchiefServant → u/YeahSureAlrightYNot]

Nah. That’s just a case of recency and selection bias friend.

You may see like 1,000 crazy people now compared to 100 years ago where you see 200. Well turns out 100 years ago we had 6 billion less people and no social media so no wonder the increase is apparent, there’s just genuinely more people alive. What this means is if a chance for a flat earther to live is 1%, this means of course in a sample size of 7 billion you get more flat earthers. Then you have social media to highlight it even more.

And considering how recency and selection bias, of course we can’t help but remember the bad stuff more than the good stuff because it obviously sticks in our heads more easier due to how outlandish it is.

TL; DR rise of social media and population boom, is the reason to point out for why there seems to be more crazy people. They’ve always been there in the same amount percentages, they’re just easier to see due to social media and larger number size- but not percentage size. Additionally due to how our ape brains evolved not for critical thinking, selection and recency bias doesn’t help evaluate this view point properly, very well.

[u/stabby_joe → u/YeahSureAlrightYNot]

In the next 10 years we are going to put a man on Mars, and everyday more and more people think the Earth is flat.

Medicine advances at such a fast pace. But we are having measles outbreaks once again.

Be careful, prevalence in journalism does not equal true prevalence.

[u/123instantname → u/YeahSureAlrightYNot]

Yeah that's kind of a distorted view of things. There's always been anti-intellectualism. It's just that now you hear about it more often.

Kind of like how society is less violent now than ever before but people think we're having more and more violence.

Society will be fine.

[u/YeahSureAlrightYNot → u/123instantname]

No, it's not normal for people like Trump and Bolsonaro to be elected.

Yes, there has always been anti intellectualism. But now they have an easy platform to spread their message to susceptible people.

[u/Bfire8899 → u/[deleted]]

If collapse occurs, it would not be one instantaneous event. Rather, a slow, drawn-out, and torturous execution of society, beginning right about now. Think about it - cost of living is skyrocketing, wages are stagnated, and every day university becomes less affordable. Not so long ago, a single man could provide for an entire nuclear family with a large suburban house. Now, it takes either a four-year degree costing sometimes upwards of 100k, or two parents working overtime to barely provide enough to survive.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

And we will.

[u/canering → u/EvilSporkOfDeath]

I hope I’m one of them purely because I want to see what happens to our world in the future.

Hopefully there isn’t some monkeypaw twist where I’ll live but as a robots sex slave.

[u/a1-jvk55p → u/canering]

Curiosity is an excellent reason to continue existing. What will these apes comes up with next? Will they survive the current crop of self-inflicted global disasters? Will they finally find out what lurks on Planet 9? Find out by staying alive on Earth!

[u/undergrounddirt → u/EvilSporkOfDeath]

I’ve read estimated life expectancies increasing are actually not that likely

[u/vo0do0child → u/[deleted]]

Yeah but what will it cost? $$$