
Barack Obama: Now Is the Greatest Time to Be Alive - dpc59
https://www.wired.com/2016/10/president-obama-guest-edits-wired-essay?mbid=social_twitter
======
erikpukinskis
This is basically the thesis of Hans Rosling's 2006 Ted talk* . Things, on
average are better.

What bothers me about this way of measuring progress is that for some, e.g.
drug addicted or abusive families, people living in war torn regions, things
are not better. For some, things are bad and have been for generations.

For this reason I try to refrain from "things are better" rhetoric, because it
feels cruel to those people. Like I'm saying "I know it's bad for you, but I
don't really care because it's better for many".

And personally I think from a moral standpoint we have the same responsibility
to lift up the bottom as we do to lift the average. The trouble is people at
the bottom are often at the intersection of multiple intergenerational
disadvantages, which makes helping extremely difficult.

It's exactly this reason that I think it's so important not to say "things are
better" without qualifications. If we can't help these people, the least we
can do is acknowledge their situation.

* [https://www.ted.com/talks/hans_rosling_shows_the_best_stats_...](https://www.ted.com/talks/hans_rosling_shows_the_best_stats_you_ve_ever_seen)

~~~
refurb
I think the better approach is to highlight progress. Sure, many people still
live in difficult situations, but overall, we've made a lot of progress over
time.

~~~
threeseed
The single, biggest problem is that the progress isn't being shared.

In all first world countries wages are stagnant, housing is completely
unaffordable, education is a luxury rather than a right and the rich are
getting richer and worst of all more brazen e.g. Rich Kids of Instagram.

~~~
pavlov
The Western countries are not a uniform block. Many European countries have
free or affordable colleges. Wages are not stagnant in Germany. Housing is
affordable in many places, including USA except for a few coastal cities. Etc.

------
rottencupcakes
This sentiment coming from Barack Obama plays directly into Peter Thiel's
claims that the liberal elite are ignoring the plight of so many Americans.
The fact that nearly 50% of the population support Donald Trump and his
message "Make American Great Again" should make that clear.

See Thiel's pro Trump speech from this afternoon:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfYLEPRiIyE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfYLEPRiIyE)

~~~
scrollaway
Trump is a salesman. He's pretty successfully selling the idea that America
used to be great and that he's just what you need to make it great again.

Regardless of whether it's wrong or not, it certainly doesn't have to be true
for it to sell. Americans especially seem to love buying hot air.

Now, to address your point, ask yourself if the same class of people you claim
Obama is ignoring would have been better off 50 or 100 years ago.

~~~
totalZero
Spoken like someone who lives in a different country and is unfamiliar with
the nuances of current American political sentiment, which is the reason why
Trump's pitch is resonating with just about half of the USA.

Trump connects with Americans on many issues that either affect regular people
or make them feel disempowered...loss of jobs, national debt, corruption in
Washington, illegal immigration, excessive warfare in foreign lands...it's a
little silly to say he's totally full of hot air.

If you don't have a sense for the zeitgeist, you can never understand why a
populist is, well...popular.

~~~
criley2
It's resonating with white identity politics. No magic here. It's white
nationalism. Sugar coating follows:

~~~
ericzawo
Which mirrors what has been happening in Europe for a while now.

~~~
threeseed
Mirrors what is happening in all Western countries e.g. Australia.

Right wing politicians are exploiting the population around the world by
blaming migrants/refugees for all their problems.

~~~
ebfe
What benefit does the migrants/refugees bring?

~~~
trowawee
What benefits do migrants bring to a country? Immigrants of some sort probably
do most of the menial tasks that the vagaries of which uterus you emerged from
let you avoid. They're also the doctors who treat you, your coworkers if
you're in tech like most of us are, the people who cook both whatever trendy
food you enjoy and whatever comfort food you enjoy. They're the people who
actually believe in the fictions the West tells itself about what it is and
what it wants to be. They're the people who work twice as hard as you do
because they actually know the value of what you were born with and never
appreciated like they did.

~~~
omonra
If we strip your comment from the emotional affect, you're essentially saying
that immigrants are happy to do menial jobs that the locals do not.

How do countries without large immigrant (I won't even go to refugees)
populations handle this? Switzerland seems to be doing fine. Japan isn't
falling apart because there's nobody to cook. Most of Asia is doing fine
without allowing any immigrants.

So on a strict analysis of whether immigrants are beneficial to the host
population, your argument isn't made.

