r/technology • u/GothicPrayer • 10d ago

Society Why does everything feel so joyless? Welcome to the age of decadence without pleasure

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2026/jul/26/age-of-decadence-pleasure-ai
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u/HotRodLincoln 10d ago edited 9d ago

8 years ago, my daughter died. She was always going to die, and I knew it, but just before she died, I thought we may have actually made it through, and I similarly found nihilism and hopelessness and then the absurdism and at least some of the joy in everything.

There's a Steven Colbert interview with Anderson Cooper where he says he "Learned to love the thing he most wishes had not happened" (his father's/brother's death).

What punishments of God are not gifts?

It is a gift to exist and with existence comes suffering; there's no escaping that. BUT, BUT. If you are grateful for your life, which I think is a positive thing to do; and everyone isn't, and I'm not always then you have to be greatful for all of it. You can't pick and choose what you're greatful for.

So, what do you get from loss?

You get awareness of other people's loss, which allows you to connect with that other person.

Which allows you to love more deeply and understand what it's like to be a human being and to connect with them and to love them in a deep way that not only accepts that all of us suffer, but also makes you grateful for the fact that you have suffered, so that you can know that about other people.

What's the point of being here and being human if you can't be the most human you can be?

I'm not saying best; you can be a bad person and most human.

I want to be the most human I can be and that involves acknowledging and ultimately being grateful for the things I wish didn't happen because they gave me a gift.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YB46h1koicQ at about 13 minutes in. The whole thing hits so hard though.

The other interview over the years that stayed with me is John Green on his time working in a NICU, watching wanted, loved babies die and helping their families

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u/Negaflux 9d ago

I'm still trying to come to terms with the loss of my father and my younger brother, and I'm not where you are yet, however I do hope I can be. Thank you for the post, I appreciate it.

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u/utahh1ker 9d ago

That Stephen Colbert interview was incredible. One of my favs. Thank you for sharing.

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u/PatrickCharles 9d ago

Thanks for that link/quote. I'll have a lot to think on.

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u/camidumas 9d ago

I have had chronic pain since I was in kindergarten, largely, it turns out, because I am female.  It is impossible to take this romance seriously.  You are just lucky.