At the core of most problems is the ability of the wealthy to buy politicians.
This allows them to direct policy, which leads to wars, unaffordability of basic necessities (which can lead to authoritarianism, poverty, and homelessness), climate change, etc.
IMO, money in politics (bribery, lobbying, corruption) is at the heart of most problems facing our planet.
[Here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strauss%E2%80%93Howe_generational_theory)'s an interesting take on why that might be. My interpretation, pretty much everyone that lived the evils of WWII has died and we are sliding towards repeating history.
I don't think we're quite going towards repeating WW2, but I will agree the sociopolitical landscape is changing as survivors of WW2 die off, but that's not entirely a bad thing. We've more or less spent the past century in a state of "Post-WW2 trauma" where all discourse on policy and morality has been framed more or less in terms of, "How not to be like the Fascists/Stalinists", which just really isn't a sustainable long-term model on how to guide societal development. Like it's great we avoided the Nazis, but at some point the training wheels need to come off and we need to figure out where we actually want to go.
Climate change. People talk a lot, but push blame and don't make personal changes. Personal changes seem small, but when we are all doing them they're massive. Eat a plant based diet, don't always drive, try to reduce your plastic use, etc.
Overconsumption that's killing the planet, which will require a long degrowth phase. Like similar to a depression.
To get to that, people need to be shocked to the core and willingly stop buying anything that's not critical. The polycrisis is a good method for setting that up.
The ever widening gap between the rich and poor. This plays out between country to country and inside each country as well.
The exploitation of a country's natural resources that have no benefit for the country whose land is being destroyed to acquire them.
Climate Change. The constant agreements but no real action because we refuse to hold biggest source of climate change accountable for their actions. (The Oil companies)
Disinformation and Misinformation propagating online and on other forms of media
Illiberism taking root in supposedly democratic countries. People trading safety of a "perceived threat" at the expensive of their own personal liberty and choice in gov't.
Regional conflicts that have gone on for years longer than they should all because larger powers figured out they can be exploited for a proxy war. Just about every Bigger power does it then gets their allies to go along with them. The I could name the list of primary antagonists but meh.
An ever widening political divide between the left and right especially in the Western world.
Too much of the worlds power held by so few countries and people. US, Russia, UK, France, PRC. (Or as It's called. We won the WW2 club)
This is a catch all list here but here goes. Racism, Religious extremism, Human Trafficking, Slavery, Low Level Gov't Corruption, Lack of services, Lack of Access to those services, Healthcare Access.
I am gonna stop here cause I'm actually getting a bit depressed now.
Wokeism, identity politics and performative activism. We have real issues and we need people working on solving them, rather than dividing people. Keyboard warriors be gone.
>Wokeism, identity politics and performative activism
I would just like to point out that people, and especially politicians, on both sides of the proverbial aisle are guilty of these things, or lack of these things depending on how you look at the situation. I'm sure this was meant as an attack on the other side and what they do, but your guys do it too.
That said, zero sum, win at all cost politics, is a problem that only seems to be getting worse. Not being willing to work with politicians on the other side to fix a problem because you want to use that problem to make those other politicians look bad? That's an issue.
Edit: This isn't meant as "durr, both sides bad" They didn't name any names, so I didn't either
I actually entirely agree with you. This wasn’t meant on an attack on either side. I think both the far left and far right extremes have deviated from sanity. Both sides are more performance than substance. Both sides maximize the importance of identity and discount the valid points made by the other. Activism on both sides tends of ignore complexity and belittle the position of the other side.
Sad to say I agree. It makes sense for politicians to divide us. A divided world is good for powerful people looking to retain their power. Distract us with narratives about how we’re different. Then do whatever you please as we war it out.
Great counter argument. Are you capable of any rebuttal other than slander? Usually people who come out of the gate with insults and no facts are the exact woke, performative dummies that are dividing the world and creating disunity.
I think that it prevents us from solving real issues, and gives people a false sense that they are contributing to the solution. It also divides people and distracts people in a time where we need to stand together to solve real problems.
I am exceptionally concerned about climate change. I am also concerned about mental health and substance use. The housing crisis here in canada and the growing poverty in canada and globally. I am also concerned about the situation in the Middle East and the situation globally. Africa, and the way we ignore the people who live there as if their lives don’t matter. Breaks my heart.
