What is it like to come home to Canada?

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by acottawa

When was the last time an 80 year old invented something, discovered a new theorem, came up with a cultural innovation of some sort, etc.

As an example, Einstein made most of his major contributions in his 20s and 30s did very little professionally after 40.

What does that have to do with anything? The claim was made that young people were more optimistic, not inventors.

[thewave46]

Originally Posted by BradFromTO

Does "being able to afford to purchase a home at some point in their lives" count as a ridiculous expectation?

I think anyone who doesn't take into account the housing and over all cost of living crisis when talking about younger generation's pessimism and negativity is just completely missing the point.

A generation of overworked, highly educated individuals who will spend their lives scraping by, yes even if they lived frugally, is bound to be bitter and hopeless and pessimistic.

It is the avocado toast thing rearing its head.

If one has written off home ownership and family as life goals, what's left but to enjoy the bits of hedonism one can get before that's taken away too?

The sanctimony of using the 'pollution' angle is fun too. Think of the reduction in pollution caused by lack of progeny or never owning a home. Indeed, carbon taxes are weak sauce for carbon reduction compared to hugely inflated home prices and wiping out TFR via housing bubble economics.

[thewave46]

Originally Posted by acottawa

When was the last time an 80 year old invented something, discovered a new theorem, came up with a cultural innovation of some sort, etc.

As an example, Einstein made most of his major contributions in his 20s and 30s did very little professionally after 40.

Based on sheer playing the odds, we should have more Einsteins today producing an 'annus mirabilis' every few years, given the huge increase in population.

In fact, I'd wager that there are more human brains actively trying to nudge humanity forward than at any moment in human history.

Yet the gains are declining proportionally. Makes one wonder.

[MonkeyRonin]

Originally Posted by isaidso

Agree 100%. The younger generation have ridiculous expectations and want everything handed to them on a silver platter without actually putting in the work to achieve them.

Who's not putting in the work? Surely you're not referring to the 55% of Milennials & Gen Z's with multiple jobs? We're talking about the most educated and most employed generations in history here, so I don't think the 'lazy, entitled' narrative works very well.

[hipster duck]

Originally Posted by thewave46

Based on sheer playing the odds, we should have more Einsteins today producing an 'annus mirabilis' every few years, given the huge increase in population.

In fact, I'd wager that there are more human brains actively trying to nudge humanity forward than at any moment in human history.

Yet the gains are declining proportionally. Makes one wonder.

I don't think we will ever have an era like, say, 1850-1910 where a tinkerer in a garage could invent something physical and then invent a company to scale up that invention to greatly improve the lives of hundreds of millions of people. All of those things have been invented already, and names like Thomas Edison, Karl Benz, Nikola Tesla, Alexander Graham Bell, Wilbur and Orville Wright, etc. don't ring out any more.

There are contemporary names that people on the street should know more about, though, like John Goodenough or Jennifer Doudna. Even only a few decades later, they've made outsized, Edison-like contributions, but they did so as part of huge, well-endowed research teams working over many years.

Then there are people who everyone knows who get a lot of credit even though they didn't do any of the technical work: Elon Musk, Sam Altman, etc.

[Wigs]

despite what the forum grumps say, I think overall the kids are doing alright.

Anecdotally, my cousin finishing up university is one of the brightest, progressive, well rounded young man I've ever met. A solid, righteous dude.

[someone123]

Originally Posted by hipster duck

I don't think we will ever have an era like, say, 1850-1910 where a tinkerer in a garage could invent something physical and then invent a company to scale up that invention to greatly improve the lives of hundreds of millions of people. All of those things have been invented already, and names like Thomas Edison, Karl Benz, Nikola Tesla, Alexander Graham Bell, Wilbur and Orville Wright, etc. don't ring out any more.

This is somewhat offset by inventions being leveraged by the later inventors and we have had some rounds of stuff since then, although I'd agree it's less impactful. A lot of the things we might think of as being pretty recent (software) are quite old now and the new versions may not even be better.

