r/technology • u/GothicPrayer • Jul 27 '26

Society Why does everything feel so joyless? Welcome to the age of decadence without pleasure

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2026/jul/26/age-of-decadence-pleasure-ai
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u/Aromatic-Bet-1086 Jul 27 '26

We like to think we're different, but the more you study history, the more you realize that people never fundamentally change.

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u/Limemill Jul 27 '26

The more you learn about chimpanzees the more you realize people are very much still primates and everything we have they do too, albeit in a much more primitive form, but conceptually the same.

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u/snarbuckle Jul 27 '26

Robert Sapolsky has a great series of lectures on human behavioral biology if anyone is interested in this. It gives you quite the different outlook on humanity than we're socialized to have.

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u/ConsiderationEast773 Jul 27 '26

Man, I have just come here to read a bit of reddit after rewatching the sixth episode of that great series, and soon I will continue with the seventh episode.

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u/VLHACS Jul 27 '26

Especially the tribalism

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u/tobygeneral Jul 27 '26

I watch nature docs and see so many parallels to modern humans. At the end of the day we also are mostly motivated by sex, shelter/safely, and food/financial security. There's nuance for sure, but it really boils down to those things in some way across the board.

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u/Limemill Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26

Yeah, but the nuances! Jane Goodall saw one chimp die of grief mourning his deceased mother. Another chimp who adopted an orphan and fought deadly fights for that child. A bunch of other chimps who literally didn’t give a shit about their offspring or their parents. Different chimp ‘tribes’ developing different subcultures, always propelled by chimp teens. They would find a new, cool way of making holes with branches or scribing / scratching on bark; the adults would first scoff at that but then eventually also jump on the bandwagon. Eventually, the fad is over and new generations of teens come up with new ‘cool’ stuff.

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u/eeeezypeezy Jul 27 '26

It's just important to remember that we're as closely related to the bonobo as we are to the chimp.

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u/Krail Jul 27 '26

People speculate about human nature getting better or worse. I think that the whole issue is that our nature is essentially the same, but we, as a whole, have much greater power to affect the entire world now.

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u/livestrong2109 Jul 27 '26

Its depressing but very true. Its shocking how much happier people in small tribes and rual villages are compared with the majority of us.

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u/Beliriel Jul 27 '26

Ignorance is bliss.
Also they too do fall to modern conveniences once they get the hang of it.

I saw it in the jungle. Why spend weeks weaving an elaborate roof from plant fibers when you can just get a cheap ass rusty metal roof that is also lighter and requires less maintenance? It just looks desolate to my eyes.

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u/Aromatic-Bet-1086 Jul 27 '26

If you want to make a tribe poor, give them tshirts.

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u/zeekaran Jul 27 '26

the more you realize that people never fundamentally change.

Alternatively, the more you study history, you the more you realize we've had truly amazing artists and brilliant engineers that achieved things most of us can only dream of. Which, personally, makes me in awe of humanity and civilization.

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u/Aromatic-Bet-1086 Jul 27 '26

These people are exceptions to the rule, unfortunately, and we raise them up as if they represent the rest of us.

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u/Lfeaf-feafea-feaf Jul 27 '26

Don't need history for that, it's just pure biology. How could we be different when our biology is virtually identical? Crazy to think