Thread

September 2026: The world today, as seen by one Polish guy

522 points · 391 comments · marjancek

jakozaur · 1790761035 · focus · HN ↗
I'm Polish, but this is such a pessimistic, overdramatic take. The visualisations are impressive, but you're living in Poland's golden age. See this Hacker News story with 1,000+ upvotes: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48062117">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48062117
The war in Ukraine is a tragedy, but it has proved that Russia is weak. The price shock will speed up the transition to renewables, and Iran is losing its grip on Hormuz. So many of the other issues are solvable.
It's easy to be a pessimist, but there's a bright future ahead of us.
1. jeziorsa · 1790762065 · focus · HN ↗
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  1. bartekrutkowski · 1790762292 · focus · HN ↗
    "Golden age" doesn't mean that everything is perfect and we've reached mythical utopia. It merely means there wasn't a better period in history, to date. Please, name one period, where you had more freedom, more rights, more money earning opportunities, bigger food abundance and variety, longer life expectancy, more safety, less wars (speaking locally about Poland) so on and so forth.
    lifestyleguru · 1790762560 · focus · HN ↗
    Sir are you aware of the state of Polish public healthcare and the nearby war?
    subscribed · 1790770036 · focus · HN ↗
    Mate, I'm saying that as someone living in the UK (with friends and relative in Poland so I have close ties) - Poland has much better healthcare than many, for example the UK.
    If I need a doctor who actually listens, or the consultation in less than 2 years, this is the way, and it's a world-class care as well.
    Sure there are subpar parts of the healthcare in Poland, but until all you can get is 15 minutes phone chat with the GP (two days away if it's urgent) instead of in-person visit, or 47 minutes wait for the ambulance in case of stroke or heart attack (in Poland it's ~10 min in cities, ~20 in the villages) you really don't have anything to be ashamed of.
    Complain, if you can improve it, yeah. But it's a good service. Just overworked and underpaid.
    lifestyleguru · 1790770565 · focus · HN ↗
    Medical professionals in Poland overworked and underpaid? Doctors work simultaneously in multiple places with no obligation to be physically present at any, their salaries have been for few years now at Swiss and US levels. Yes salaries of high hundreds thousands EUR annually from the public healthcare system with tax rebates and total taxation somewhere around 15% (!!!).
    World class care? No you are not getting urgent in-person visit in Poland either. There are cases of people dying in ER with dislocated shoulder (because no anesthesiologist present), after quite standard C-section (no doctor present), or intubated into esophagus (and dying afterwards).
    The availability and attention you are writing about are alien to me. Private visit costs 400PLN for five minutes of attention. Most important thing you'll learn is that they don't have the time (for you).

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