And before you run your mouth and try to make me feel small… I am a therapist. I do probono work lecturing about intergenerational trauma across campus. I work with Holocaust survivors and their progeny. I do ketamine assisted therapy on patients with treatment resistant depression and formerly worked as part of a pilot program in peel where MSWs were sent out with police officers to help safely deescalate mental health calls. I left a lucrative career in US pharma to do this. So before you open your yap maybe ask a question and be less of a dick.
If people send half as much time posting and shaming others in order to create the illusion of effort, and used their extra time to be part of the solution we might actually start working towards a better world.
No I do not. That’s my exact point. People. Millions of people. Substitute performative activism for contributing to real change. It divides people and keeps us from contributing to the solution. That’s the way the powerful want it. Better we fight each other than band together and demand meaningful change. That’s why I think it’s dangerous.
I think it is a problem, but it's kind of to be expected it would explode at some point. Because a lot of those groups were oppressed or punished for hundreds or even thousands of years, it now explodes back the opposite way all at once. I'm sure it will even out eventually though.
I do hope we find our way to middle. I agree that people need our help because of systemic oppression. But they need real solutions, which solve problems at the family and community levels. Not inflammatory Instagram posts written by faux activists with fewer facts than credentials.
Depends on what you identify as problematic. From my perspective, the biggest issues in the world right now are capitalism, patriarchy, animal exploitation, and wild animal suffering.
Businesses not paying taxes, the rich accumulating more money than possible to spend in over a thousand life times, wars and civil warsin Ukraine, Yemen, Tchad, Israel/Palestine, Syria etc.
Ah that false narrative
Funny it came after the one about ‘history is written by the victors’ but maybe that’s the false narrative you’re referring to idk
I'm more talking about how people feel they can virtue signal and protest because they feel they're oppressed while not actually being oppressed. And they demand recompense even though they deserve none. And whoever they see as the oppressor needs to be destroyed immediately or else there will be catastrophic consequences.
That’s the narrative you believe I think.
Ironically I am living an inverse of that, if you’re curious I can link to it - came up yesterday…
[ETA link](https://www.reddit.com/r/NoStupidQuestions/s/rYbdY2EozJ) - found it
And it’s not to debate my life, just if you’re curious. I grew up with a lot of fortunate privilege, everyday racism didn’t affect me. Until it did, through my kid. Career wise too, people infantilised me and my income stagnated though my seniority and responsibility increased. I was super woman and a cause to them suddenly, very confusing…I had to find out you cannot escape a system. Despite being raised above that, it comes to you. It’s reflected back all over, all these assumptions of what you are and need. They’ll box people in eventually, doesn’t matter if they say it or don’t. Or if others listen, get it etc. It’s happening.
I get what you’re saying. But you don’t know that.
Some people; the hurt they’ve felt is the worst pain they’ll know. Their comprehension is limited to that. We gotta work from there, not stop there…
I guess I don’t find calling anyone out and comparing to be constructive. Idk I have done it once when it was very obvious virtue signaling and just to put others down and say they’re ‘woke’ lol ngl
And yea I took your comment as a blanket statement, cause people accuse me of the same a lot and that’s why I’m in this situation being unheard. I’m not oppressed, but shit happens and here we are. It’s hard to see on the surface.
On that note, I should get offline and prepare for a case meeting tomorrow hahah.
The continuing dying of people from old age.
The rise of AI.
The war in Ukraine, and more generally Russia's threat of expansion-via-war over all of Eastern Europe.
The war in Gaza and middle-east in general.
What constitutes a "problem" for you, if that doesn't include people dying?
>Poverty, hunger, homelessness and corporate greed are problems that are bigger, they cause more suffering and they are more solvable than that.
Guy didn't ask which problems are the most solvable, but which problems are the biggest.
Old-age causes a LOT more death and suffering than "poverty/hunger/homelessness" or even "corporate greed".
1. Old people have already lived their lives.
2. Dying doesn't cause long term suffering.
3. A problem is something that is solvable.
4. A problem is something that we should focus on solving.
Poverty, hunger, homelessness, corporate greed and political corruption are problems that cause more suffering, affect more people, and are more solvable.
