Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by Clewza313 1942 days ago
> Everyday I see a world where many in my generation have simply given up all hope for opportunity of a family, a house, a stable career and forced to confront an uncertain future in a world that is slowly boiling itself to death.

South Korea and Japan are 10-20 years ahead of the same curve here. However, the result has been resignation and stagnation, not revolution.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sampo_generation

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satori_generation

8 comments

There's a pretty big difference between East Asian cultures and contemporary American culture, though. The former tend to be shame-based cultures: "I can't succeed, and this is because I am personally a failure." The latter tends to be an anger-based culture: "I can't succeed, and this is because the government / corporations / landlords / George Soros fucked me over."

Elsewhere in the world, this same generation also represents itself as ISIS and revolutionaries in Syria, cartels and gangs in Mexico & central America, and pirates in Somalia. As a developed nation, demographic realities reached America after they reached those countries. We'll see what form it takes here.

Multiple forms, unlike most of asia these are multicultural societies, The Losers are distributed across these multiple cultural spheres and they will react in different ways.
I think comfort is something that affects people.

People in poor countries, the Philippines for example, have fewer opportunities, less ability to save, yet somehow form families, raise kids and look to a better tomorrow.

In rich countries people feel like they’re missing something if they’re not keeping up with the Joneses.

In the Philippines not many people are ashamed of second hand clothing. In Korea that’s just not something people would do.

It’s not pride but it’s also not the best way to deal with reality.

They are not 10 to 20 years ahead of the curve. The Sampo and Satori generations are very much in the same age bracket as Western millenials.

Stagnation and resignation has also been the answer for millenials in the West. If by revolution you mean the recent Capitol riots, most of the protesters were over 40 and well off. If anything I'm surprised by how politically apathetic this (my) generation is.

Engaging in political activity would require leaving my room.
They get it out of their system on Twitter
On the Sampo generation wiki, 53.5% state that there's no money to save. Although I'm not an expert on these matters, what happened to packing your bags and moving out of Seoul or Gyeonggi-do to save some money? I think the motivation may not be there for some or social pressures keep people where they are in life. In Korea, you can easily raise kids if you're outside of Seoul/Gyeonggi. The teacher to student ratio is very close to 1.
Not enough jobs. People do settle in smaller cities if there are jobs - the city of Ulsan has higher GDP per capita than Seoul, thanks to Hyundai Motors and other big plants, but it's not exactly easy to get one of these jobs.

In the end, most people flock to the greater Seoul area because that's where most jobs are.

The major reason my small ruralish home town has a brain/talent/youth drain is the lack of high quality jobs. I'm pushing to move to my partners small ruralish town now that we can work remote but her fear is the lack of like minded friends.

It's sad because it is much more enjoyable and realistic to live, raise a family, and buy a home in these types of areas as compared to a city.

What qualifies as a like-minded friend? Same hobbies? Same political ideology? Same profession?
Some glob of all of those. Someone we'd be interested in spending significant amount of time with. People who we'd be okay with them being our primarily in person friend group.
I moved from Los Angeles to the rural area I grew up a year ago. The biggest thing I miss is the people. There are a fraction of the people here that there were in LA and the average education, income, and general approachability here is much lower. Plus almost everyone I have met out here is refusing to get the Covid vaccine because of conspiracy theories.
if your savings rate is lower then it isn't exactly a good job, though you may enjoy the amenities while you are there...though not if you are working too hard to have time for them.
What makes you think the savings rate is lower in the cities? You might not even have a job in the first place outside the city
What countries have successfully resisted the movement of money to the rich over the last 20 years?
I'm sure they will face the piper at some point, but you don't see people in Copenhagen living on the streets or in squalor. Probably because China makes all of their stuff and immigrants build all of their houses, but still.
None, its a global issue for globalized world.

I am finishing reading the Code of Capital, very interesting look at this exact issue (though bit though for me to go through)

Bolivia, Cuba, China, Vietnam, etc :-)
South Korea at least is a pretty special case. They were one of the poorest countries in the world as recently as the 70s, so there's no real sense of "older generations had it better" to get outraged about.
In Japan such hopes can be replaced with digital celebrities, and DMM games characters https://japan-animemusic.com/en/news/%5BAnime%20Key%20Player...
You need the right policies in place to direct resources accordingly; Freedom Dividend/UBI, Democracy Dollars, Journalist Dollars, Ranked Choice Voting or similar, etc.