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Degeneracy is a Symptom: On Conspicuous Despair, the Ponzi stage of being alive, and why your grandparents are wrong about you.

tl;dr: Wealth consolidation and oligopolies have stagnated economic growth. This you probably know, but the author amazingly shows that the rise of "social degeneracy" is merely a symptom of this problem. He tracks this phenomenon around the world and throughout history. We either tackle the problem early and directly or--my words, not his--the rivers will flow with blood.

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[-] TachyonTele_Esq@piefed.social 2 points 1 week ago

Just how I don't care if I "make it" or achieve social status in general.

[-] schipelblorp@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 week ago

How far does that go?

Like I don't need to drive a Mercedes, but I would like to have a professional identity. It's nice to say, "I'm an X" instead of "I work at Y."

[-] zbyte64@awful.systems 6 points 1 week ago

A professional identity outside of property owner is provisional. Source: I am a jaded software developer who is experiencing pressure from the property class to redefine our professional identity to "meat puppet".

this post was submitted on 20 Sep 2026
32 points (92.1% liked)

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