alt Hacker NewsThe comments section reminds me of The Dead Great-Grandfather Test
[Science fiction writer Bruce] Sterling was using the term specifically to describe the hairshirt green lifestyle that is driven by eco-anxieties. For hairshirt-green types, life is all about saving water, recycling, composting, reducing eco-footprints and various other behaviors marked by a kind of fearful, non-generative retreat from living. Permanent existential hibernation.
Sterling's rule of thumb for spotting acting-dead behaviors is a great one: if it's something your dead great-grandfather can do better than you, it's a case of acting dead. Your dead great-grandfather uses no water or plastic, and is actually recycling himself as we speak, not just his possessions. Try and top that.
But acting dead goes beyond hairshirt-green behaviors. While spartan frugality is a virtue, when it becomes the entire purpose of your life, there's a problem. For a portion of the dying American middle class, frugality has turned into a life purpose.
https://ribbonfarm.com/2011/12/08/acting-dead-trading-up-and...
Replies
Thanks for the ragebait. Reminding myself that the flaw here is obvious, there’s no need to respond, arbitrary „tests” aren’t binding to anyone, protecting the future is perfectly defensible as a moral stance even at cost of present convenience.
Is getting in touch with nature, appreciating the value in things and protecting complex ecosystems really 'Acting Dead'?
I would say 'Acting Dead' is actually sitting at home ordering on Amazon/Temu, watching brainless TikTok/Instagram/Netflix/YouTube videos, and talking to a transformer model all day.
This is a fallacy. People 100 years like your great grandfather ago solved problems they had 100 years ago. People today solve problems they have today.
What a shitty way to dismiss anyone with any concerns whatsoever.
Is this some sort of straw man against trying to stay within your CO2 Budget? I really don’t understand the aim of this comment.
Basically "Don't live beyond our collective means" = "Die".
Are you buying the latest iPhone every year? If not, you might as well be dead.
I wish people would realize that life is not about stuff. Living within your means, being frugal and focusing on what really matters (time with family, experiencing nature, thinking interesting thoughts) is not at all "permanent existential hibernation".
I resent the "The Dead Great-Grandfather Test" and similar "growth"-at-all-costs ideologies. Its implications are disgusting.
It's funny because this comment reminds me of something else... cope.
You can apply the same to FIRE if you want to trigger half this board.
“You’re just acting like your dead grandpa!” I holler, as I push the earth towards ecological collapse