this post was submitted on 19 May 2026
155 points (95.9% liked)

Ask Lemmy

39648 readers
1118 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions


Rules: (interactive)


1) Be nice and; have funDoxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, toxicity and dog-whistling are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them


2) All posts must end with a '?'This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?


3) No spamPlease do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.


4) NSFW is okay, within reasonJust remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].


5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.


6) No US Politics.
Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world or !askusa@discuss.online


Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Tech Support

No Stupid Questions

You Should Know

Reddit

Jokes

Ask Ouija


Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu


founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] BanaramaClamcrotch@lemmy.zip 8 points 7 hours ago

Time freakin moves, buddy. Like MOVES. Like HAS motion. It’s crazy how quick the days/weeks/months freaking fly by.

[–] Juniperus@infosec.pub 2 points 6 hours ago

Obviously everything is off, we're falling into tyranny. Anybody wants to take action, look in my post history or PM me.

[–] Agent641@lemmy.world 7 points 15 hours ago

Gravity seems extra strong some mornings.

And yellow coloured things seem to whine at a slightly higher octave than normal.

[–] WorldsDumbestMan@lemmy.today 7 points 16 hours ago

I noticed that most articles have this strange AI feeling to them, I can't say what specificaly, but I kust know.

[–] Surp@lemmy.world 3 points 16 hours ago

Well Max Laughlin thinks that since the LHC went on we switched dimensions or some shit so maybe thats it

[–] MrsDoyle@sh.itjust.works 3 points 16 hours ago (1 children)
[–] crimsonpoodle@pawb.social 1 points 4 hours ago

kinda a dark time in his life

[–] PrimeMinisterKeyes@leminal.space 32 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

We're on the very edge of a new age of feudalism which, as we speak, is being ushered in by murderous fascists and their axiomatic drive to start civil wars.
A small cabal of billionaires totally stopped caring, or at least pretending to do so, about the common folks. They really want all the money and all the power in the world, and it's now within their reach.
The "opposition" is either complacent or terrified.

[–] LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 11 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 22 hours ago) (1 children)

Yes I've been noticing that for years. Talking about it is always well received on social media.

I've also been noticing people's attention spans and analytical skills deteriorating, as they take as little time as possible to process an item, make a superficial judgement that confirms what they already think, and continue scrolling. The goal of information consumption seems to be to process as many little items as fast as possible, spending as little time and brain power as possible on each one. But talking about that on social media isn't usually as well received.

One thing that never changes is people's selectivity about problems they're willing to face vs ignore.

[–] UPGRAYEDD@lemmy.world 6 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

Also worth noting that this has happened throughout history many times.

What is new is the power a small group of people can truly have due to technology. The algorithms of social media and ai can now push the general populations opinions. Not unlike the propaganda of the past, but much stronger and more subtle. The surveillance of every citizen can be used to squeeze and silence the population on an individual level.

Throughout history, the level of wealth inequality and corruption we currently see often causes a revolt, usually followed by a dictator. But this may be the 1st time in human history that the technology enables a small group of people to prevent revolution essentially forever.

[–] LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 5 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

I agree up to "forever". People with too much wealth and power tend to feel invulnerable until they find out they aren't.

[–] UPGRAYEDD@lemmy.world 1 points 6 hours ago

Yes, this is why the future is scary. In the past, no matter how much wealth or power you had, it was implemented through people. Your army, tax collectors etc. Those people understand the system and could overthrow the current system.

In the future, its algorithms and robots that are the source of the power. The robots and algorithms wont overthrow their masters. (And if they do, its probably the end of humanity altogether). And with the level of surveillance, any human that even thinks about revolution can be instantly discovered and dealt with immediately.

[–] ComradePenguin@lemmy.ml 25 points 1 day ago (1 children)

It is off. The US empire is falling, and falling fast. They are lashing out in all directions, and hurting almost everyone. People credit Trump too much for the chaos, that is really frustrating. Yes, he has a lot of power to do idiotic things, but there is an armada of people controlling things and contributing here. Trump is mostly the facade. Never forget that Americans wanted this. They knew what he was, but they still voted for the republican fascists.

The same authoritarian development is happening in a lot of democracies at the moment. It's honestly very worrying. I also feel quite powerless.

[–] AdolfSchmitler@lemmy.world 4 points 11 hours ago

I've been trying to grapple with this recently. And I always end up with " well, the macro level might be fucked, but I can still work on my house and enjoy small hobbies and focus on the micro level of existence."