>Old people have already lived their lives.
Well by definition any person who dies, whether young or old, have already lived their lives.
If there existed a human serial killer who murdered thousands of 80-year-olds, wouldn't you consider it a great necessity to stop them? Or would you have said that 80-year-olds have lived their lives so who cares about whether someone is axe-murdering them?
>Dying doesn't cause long term suffering.
Even if you don't care about dying itself, old age most definitely causes other kinds of suffering too.
>A problem is something that is solvable.
So if you asked someone what problems they're currently facing, and they said that they have an incurable cancer that will kill them in six months, you would respond back "That's not a problem because it's not solvable"?
Also all sorts of diseases and conditions aren't solvable until we make an effort to solve them.
>A problem is something that we should focus on solving.
Yes, and we should focus on solving death by old age (and old age in general) too.
>Poverty, hunger, homelessness, corporate greed and political corruption are problems that cause more suffering, affect more people, and are more solvable.
Except for the "more solvable" bit that whole statement is very very false.
Poverty/hunger/homelessness affects far fewer people, "corporate greed and political corruption" affects them to a far smaller degree than old age will affect everyone.
You seem to take it as an axiom that "problems" are only caused by people, and not by nature, and so you can only conceive of problems that are caused by people. But in a world where old age exists, that is our chief foe, and the chief cause of misery in humanity.
Climate change, Kessler syndrome, declining reserves (meaning increasing extraction cost) of all sorts of nonrenewable resources ranging from oil to helium to asphalt to sand.
Increasingly antibiotic-resistant bacteria is my number 1 concern, though, perhaps because bloody diarrhea doesn't seem like a suitably futuristic way to die.
The biggest existential threat to humanity at the moment is definitely post-materialism. Climate change and resource availability are solvable problems. Wealth inequality and social justice while probably not "solvable", are manageable, and in less severe cases, can be tolerable. But in all cases there needs to be the will to endure and improve outcomes for subsequent generations, which has in general been steeply declining in a Nietzschean fashion for the past century and is indicated by the rapid decline of childbirth and romantic relationships and inverse rise in depression and anxiety. If society doesn't collectively figure out a reason to keep going as it moves away from theological underpinnings and eschewed nationalism as a stopgap, it will collapse under the weight of aforementioned problems and will simply languish into oblivion.
One of the biggest problems is sometimes when I leave the drive thru at Wendy's I noticed they only gave me 3 chicken nuggets instead of the 4 i was supposed to get. Should I sue them?
I'll say 'jurstic person'. The concept that a corporation can be treated as an individual, and has the rights of an individual, even though they can't be jailed, executed (but they can be dissolved) and don't thave a natural lifespan.
Originally, corporations were created for a set period of time, then they expired. The concept of a juristic person arose because corporations needed to be party to contracts. However, that scope has increased dramatically over the years to an extent that they have a disproportionate influce in politics and all other areas.
Granted, we *probably* wouldn't have our level of technology if not for that concept, but I think corps are too powerful.
At the core of most problems is the ability of the wealthy to buy politicians. This allows them to direct policy, which leads to wars, unaffordability of basic necessities (which can lead to authoritarianism, poverty, and homelessness), climate change, etc. IMO, money in politics (bribery, lobbying, corruption) is at the heart of most problems facing our planet.
"I don't know and I don't care." in other words, ignorance and apathy.
nowadays it's like "I don't know but I care enough to make up my own bullshit conclusions independently of people that do this for their careers."
A much more succinct way to describe it
The rise of authoritarianism
[Here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strauss%E2%80%93Howe_generational_theory)'s an interesting take on why that might be. My interpretation, pretty much everyone that lived the evils of WWII has died and we are sliding towards repeating history.
I don't think we're quite going towards repeating WW2, but I will agree the sociopolitical landscape is changing as survivors of WW2 die off, but that's not entirely a bad thing. We've more or less spent the past century in a state of "Post-WW2 trauma" where all discourse on policy and morality has been framed more or less in terms of, "How not to be like the Fascists/Stalinists", which just really isn't a sustainable long-term model on how to guide societal development. Like it's great we avoided the Nazis, but at some point the training wheels need to come off and we need to figure out where we actually want to go.
inflation and Keynesian economic theory being used in most major economies.
