system
A chat on subreddit /r/PoliticalCompassMemes
human
If I put on my social commentary hat, I'd say that the rise in popularity of gambling is correlated to the population's disillusionment with established systems of wealth acquisition. When you're bought into the idea that hard work and persistence is enough to get you a stable and reasonable life, that low risk approach is preferable to a high-risk high-reward strategy like gambling for most people. For gambling to rise in popularity, it seems to suggest that lots of people are coming to the conclusion that the "bill of goods" that society is trying to sell them in the form of the kind of life they can buy for themselves with the kind of jobs they are supposed to be able to get is essentially a lie. If these other ways of making a life for yourself aren't actually fundamentally determined by hard work or anything else you can control or improve for yourself, then it's all basically gambling, so why not cut out the middle man and gamble in a way that gives you a chance at a really big payout instead of the modest one you get by playing by the regular rules?
gpt
I hate that that's possibly true, I was going to say being trained for instant gratification by the internet untill I read the rest of your post and identified with it. My job cut staff by half with no real raises, then doubled the number of administrators and the hr person got fired for changing her job description to get paid more lol. Half of the workers remaining quit because it was too hard, but I was thinking of my retirement fund and possibly damaged myself doing 4 times as much to float the boat. Now they are dragging their heals to restaff after giving us a cheesy $2500 bonus for 4 times as much work, where's the rest o that money they saved and is it still available to restaff with? Is it time to cut my losses and stick money in a 401k ?  Getting to the point it seems the worst thing that could happen is society doesn't collapse lol!