Thread

1. Tade0 · 1790758636 · focus · HN ↗

   I feel like this is overdramatized a bit.

   For instance: it's mentioned that EU gas storage is at 67% and Germany's at 56%.

   What is not mentioned though is that Poland's storage is at 97% because the previous administration, for better or worse, was paranoid enough to invest in a sizeable marine gas terminal and the current one stocked up early.

   Regarding real estate: adjusted for inflation prices peaked 2.5 years ago, interest rates are also much lower than back then. Nobody is buying because all the Ukrainian refugees who were moving to Poland are here already and that's the last bump in population this country will see for the foreseeable future.

   Also there's the threat of war on Polish soil, which affects investor sentiment.

   1. yzydserd · 1790761276 · focus · HN ↗

      Dramatised yes. Overdramatised no. This is a dramatic period of history.

      1. ben_w · 1790763286 · focus · HN ↗

         Every period of history is dramatic; sometimes I rewatch old episodes of a UK satirical news quiz, Have I Got News For You, and even in the best of years there was plenty of drama.

         1. radiorental · 1790780664 · focus · HN ↗

            I've been thinking about this a lot recently. Are people more pessimistic now? While there are ebs and flows to the general state of various societies I feel that objectively the 2020s are no better or worse that any of the preceding post WW2 decades??

            Is this an effect of social media and the 24 news cycle that has negative headlines on repeat?

            1. ben_w · 1790782384 · focus · HN ↗

               I don't think we're even that much more pessimistic, overall, though we might be.

               24 hour news cycle may do something, but we had daily bad headlines for a long time before that.

               If anything new is making us depressed, it's likely algorithmic attempts on our attention. A/B testing on the most engaging content, leading to addiction, as in people who hate that they waste all their time on their devices and yet can't bring themselves to stop. At least some of that may lead to negative affect, including pessimism but also dysmorphia and rage etc. depending on what the A/B testing finds works best for your demographic.

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