Except the macro issues (higher gas, inflation, ice, climate change, etc) just completely dominates the micro level. What good will enjoying my hobbies do when I can't get the materials for them and the world outside is burning? Feels too much like burying my head in the sand.

Yes I vote every election, state and federal. Maybe get off the internet? But again, feels like burying my head in the sand. Idk anymore really.

[–] vapordays@leminal.space 16 points 1 day ago
[–] kandoh@reddthat.com 25 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Yeah, since 2014 when they turned the algorithms on.

[–] AskewLord@piefed.social 5 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

agreed. i remember when everyone wasn't pigeon holed into their weird alternative realities and people thought you were crazy for believing crazy bullshit, but now they celebrate you for it as being heroic or something.

[–] moustachio@lemmy.world 3 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

Which time was that?

Was that when all media was owned by a few corporations and had complete control of the narrative for decades?

[–] AskewLord@piefed.social 0 points 12 hours ago (1 children)
[–] moustachio@lemmy.world 3 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

So when people lived in the oligarch funded alternate reality. Got it.

[–] Nouvellalia@lemmy.world 5 points 11 hours ago

"look, things were so much better when this indiscriminate murder and surveillance by the police was limited to black and indigenous people, and the 3 television channels didn't report 99% of it! I didn't consent to get colonized!"

[–] ieGod@lemmy.zip 50 points 1 day ago (2 children)

It's been off since covid for me. 2020 is where I lost a lot of faith in humanity. Masks off (literally) on selfishness, greed, fascism, and anti-intellectualism. Corruption blatantly on display. Decorum and civility have taken a massive hit. It's been downhill since.

[–] rekabis@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Masks off (literally) on selfishness, greed, fascism, and anti-intellectualism.

If only there had been a higher delta in survivability between the vaxxed and unvaxxed, the pro-plague nutters could have removed themselves more thoroughly and effectively from existence.

Unfortunately far too many of them still walk among us.

[–] baggachipz@sh.itjust.works 36 points 1 day ago (1 children)

2016 for me. The moment a person like Donald Trump can win a presidential election is the moment that decency was completely dead. The worst people were suddenly empowered to be as terrible as they want to be. They felt justified in their racism, bigotry, disrespect for others, and hatred. It’s only been stoked more and more since then. Then, yes, Covid was the gasoline on the fire.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] jimmy90@lemmy.world 2 points 22 hours ago (1 children)
[–] Agent641@lemmy.world 4 points 15 hours ago

Just a bit... Hinkey.

[–] GalacticSushi@piefed.blahaj.zone 146 points 2 days ago (22 children)

I think it's mass anxiety caused by uncertainty across the board.

Political uncertainty as far right and authoritarian movements pick up speed in various democracies.

Labor market uncertainties due to companies tightening their belts in the face of economic uncertainty, and trying to replace workers with AI.

Economic uncertainty due to wars disrupting energy and supply chains and the looming specter of recession/depression.

Geopolitical uncertainty due to several ongoing wars and several tense situations that could devolve into actual conflicts, not to mention the major paradigm shift happening where the US is actively ceding its position as a global leader to China.

Climate uncertainty as we refuse to address climate change and burn mountains of coal to power plagiarized chat bots.

The weirdest part is everybody is for the most part pretending everything is normal while silently being anxious on their own.

load more comments (22 replies)
[–] SunshineJogger@feddit.org 8 points 1 day ago

It is a downward spiral. Worry, loss, wory, loss, worry andvmore loss.

Loss of future perspectives, worry over basic needs, losd of health, worry over future of kids, loss of mental health, worry over wars, etc.

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 9 points 1 day ago

Oh yeah. Not sure how much is a us in particular thing. I think the last thing I complained about here is paper towels but I really feel like everything. Absolutely everything is just not working as well as it used to. I blame worker reductions and things just not being maintained as well. I think they are requiring folk to do more such that they can't do it as well and they have lost knowledge on how things work but penny pinching on maintenance. Combined with little to no real oversight and by and large inspection is done internally and that is a good place to pinch pennies. I sorta feel like the country is going like the soviet union. Its like we talked about how inefficiently they ran but they still had cities and people working their jobs and going about life. Similarly we do and people are like see its fine because things are still happening. Its such a slow degredation.

load more comments
view more: next ›