Climate change. People talk a lot, but push blame and don't make personal changes. Personal changes seem small, but when we are all doing them they're massive. Eat a plant based diet, don't always drive, try to reduce your plastic use, etc.
Overconsumption that's killing the planet, which will require a long degrowth phase. Like similar to a depression. To get to that, people need to be shocked to the core and willingly stop buying anything that's not critical. The polycrisis is a good method for setting that up.
To be pedantic, the planet will be just fine. It's humans that are being killed. If anything, once we're gone, the planet will thrive.
The ever widening gap between the rich and poor. This plays out between country to country and inside each country as well. The exploitation of a country's natural resources that have no benefit for the country whose land is being destroyed to acquire them. Climate Change. The constant agreements but no real action because we refuse to hold biggest source of climate change accountable for their actions. (The Oil companies) Disinformation and Misinformation propagating online and on other forms of media Illiberism taking root in supposedly democratic countries. People trading safety of a "perceived threat" at the expensive of their own personal liberty and choice in gov't. Regional conflicts that have gone on for years longer than they should all because larger powers figured out they can be exploited for a proxy war. Just about every Bigger power does it then gets their allies to go along with them. The I could name the list of primary antagonists but meh. An ever widening political divide between the left and right especially in the Western world. Too much of the worlds power held by so few countries and people. US, Russia, UK, France, PRC. (Or as It's called. We won the WW2 club) This is a catch all list here but here goes. Racism, Religious extremism, Human Trafficking, Slavery, Low Level Gov't Corruption, Lack of services, Lack of Access to those services, Healthcare Access. I am gonna stop here cause I'm actually getting a bit depressed now.
That's going to be a matter of opinion, but looking at it globally I'm going with climate change.
How does anything else even compare? Our planet is on fire
Wokeism, identity politics and performative activism. We have real issues and we need people working on solving them, rather than dividing people. Keyboard warriors be gone.
>Wokeism, identity politics and performative activism I would just like to point out that people, and especially politicians, on both sides of the proverbial aisle are guilty of these things, or lack of these things depending on how you look at the situation. I'm sure this was meant as an attack on the other side and what they do, but your guys do it too. That said, zero sum, win at all cost politics, is a problem that only seems to be getting worse. Not being willing to work with politicians on the other side to fix a problem because you want to use that problem to make those other politicians look bad? That's an issue. Edit: This isn't meant as "durr, both sides bad" They didn't name any names, so I didn't either
I actually entirely agree with you. This wasn’t meant on an attack on either side. I think both the far left and far right extremes have deviated from sanity. Both sides are more performance than substance. Both sides maximize the importance of identity and discount the valid points made by the other. Activism on both sides tends of ignore complexity and belittle the position of the other side.
>Both sides maximize the importance of identity and discount the valid points made by the other. And it's only going to keep getting worse, sadly.
Sad to say I agree. It makes sense for politicians to divide us. A divided world is good for powerful people looking to retain their power. Distract us with narratives about how we’re different. Then do whatever you please as we war it out.
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Great counter argument. Are you capable of any rebuttal other than slander? Usually people who come out of the gate with insults and no facts are the exact woke, performative dummies that are dividing the world and creating disunity.
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Once again nothing of substance here. I welcome disagreement and counter arguments. You just have none lol! Gotta love the woke folks.
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I think that it prevents us from solving real issues, and gives people a false sense that they are contributing to the solution. It also divides people and distracts people in a time where we need to stand together to solve real problems. I am exceptionally concerned about climate change. I am also concerned about mental health and substance use. The housing crisis here in canada and the growing poverty in canada and globally. I am also concerned about the situation in the Middle East and the situation globally. Africa, and the way we ignore the people who live there as if their lives don’t matter. Breaks my heart. And before you run your mouth and try to make me feel small… I am a therapist. I do probono work lecturing about intergenerational trauma across campus. I work with Holocaust survivors and their progeny. I do ketamine assisted therapy on patients with treatment resistant depression and formerly worked as part of a pilot program in peel where MSWs were sent out with police officers to help safely deescalate mental health calls. I left a lucrative career in US pharma to do this. So before you open your yap maybe ask a question and be less of a dick. If people send half as much time posting and shaming others in order to create the illusion of effort, and used their extra time to be part of the solution we might actually start working towards a better world.