I wonder how much of this comes down to life being more regulated and so much development taking place in bureaucratic academic institutions and large corporations that mostly focus on goals other than basic material progress for humanity. I'm not in a position to assess it but some people argue that on the whole, physics research dollars are mostly just not well aligned with producing breakthroughs. I'd say in my own area that things look very inefficient and making a lot of money or getting funding is quite different from pushing humanity forward as much as possible. The money might even be negative as it pulls would-be tinkerers in another direction. In the end I'm not surprised at all to see a low correlation between some R&D spending metric and material improvements to living standards or happiness.

I also wonder (as I type a message for a forum) if we have lost touch on some deep cultural level with the material world as well and it's holding us back.

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by MonkeyRonin

Who's not putting in the work? Surely you're not referring to the 55% of Milennials & Gen Z's with multiple jobs? We're talking about the most educated and most employed generations in history here, so I don't think the 'lazy, entitled' narrative works very well.

Let's be clear here, going to university or college does not equate to being educated. According to what is called the Reverse Flynn Effect, average IQs have been steadily declining starting from the mid 70s birth cohorts after rising steadily for about half a century. It is estimated that average IQs are declining by a rate of 7 points per generation from the Gen X (mid 60s to early 80s) peak.

This appears obvious to me. The younger generations have poorer vocabulary and writing (grammatical) skills and poorer ability to solve relatively easy mathematical problems. For at least 20 years there has been grade inflation at all school levels including post-secondary. A 2012 study in Canada showed for graduating students from universities in that year, one in six Canadian born grads have low literacy skills, the figure is nearly half for those who are foreign born.

[Curmudgeon]

Last year I spent an extended period of time in Mexico. I have been to that country many times and it has its problems, poverty, corruption and crime, amongst others, but I had never been in Mexico for that long before and was able to get a new "first impression" of Canada when I returned.

The first thing I noticed, Canada is very clean.

The second thing, the people are very quiet and do not look very happy. Not many smiles. So many people just out on their own. So many single people.

In Mexico, especially on weekends, the people dress up, the women in beautiful colours, and go out walking, or out for a meal. In Canada people do not dress very well.

But the thing I really noticed very quickly is how bad the food and beverage are here. In Mexico there is really no such thing as a bad meal, from street tacos to grilled octopus, everything is delicious. The fruit and vegetable stands are stocked with beautiful fresh produce. Fresh squeezed juices are everywhere. Here, half the produce is wrapped in plastic and looks like it is coated in wax. Fresh squeezed juices, apart from orange, are very difficult to find. Restaurants are mostly "satisfactory" unless you are prepared to pay a very large bill, as food is also very expensive in Canada, even more expensive than in most of western Europe. In Mexico all of the cocktails are fantastic, here sometimes you question whether or not you got ripped off as you can't taste the booze.

As for the post above which mentioned retiring to Spain, consider Portugal as well. They offer easy immigration for retirees. The climate on the Algarve is comparable to the Costa del Sol and it is slightly more inexpensive in general. The language is more difficult but many Portuguese also speak English, esp. on the Algarve and also in Lisboa.

[lio45]

Originally Posted by Wigs

despite what the forum grumps say, I think overall the kids are doing alright.

Anecdotally, my cousin finishing up university is one of the brightest, progressive, well rounded young man I've ever met. A solid, righteous dude.

No one is saying that kids today are fundamentally less [enter quality here] than previous generations; we're saying that kids today are likely to live a shittier life than their predecessors -- first time in a lot of generations that the trend would be going that way rather than the opposite -- but that's not really their fault.

Your cousin being a very bright well-rounded young man still won't prevent him from having to live with his parents or as a roommate with ten-fifteen South Asian Indentured Servants. (Unless of course he uses that brightness of his to leave Canada... )

[lio45]

Originally Posted by thewave46

Based on sheer playing the odds, we should have more Einsteins today producing an 'annus mirabilis' every few years, given the huge increase in population.

In fact, I'd wager that there are more human brains actively trying to nudge humanity forward than at any moment in human history.