~~~
trowawee
Did you actually look at information for either of the countries that you
cited? Immigrants make up 20% of Switzerland's population.
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_to_Switzerland](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_to_Switzerland)).
Japan's economy has been struggling for years now
([http://www.wsj.com/articles/why-japans-economy-is-
laboring-1...](http://www.wsj.com/articles/why-japans-economy-is-
laboring-1459929574)), and their population is aging at a rapid rate,
compounding the economic stagnation, something immigration helps to combat
([http://qz.com/173379/immigration-is-saving-the-us-from-an-
ag...](http://qz.com/173379/immigration-is-saving-the-us-from-an-aging-
crisis/)).

~~~
omonra
1\. I don't think of foreigners who live in Switzerland as 'immigrants'
(despite the article calling them that). They are foreigners who are residing
in the country (and most of them come from Europe anyways). It's extremely
hard to obtain Swiss citizenship.

2\. All the talk about Japan economy doing badly is nonsense. If you believe
that narrative (which is totally understandable as that's the conventional
wisdom), I strongly suggest you read this article:
[http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/08/opinion/sunday/the-true-
st...](http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/08/opinion/sunday/the-true-story-of-
japans-economic-success.html)

Basically many Japan watchers (ie people who live there and know the country
intimately well) subscribe to this 'alternative' view.

~~~
trowawee
So your response is:

1\. Some inconvenient Swiss immigrants aren't immigrants.

and

2\. Read this article from 2012 and ignore the last 4 years of Japanese GDP.
([http://www.tradingeconomics.com/japan/gdp](http://www.tradingeconomics.com/japan/gdp))

Care to try again?

------
jondubois
All these advances in medicine are great; It's so wonderful to know that rich
and powerful people like Obama and Hillary Clinton will live to be 150 - I'm
so happy for them - With all the stress I'm under, I'd be surprised if I make
it to 50. Maybe the elites can harvest my organs when I'm gone; it's nice to
give back to this wonderful society that the elites have created for us.

Yes, social media is great; I have lots of friends on Facebook! Except that in
real life I can't even see them because I had to move to a different country
to escape the high property prices and high cost of living... And I'm actually
one of the lucky ones - Most people don't have the option to work remotely and
are stuck paying half their income in rent.

I can't even buy a house because some reserve bank somewhere will mess with
the interest rates and cause another housing crash (at the most inconvenient
time possible) and I'll have to declare bankruptcy and watch the big banks
reprocess my home.

Regarding global warming - I don't care about it at all! With the way things
are going, AI will probably destroy us before global warming ever becomes a
problem (and by 'us', I mean 'those who are not elites').

~~~
pavlov
50 years ago, the notion of moving to a different country and still being able
to work remotely was science fiction. Now it's not only possible, but it's not
a crazy luxury -- you're saving money by doing it! And you can still keep up
with your friends using a free global network and all sorts of options for
video conferencing. (Remember when international phone calls cost many dollars
a minute?)

This all sounds like amazing progress to me.

You complain that you "can't" buy a house because something might happen to
interest rates at some point. Guess what -- it's always been like that.
Housing loans come with risks, and renting has always been relatively
expensive for low-income workers. Nothing new under the sun.

I challenge you to point out an era in human history when the élite was less
powerful than it is today. The primary reason why it seems that they're
gaining in wealth is increased visibility and transparency brought on by the
global network -- again, progress.

~~~
jondubois
My point is that happiness is not about material things; it's about doing what
you want to do - Not what you have to do.

There is a difference between doing something because you want to versus doing
it because you have to. I'm not saying that I'm not responsible for my own
decisions, but I certainly feel like my hand was forced to some extent.

