Hacker News with Generative AI: Social Commentary

A day in the life of a New Delhi roadside barber (aljazeera.com)
They come from far and wide to provide affordable haircuts and grooming services to the city’s labourers - and anyone who fancies a chat.
New Delhi, India, Barbering, Social Commentary, Lifestyle
7 points by mooreds 3 days ago | 1 comments
The Stone Soup Theory of Billionaires (asomo.co)
In recent years there’s been a strong outbreak of the Great Man Theory of History. This is the idea that single powerful or inspired men - literally men - create history and should be adored, or, on the flip side, reviled.
Billionaires, History, Economics, Social Commentary
11 points by Dogwash24 4 days ago | 6 comments
Don't Panic: there's a narcissism in thinking you live in the worst of times (freddiedeboer.substack.com)
Look, the reelection of Donald Trump is bad news. A lot of awful stuff is going to happen.
Politics, Opinion, Social Commentary
9 points by paulpauper 6 days ago | 3 comments
The truth about latchkey kids (nevermindgenx.substack.com)
Gen Xers like to boast about being left unsupervised after school. But there was a grim side to it that has left many determined not to repeat the sins of their parents.
Parenting, Generation X, Childhood, Social Commentary
30 points by paulpauper 15 days ago | 32 comments
The Reasons Authoritarianism Is Growing – and How to Reverse It (scottsantens.com)
It takes all kinds. Humanity would have never made it this far without a multitude of people with a wide diversity of personality types and preferences. It is our individual differences wherein lies our strength as a society, but my belief in the truth of that statement is also in polar opposition to those who disagree with individuality and diversity and prefer oneness and sameness.
Politics, Authoritarianism, Social Commentary
41 points by 2noame 15 days ago | 82 comments
Disenshittify the Web one small step at a time (deshittify.us)
While the enshittification of the Web (and beyond) might seem far greater than any individual can even make the slightest dent in–you, we, can deshittify the Web one small piece at a time. Something you like or use or do that's become enshittified? Disenshittify it.
Web Development, Social Commentary, Internet Culture
6 points by philonoist 22 days ago | 0 comments
Robinhood admits it's just a gambling app (theverge.com)
US citizens can gamble on the upcoming election on Robinhood, the financial nihilism app announced.
Finance, Gambling, Robinhood, Elections, Social Commentary
10 points by bentocorp 24 days ago | 8 comments
Could you pass this 8th grade test from 1912? (onepercentrule.substack.com)
I saw this exam copy from 1912 on social media, along with comments suggesting that the exam better prepared students for life after school compared to tests for eighth graders today. Some comments even argue that students in 1912 were more challenged than they are now, given that they could pass such rigorous tests!
Education, History, Social Commentary
69 points by Gaishan 24 days ago | 142 comments
Lars Tunbjörk documented the rise of alienating office work (newyorker.com)
In the winter of 1999, an odd little movie named “Office Space” gleefully demolished the conventional portrayal of white-collar work.
Photography, Office Culture, Humor, Social Commentary
64 points by marban 29 days ago | 31 comments
Zuck's gravity-defying metaverse money-pit (2023) (pluralistic.net)
Zuck's gravity-defying metaverse money-pit: $46.5 billion incinerated and he's richer than ever.
Metaverse, Business, Technology, Finance, Social Commentary
7 points by alex1138 31 days ago | 2 comments
Scurvy in the Age of Billionaires (jacobin.com)
Once banished to history books, scurvy is making a comeback in wealthy countries thanks to soaring economic inequality.
Health, Inequality, Social Commentary
4 points by Pfhortune 35 days ago | 0 comments
My Country Is Cruel to Anyone Outside of a Car (oliverobscure.xyz)
My country is cruel to anyone outside of a car.
Social Commentary, Transportation, Inequality
13 points by oliverobscure 36 days ago | 0 comments
Plutocrat Archipelagos (macguffinmagazine.com)
Razor wire fences, galvanized spikes and electrified perimeters: the barriers that entomb the ultra-rich in their walled settlements isolate them from perpetual violence and societal collapse.
Wealth Inequality, Security, Social Commentary, Architecture
47 points by bookofjoe 36 days ago | 13 comments
Cards Against Humanity campaigns to encourage voting, expose personal data abuse (theregister.com)
The troublemakers behind the party game Cards Against Humanity have launched a campaign demonstrating how easy it is to buy sensitive personal data about American voters, while simultaneously encouraging those Americans to plan how to cast a vote in the upcoming presidential election.