Yet the gains are declining proportionally. Makes one wonder.

Diminishing returns. That's true in science as well. Even as recently as in Einstein's day, a single individual could come up with pretty solid and revolutionary stuff.

And a few centuries before that, a guy could be an expert in all fields of science (math, physics, chemistry, biology) as well as be one of the greatest inventors of his era AND a great philosopher or writer too, and while at it, a painter as well. Nowadays one can at most master a really narrow field (if you want to be near the top of it).

[Wigs]

Polymaths still exist. They're just not Leonardo da Vinci level. Hard to compete with that.

[Dartguard]

Originally Posted by Wigs

despite what the forum grumps say, I think overall the kids are doing alright.

Anecdotally, my cousin finishing up university is one of the brightest, progressive, well rounded young man I've ever met. A solid, righteous dude.

But does he know the difference between a robertson and a phillips?

[urbandreamer]

A Phillips is for strippers while a Robertson is for johns.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by Wigs

Polymaths still exist. They're just not Leonardo da Vinci level. Hard to compete with that.

They still exist, but, as lio pointed out, modern scientific enquiry tends to be highly subspecialized, and, as such, people with highly intuitive minds do not have the same chance to display their wide ranging intellect as Leonardo did back in the 1400s.

When I was in med school, there were people in my class that I would consider polymaths. These were people doing their second professional degree (after law, pharmacy, pharmacology etc), people already with Ph.Ds, people with remarkable musical skills (we had both a "big" band and a chorale in med school), people who knew multiple languages, people doing advanced medical research projects, while still in med school and so forth.

Being surrounded by such brilliance certainly made me feel nervous while I was there. You begin to wonder if you really belong (and I have an IQ of 139). Some of my classmates were in the 150-160 range I'm sure........

These people were driven

[Nite]

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

What are you on about? The transit construction boom in Ontario had its foundations laid and begun by the last provincial government. The Ford Conservatives have been quite enthusiastic about it, and have made transit development a major plank of their government. Federal funding has helped. But the Harper Government was funding transit construction too and definitely would have continued post-2015 if they were re-elected. Indeed, if we had a government that didn't run up $100B in deficits before COVID and then ramp up immigration to insane levels post-Covid, we might have more funding and more breathing room to close the infrastructure gap.

People really don't know how out federation works.
The pervious ontario liberal government and the current contario conservative government are both getting plenty of transit funding from the current federal liberal government.

I know the provincial premiers usually take the credit for transit projects in the country but a large portion of the funding comes from the federal government,
from 2015 to 2023 the federal government spend 20 billion on transit projects across the country with the reason for the increase being as part of the liberal government climate action plan.

3 billion a year of pearment funding is part of this plan starting in 2026, so if they are re-elected.

https://www.infrastructure.gc.ca/tra...g.html#funding

It's not a coincidence that the largest transit expansion in Canada history is happening right now under our current government.

If you want specifics the Federal government is spending $10 billion on these 4 Toronto projects alone:

Ontario Line (4.0 billion from the federal government)
Eglinton Crosstown West Extension (1.9 Billion from the federal government)
Yonge North Subway Extension (2.2 Billion from the federal government)
Scarborough Subway Extension (2.3 Billion from the federal government)

Again without the federal government contribution none of these projects would have gotten off the ground

https://www.canada.ca/en/office-infr...n-history.html

[acottawa]

Originally Posted by Nite

People really don't know how out federation works.

I know the provincial premiers usually take the credit for transit project in the country but a large portion of the funding comes from the federal government,
from 2015 to 2023 the federal government spend 20 billion on transit projects across the country with the reason for the increase being as part of the liberal government climate action plan.

3 billion a year of pearment funding is part of this plan starting in 2026, so if they are re-elected.

https://www.infrastructure.gc.ca/tra...g.html#funding

It's not a coincidence that the largest transit expansion in Canada history is happening tight now under our current government.

Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the Ottawa LRT were before Trudeau. Trudeau's contribution was a one stop extension. No further expansion has been approved since Trudeau assumed office.