When I think about people who are less fortunate than me, I think the feeling
of powerlessness must be 100 times stronger - Most of these people aren't even
aware of what's happening to them.

------
return0
I guess this article is part of the democratic campaign, in which the obamas
are the shining beacons. The US president may know better than anyone if his
country is in its best state ever, but the rest of the world is not. My
country greece has not seen bodies of drowned refugees being washed in our
shores since 1922. It's a shocking reality that we never expected we 'd see.
The US campaigns in the surrounding region have been failing so abysmally and
for so long that we, as a globe, have acquired learned helplessness with
regards to wars. War is not the only possible answer to everything, and when
its used, it must be used wisely. For that reason alone, i hope trump's
inward-looking, anti-inverventionist agenda wins.

------
CodeWriter23
Bullshit. The 90's were much greater. People had money to spend their way into
economic growth that was measureable at the street level. And "asset based
recovery" was a term yet to be coined.

------
jganetsk
"That’s one reason why I’m so optimistic about the future: the constant churn
of scientific progress. Think about the changes we’ve seen just during my
presidency. When I came into office, I broke new ground by pecking away at a
Black­Berry. Today I read my briefings on an iPad and explore national parks
through a virtual-­reality headset."

Those changes are relatively minor.

~~~
aswanson
Which raises the question: What _was_ the most significant scientific
discovery during the Obama era? Can we even quantify it yet?

~~~
whenwillitstop
Deep learning

------
bluedino
>> Once-quiet factories are alive again, with assembly lines churning out the
components of a clean-energy age.

Has he been to the rust belt? How can he say that with a straight face?

~~~
erikpukinskis
There needs to only be two examples for the statement to be true. I know of
Tesla's Fremont factory, I'm assuming there is another?

~~~
RandomInteger4
Some examples here:

[http://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/why-donald-
trump-...](http://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/why-donald-trump-is-
wrong-about-manufacturing-jobs-and-china)

------
tekni5
I agree that more funding in science and technology is what we need. But
Barack Obama had more in common with the status quo than with what his
commentary is suggesting.

There also seems to be a disconnect between what is being said in this article
versus the reality. Yes there have been improvements in crime and poverty
perhaps, but the quality of employment, the quality of general life for the
average person in the West seems to have only degraded in the last decade or
two.

I would also argue that the pace of technological advancement has decreased.
Despite on-going advances in computer science, we have stalled in many other
fields since the end of the cold war, in particular space.

~~~
pnathan
> quality of employment, the quality of general life for the average person in
> the West seems to have only degraded in the last decade or two.

can you cite some data sources for that claim?

~~~
DefaultUserHN
You wanted to understand why a Trump supporter is voting for Trump. The Trump
support tells you of his experience and why he is voting for Trump. You then
demand scientific data to back it up. You are not even listening to what he
has to say, and you are not listening to his experience. And this is why you
can never understand why he is voting for Trump.

~~~
tekni5
I just want to point out I'm not a Trump supporter, in fact I'm in Canada so I
cannot vote in the US election. My original comment was just a general
observation.

------
sien
Can he be please be President for the next 4 years as well?

regards the rest of the world

~~~
ChrisClark
That's what's crazy. Some of the US wants Trump to be president, 99% of the
world doesn't. What's the disconnect?

~~~
DefaultUserHN
>What's the disconnect?

The millions of immigrants who have to leave their homes because of Hillary
and Obama's failure in the Middle East probably don't want any more of that
incompetence.

~~~
yread
What were they supposed to do with Arab spring? They didn't intervene. Should
they have intervened?

~~~
DefaultUserHN
Many failures. Not all failures.

------
Clubber
It sure beats being in Europe 100 years ago.

~~~
ryan-allen
Or Syria now.

~~~
_delirium
Or Libya now, to name another country improved by our esteemed Nobel Peace
Prize laureate.

------
danharaj
...unless the military of the USA has decided that you need to be annihilated
via drone strike.

The man commands more violence than most of us can comprehend. It feels out of
place for such a person to tell the rest of us how great things are going. The
cost of progress of the United States is measured in human lives and the ones
doing the killing are the ones deciding it is justified. That's some nasty
accounting.

