Reading things written by noted visionaries of long-past eras is kinda depressing. Here is M. Visveswaraiya writing about India in 1920 with earnest sincerity. Not a whole lot has changed 100 years later. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/M._Visves
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Most life effort is just running to stay in the same place. The big problems only rarely go away entirely. Most just get updated and reshaped a bit. Every generation lives and dies, mostly being exhausted just holding the same challenges at bay till next generation takes over.
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In a very Thornton Wilder mood. Sometimes I wonder if Homo sapiens will ever get collective ego depletion and just give up one fine day.
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That’s typically a newcomer’s depression. Study enough history and you’ll accept this view, and instead come to see contemporary progress stories as myths.
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It's not about studying enough I think. It's about going pro as an academic historian to the exclusion of non-historian viewpoints. Though I've studied plenty of both pop and pro history, I'm enough of a techie that I consider the "progress = myth" view as merely a counter myth
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I find that part especially exciting. Big changes are mostly terrible in every sense of the word. But seeing the little changes adds a great deal more sense.