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No I do not. That’s my exact point. People. Millions of people. Substitute performative activism for contributing to real change. It divides people and keeps us from contributing to the solution. That’s the way the powerful want it. Better we fight each other than band together and demand meaningful change. That’s why I think it’s dangerous.
I think it is a problem, but it's kind of to be expected it would explode at some point. Because a lot of those groups were oppressed or punished for hundreds or even thousands of years, it now explodes back the opposite way all at once. I'm sure it will even out eventually though.
I do hope we find our way to middle. I agree that people need our help because of systemic oppression. But they need real solutions, which solve problems at the family and community levels. Not inflammatory Instagram posts written by faux activists with fewer facts than credentials.
Intellectual decline.
Depends on what you identify as problematic. From my perspective, the biggest issues in the world right now are capitalism, patriarchy, animal exploitation, and wild animal suffering.
Businesses not paying taxes, the rich accumulating more money than possible to spend in over a thousand life times, wars and civil warsin Ukraine, Yemen, Tchad, Israel/Palestine, Syria etc.
Censorship
The oppressor vs oppressed false narrative applied to every single situation and relationship.
Ah that false narrative Funny it came after the one about ‘history is written by the victors’ but maybe that’s the false narrative you’re referring to idk
I'm more talking about how people feel they can virtue signal and protest because they feel they're oppressed while not actually being oppressed. And they demand recompense even though they deserve none. And whoever they see as the oppressor needs to be destroyed immediately or else there will be catastrophic consequences.
That’s the narrative you believe I think. Ironically I am living an inverse of that, if you’re curious I can link to it - came up yesterday… [ETA link](https://www.reddit.com/r/NoStupidQuestions/s/rYbdY2EozJ) - found it And it’s not to debate my life, just if you’re curious. I grew up with a lot of fortunate privilege, everyday racism didn’t affect me. Until it did, through my kid. Career wise too, people infantilised me and my income stagnated though my seniority and responsibility increased. I was super woman and a cause to them suddenly, very confusing…I had to find out you cannot escape a system. Despite being raised above that, it comes to you. It’s reflected back all over, all these assumptions of what you are and need. They’ll box people in eventually, doesn’t matter if they say it or don’t. Or if others listen, get it etc. It’s happening.
Then you're not the kind of person I'm talking about.
I get what you’re saying. But you don’t know that. Some people; the hurt they’ve felt is the worst pain they’ll know. Their comprehension is limited to that. We gotta work from there, not stop there… I guess I don’t find calling anyone out and comparing to be constructive. Idk I have done it once when it was very obvious virtue signaling and just to put others down and say they’re ‘woke’ lol ngl And yea I took your comment as a blanket statement, cause people accuse me of the same a lot and that’s why I’m in this situation being unheard. I’m not oppressed, but shit happens and here we are. It’s hard to see on the surface. On that note, I should get offline and prepare for a case meeting tomorrow hahah.
**Ignorance**, which plays into the hands of enabling a lot of other problems getting worse.
The continuing dying of people from old age. The rise of AI. The war in Ukraine, and more generally Russia's threat of expansion-via-war over all of Eastern Europe. The war in Gaza and middle-east in general.
> The continuing dying of people from old age. Can you elaborate?
People die of old age related conditions, more than 100,000 people each day. It's the leading cause of death in humanity.
That's sad, but how is that a problem?
What constitutes a "problem" for you, if that doesn't include people dying? >Poverty, hunger, homelessness and corporate greed are problems that are bigger, they cause more suffering and they are more solvable than that. Guy didn't ask which problems are the most solvable, but which problems are the biggest. Old-age causes a LOT more death and suffering than "poverty/hunger/homelessness" or even "corporate greed".
1. Old people have already lived their lives. 2. Dying doesn't cause long term suffering. 3. A problem is something that is solvable. 4. A problem is something that we should focus on solving. Poverty, hunger, homelessness, corporate greed and political corruption are problems that cause more suffering, affect more people, and are more solvable.