Politics, Privacy, Social Commentary, Data Security, Games
6 points by LinuxBender 40 days ago | 1 comments
A Georgist's Guerilla Gardening Guide (taylor.town)
It's weird how everybody suddenly forgot about Henry George:
Urban Planning, Economics, Social Commentary, Guerilla Gardening
65 points by surprisetalk 43 days ago | 35 comments
The Depopulation Bomb Isn't Ticking, It's Overblown (americandreaming.substack.com)
In the 1960s and 70s, as the global population was growing by leaps and bounds, prominent intellectuals, institutions, and political leaders, from the United Nations, to the Club of Rome, to President Richard Nixon, warned about the looming crisis of overpopulation. Today, with birth rates falling around the world, a growing number of thought leaders foretell the precise opposite.
Demography, Population Growth, Social Commentary, Predictions
22 points by paulpauper 47 days ago | 65 comments
Cory Doctorow With a Plan to Halt the Internet's Enshittification (hackaday.com)
Those of us old enough to remember BBS servers or even rainbow banners often go down the nostalgia hole about how the internet was better “back in the day” than it is now as a handful of middlemen with a stranglehold on the way we interact with information, commerce, and even other people.
Internet Culture, Technology, Social Commentary
9 points by rolph 48 days ago | 2 comments
The Disenshittify Project (deshittify.us)
While the enshittification of the Web (and beyond) might seem far greater than any individual can even make the slightest dent in–you, we, can deshittify the Web one small piece at a time. Something you like or use or do that's become enshittified? Disenshittify it.
Web Development, Social Commentary, Internet Culture
5 points by speckx 50 days ago | 0 comments
Dead Internet (2023) (darkfutura.substack.com)
Have you plucked away at this thing they call the ‘Internet’ lately? Checked the news, watched an instructional video, browsed desultorily for interesting corners? Notice anything unusual? Like the lack of warmth, the moribund pallor? The breathless unresponsiveness? Maybe we should take its pulse. What’s that? It works just fine, you say?
Internet Culture, Opinion, Social Commentary, Technology
36 points by KqAmJQ7 51 days ago | 62 comments
A Plan to Halt the Internet's Enshittification, Throw It into Reverse (pluralistic.net)
I have a confession to make: I am old. I turned 52 last month, the full deck of cards. I have two artificial hips. I have cataracts in both eyes. I’m old as dirt.
Internet, Technology, Opinion, Social Commentary
19 points by ilrwbwrkhv 55 days ago | 1 comments
Harvard Students Are Better Than You (tracingwoodgrains.com)
Affirmative Action, I am told, ended the other day. Best wishes to those who celebrate.
Harvard University, Affirmative Action, Education, Social Commentary
6 points by barry-cotter 56 days ago | 1 comments
The White Collar Apocalypse Is Nigh (scott-fryxell.github.io)
I don't have a degree, but I have worked in tech two plus decades and I can tell you it's interesting as all get out to watch the status economy begining it's downward spiral. Imagine spending the first twenty five years of your life striving to become the kind of person society prioritizes only to graduate into a world where you are the first victim of "The intelligence Age".
Technology, Economics, Social Commentary
28 points by sfryxell 57 days ago | 24 comments
"Traffic Violence": The Grifters Go After Cars (albertcory50.substack.com)
I first saw this term on Hacker News. It made me vomit, and of course the defenders gave the usual accusations and evasions:
Traffic, Urban Planning, Social Commentary, Grifters
14 points by AlbertCory 58 days ago | 17 comments
Cope culture. Doctors make a lot of money, and that is fine (greyenlightenment.com)
Medicine, Finance, Social Commentary
26 points by paulpauper 65 days ago | 16 comments
You're Not Smiling Enough (rubenerd.com)
You know that Treehouse of Horror episode of The Simpsons where the family is bundled off for some “Re-Neducation”, and everyone’s faces are forced into a smile with tenterhooks? It’s such a visceral image I can still remember it decades later. And weirdly, I feel as though I just experienced something a bit similar myself.
Humor, Culture, Television, Social Commentary
87 points by Brajeshwar 69 days ago | 45 comments
The First Idiot Principle (tyleo.com)
Social Commentary, Psychology, Behavior
25 points by tyleo 75 days ago | 4 comments
Voters' Yearning for a Dictator Is a Danger to the Country (reason.com)
Politics, Democracy, Social Commentary
16 points by seydor 76 days ago | 19 comments
The Junkification of American Life (nytimes.com)
Culture, Social Commentary, United States
16 points by lxm 76 days ago | 1 comments
The right to be rude – Armed and Dangerous (ibiblio.org)
Social Commentary, Politics
4 points by hui-zheng 76 days ago | 2 comments
Racism, misogyny, lies: how did X become so full of hatred? (theguardian.com)
Racism, Misogyny, Social Commentary, Politics, Media
24 points by beardyw 77 days ago | 32 comments