The question has nothing to do with me, but I’ll give it a whack:
Climate science has gotten a lot more scientific and open to criticism.
The public seems considerably more aware of the potential downfalls of legislation as it pertains to computing and the internet.
The increasing availability and quality of open-source software has tempered the goals of the open-source movement from destroying copyright law (a very messy issue) towards gradually making it obsolete.
I count the increasing libertarian trend among youth as a positive; YMMV
Marijuana decriminalization is finally getting some inertia behind it.
Feminism is getting some pushback (arguments shouldn’t appear one-sided and all that)
Political correctness and reactionary anti-political correctness both seem to have faded
Negative trends… I’m not sure I really see any trends I can firmly pin down as a negative, at least in terms of the sanity waterline.
ETA: And wow. Writing that list made my mood improve a lot more than I would have expected.
The European elite is pursuing increasingly bad economic policies, this is getting push back from populists suggesting other bad economic policies (similar things are playing out in other developed countries as well).
Political Islam is becoming an increasingly powerful force.
I’d add that the libertarians seem to be getting better, as well (less one-sided stuff and less blatantly elite-servicing stuff).
I’m not sure about the fight between PC and anti-PC. It seems like there’s been a big expansion in the sphere of PC and we seem to be having a worryingly huge reaction against feminism mostly, and it seems to have broad appeal.
The question has nothing to do with me, but I’ll give it a whack:
Climate science has gotten a lot more scientific and open to criticism.
The public seems considerably more aware of the potential downfalls of legislation as it pertains to computing and the internet.
The increasing availability and quality of open-source software has tempered the goals of the open-source movement from destroying copyright law (a very messy issue) towards gradually making it obsolete.
I count the increasing libertarian trend among youth as a positive; YMMV
Marijuana decriminalization is finally getting some inertia behind it.
Feminism is getting some pushback (arguments shouldn’t appear one-sided and all that)
Political correctness and reactionary anti-political correctness both seem to have faded
Negative trends… I’m not sure I really see any trends I can firmly pin down as a negative, at least in terms of the sanity waterline.
ETA: And wow. Writing that list made my mood improve a lot more than I would have expected.
The European elite is pursuing increasingly bad economic policies, this is getting push back from populists suggesting other bad economic policies (similar things are playing out in other developed countries as well).
Political Islam is becoming an increasingly powerful force.
I’d add that the libertarians seem to be getting better, as well (less one-sided stuff and less blatantly elite-servicing stuff).
I’m not sure about the fight between PC and anti-PC. It seems like there’s been a big expansion in the sphere of PC and we seem to be having a worryingly huge reaction against feminism mostly, and it seems to have broad appeal.