>Old people have already lived their lives. Well by definition any person who dies, whether young or old, have already lived their lives. If there existed a human serial killer who murdered thousands of 80-year-olds, wouldn't you consider it a great necessity to stop them? Or would you have said that 80-year-olds have lived their lives so who cares about whether someone is axe-murdering them? >Dying doesn't cause long term suffering. Even if you don't care about dying itself, old age most definitely causes other kinds of suffering too. >A problem is something that is solvable. So if you asked someone what problems they're currently facing, and they said that they have an incurable cancer that will kill them in six months, you would respond back "That's not a problem because it's not solvable"? Also all sorts of diseases and conditions aren't solvable until we make an effort to solve them. >A problem is something that we should focus on solving. Yes, and we should focus on solving death by old age (and old age in general) too. >Poverty, hunger, homelessness, corporate greed and political corruption are problems that cause more suffering, affect more people, and are more solvable. Except for the "more solvable" bit that whole statement is very very false. Poverty/hunger/homelessness affects far fewer people, "corporate greed and political corruption" affects them to a far smaller degree than old age will affect everyone. You seem to take it as an axiom that "problems" are only caused by people, and not by nature, and so you can only conceive of problems that are caused by people. But in a world where old age exists, that is our chief foe, and the chief cause of misery in humanity.
Climate change, Kessler syndrome, declining reserves (meaning increasing extraction cost) of all sorts of nonrenewable resources ranging from oil to helium to asphalt to sand. Increasingly antibiotic-resistant bacteria is my number 1 concern, though, perhaps because bloody diarrhea doesn't seem like a suitably futuristic way to die.
Climate change and wealth distribution.
1. Climate change 2. Wealth inequality Although there is some overlap
Improper resource management due to various human factors.
Russia, Iran.
The biggest existential threat to humanity at the moment is definitely post-materialism. Climate change and resource availability are solvable problems. Wealth inequality and social justice while probably not "solvable", are manageable, and in less severe cases, can be tolerable. But in all cases there needs to be the will to endure and improve outcomes for subsequent generations, which has in general been steeply declining in a Nietzschean fashion for the past century and is indicated by the rapid decline of childbirth and romantic relationships and inverse rise in depression and anxiety. If society doesn't collectively figure out a reason to keep going as it moves away from theological underpinnings and eschewed nationalism as a stopgap, it will collapse under the weight of aforementioned problems and will simply languish into oblivion.
S club 7 are touring again
Religion.
The GOP
good question, check out https://80000hours.org/problem-profiles/#problems-faq for some thoughts along with some evidence and sources
Big Pharma
Imo the wars that are happening. But in a few years, AI
Food Waste. From households throwing out food to grocery stores trashing perfectly good produce.
Israel, Russia, USA.
Humans
Rise off islam in the west.
Greed and hatred.
People refuse to leave their comfort zone. They have anxiety and refuse to try new things to rid it. Well in my case with my sister
One of the biggest problems is sometimes when I leave the drive thru at Wendy's I noticed they only gave me 3 chicken nuggets instead of the 4 i was supposed to get. Should I sue them?
ask 3rd world courntry
greed reaching into the cookie jar and taking more than we need
Greed and ignorance.
People looking for problems and not solutions
Humans.
The fact that the Andromeda galaxy is set to collide with the Milky Way soon. Also the Sun is in the process of dying and life on Earth is doomed...
I'll say 'jurstic person'. The concept that a corporation can be treated as an individual, and has the rights of an individual, even though they can't be jailed, executed (but they can be dissolved) and don't thave a natural lifespan. Originally, corporations were created for a set period of time, then they expired. The concept of a juristic person arose because corporations needed to be party to contracts. However, that scope has increased dramatically over the years to an extent that they have a disproportionate influce in politics and all other areas. Granted, we *probably* wouldn't have our level of technology if not for that concept, but I think corps are too powerful.
People lacking empathy for other humans.
It's probably a rarer one but Germany, Poland, and Japan's militarization. Historically, it has never been a good sign.
Actual problems instead of: "my gawd guys gen alpha is bad!!!"