Some try to explain this saying utopia has less drama than dystopia. But never explain a changing parameter with a constant factor.https://twitter.com/robinhanson/status/914504814712754177 …
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Okay, but that sounds like a constant factor, which can't explain changes over time.
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No, I'm saying older writers made worse literary decisions (or older SF editors tolerated it more). I think that changed over time.
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And the turning point for making better literary decisions was ~1816? And that insight has taken 200 years to slowly diffuse to writers?
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Leaving aside the separate slow increase of pessimism and flashy cynicism, I also think writing slowly got better over last N-hundred years.
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That theory explains a constant trend toward dystopia. But one needs to add more to explain the overall pattern that changes direction.
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*shrugs helplessly* I was only around for the most recent part of it.
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Literary works are vastly more likely to reflect cultural trends than to explain them.
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