~~~
robbrown451
I wonder how those drone strikes, and other violence commanded by Obama, would
register on a graph like this:

[http://knowmore.washingtonpost.com/2015/05/29/heres-how-
many...](http://knowmore.washingtonpost.com/2015/05/29/heres-how-many-people-
have-died-in-war-in-the-last-600-years/)

or this

[http://ourworldindata.org/wp-
content/uploads/2013/06/ourworl...](http://ourworldindata.org/wp-
content/uploads/2013/06/ourworldindata_wars-after-1946-state-based-battle-
death-rate-by-type.png)

~~~
danharaj
Yeah, I forgot, justice is statistical.

~~~
robbrown451
The real world kind of is. I'd prefer a president to have the good sense to
use military approaches that cause the least amount of deaths. Statistics is a
good way of making rational decisions rather than basing them purely on
emotion.

~~~
danharaj
Like most people, you've found a way to rationalize the violence of your
government away as necessary, realistic, justified, pragmatic, etc. Everyone
has their own words that magically make killing OK.

Entire families of civilians have been destroyed by drone strikes. There is no
evidence for the efficacy of drone strikes. There is no evidence that the
military actions the USA has taken in recent decades has been at all
worthwhile. The people who decide it is justified are the _same people who
commit the violence_.

If it were American families being destroyed all of a sudden out of the sky
with no justice or recourse, I think, perhaps you would sing a different tune.
Or, perhaps, the death of a few Americans is easily rationalized away. After
all, you can just look at the statistics.

[http://engl210-deykute.wikispaces.umb.edu/file/view/omelas.p...](http://engl210-deykute.wikispaces.umb.edu/file/view/omelas.pdf)

~~~
robbrown451
Ok. Vote for Trump. Maybe he'll be better.

~~~
danharaj
You're kidding, right?

There's a reason why the entire political infrastructure of United States can
only produce 2 competitive candidates, both of whom are fully in support of
global neoliberalism. Yes, if my politics had to be constrained by a system
that is specifically interested in denying me alternatives that would
challenge its hegemony, then I would pick Clinton over Trump.

But I don't have to. I can say that the whole thing is a rotten mess. Because
it is. Eating shit because the chef only serves shit and worse shit isn't
rational or realistic. It's just eating shit.

And there will be people who continue to die in order to uphold this hegemony,
and so long as they are unimportant people that can be written off as
statistical inevitabilities of rational decision-making by the people who
benefit from their suffering, I suppose the system will continue receiving the
support of people like you?

The thing that puts me off most about mainstream politics is how easily
everyone who accepts the system (that includes liberals and conservatives and
a whole spectrum of people who accept the basic tenets of the system) writes
off the deaths of others. Just what makes you so qualified to rationally
decide which deaths are acceptable and which aren't?

~~~
robbrown451
On the one hand, I'm not a fan of the two party system, I've done tons of work
on that and spent tons of time trying to find solutions that may actually take
hold before I die.

As for "what makes me qualified"....well, I'm a citizen in a democracy, and
therefore my opinion counts. I'm glad I don't have to make those tough life
and death decisions directly, but I am glad someone is doing it and they don't
have a "burn it all down" attitude, nor do they have such a black and white
view of morality that they are unable to do the best thing for us.

------
meira
Poverty is down absolutely, but never have it been so high relatively. Rich
people never lived so well and poor people never struggled so hard to try to
live 1/10 of what money provides today. People don't feel less poor when they
have a 2000' car and everyone in Instagram has a brand new.

------
williamle8300
Ok. Obama. Thanks as always.

------
yanilkr
Is president taking credit for successes of private enterprise?

------
albertTJames
People do not respond to authenticity. Obama was the greatest president of my
generation, and from the looks of it, that is not going to change anytime
soon.

------
zelon88
Wow, lots of bitter conservatives in here. I thought HN was smarter than that.

~~~
ziroshima
values != intelligence