In Toronto, Lines 5 and 6 were approved before Trudeau. Trudeau refused to fund the Ontario Line until well into an election campaign. There have also been a few small subway extensions announced under Trudeau.

In Montreal, REM was announced before Trudeau, the feds eventually came up with a small portion of the funding.

Where are all these Trudeau transit projects?

[Nite]

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

And on the one transport agency that they actually control (VIA) they failed to deliver their signature project (HFR).

This project was announced 2 years ago and is still in the early stages.

You expected 10's of billion of dollars in constructions to be spent and the project to be up and running in 2 years after the announcement ???

Anyways the procurement process is ongoing:

• March 2022: Request for Expressions of Interest launched.
• February 2023: Request for Qualifications released, attracting three qualified bidding teams.
• July 2023: Bidding teams qualified for the next stage.
• October 2023: Request for Proposals issued, with a target selection of a private-sector partner by mid-2024.

[Nite]

Originally Posted by acottawa

Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the Ottawa LRT were before Trudeau. Trudeau's contribution was a one stop extension. No further expansion has been approved since Trudeau assumed office.

In Toronto, Lines 5 and 6 were approved before Trudeau. Trudeau refused to fund the Ontario Line until well into an election campaign. There have also been a few small subway extensions announced under Trudeau.

In Montreal, REM was announced before Trudeau, the feds eventually came up with a small portion of the funding.

Where are all these Trudeau transit projects?

saying a project in planning was already done before the trudeau government doesn't mean that funding was already set to happen at the federal level.

For example the Ottawa stage 2 expansion was approved in 2013, which just means that they have plans it doesn't mean funding was arranged
Construction didn't start until 2019 to which the Trudeau government is spending 1.1 billion on the stage 2 expansion.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottaw...rned-1.6517952

If you more specifics the Federal government is spending $10 billion on these 4 Toronto projects alone:

Ontario Line (4.0 billion from the federal government)
Eglinton Crosstown West Extension (1.9 Billion from the federal government)
Yonge North Subway Extension (2.2 Billion from the federal government)
Scarborough Subway Extension (2.3 Billion from the federal government)

Again without the federal government contribution none of these projects would have gotten off the ground

https://www.canada.ca/en/office-infr...n-history.html

outside of Toronto here are more projects the Trudeau government has funded:

Vancouver Langley Skytrain Extension (1.3 Billion from the Trudeau government)
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/briti...20behind%20him.

Vancouver Broadway Subway Extension (0.9 Billion from the Trudeau government)
https://www.broadwaysubway.ca/about/...1.83%20billion

Montreal REM (Réseau express métropolitain) (1.3 billion from the Trudeau government)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%A...4295%20million).

Montreal Blue Line expansion (1.3 billion from the Trudeau government)
https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/trud...0neighbourhood.

Calgary Green Line LRT (1.5 billion from the Trudeau government)
https://www.railjournal.com/financia...ry-green-line/

Edmonton Valley Line West LRT (1.0 billion from the Trudeau government)
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmon...-lrt-1.5051461

Quebec City Tramway (1.2 billion from the Trudeau government)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec...%20the%20mayor.

Winnipeg Transit Projects (0.5 Billion from the Trudeau government)
https://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/winnipeg...4122%20million.

Ottawa Light Rail Transit Stage 2 (1.1 Billion from the Trudeau government)
[url]https://www.pm.gc.ca/en/news/news-releases/2017/06/16/prime-minister-announces-significant-funding-extend-ottawas-light[/url

Hamilton LRT (1.7 Billion from the Trudeau government)
https://www.canada.ca/en/office-infr...nial-park.html

Mississauga Transit (0.7 Billion from the Trudeau government)
https://www.cp24.com/news/feds-joini...ects-1.5805938

It's funny that you guys think that the historic levels of transit projects across the country has nothing to do with the Trudeau government greatly increasing funding for transit projects.
And all of these projects had funding already.

[1overcosc]

The commitment to fund Phase 2 of the Ottawa LRT was made by the Harper government in 2015.