Back in the day Germans used to talk about Risikogesellschaft - as we get better at assessing risk of systems we build we get more risk averse too - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risk_society
I have a feeling western society (on an abstract level) is trying hard to give people something to lose, thereby creating loss aversion. Be it straight-up capitalism, or caring for a family, or protecting the nation state. We seem hell-bent on keeping people living in fear, because so many things have already been built by the society, that it wants to protect them using its people. This leads me to...
When you have nothing to lose, taking risk is not risky. As societies progress, they probably meet an apex where the will to progress further is completely offset by the fear of losing what you already have. The sceptic in me feels this is the inevitable cycle of empires, but I'm sure the world has also seen many inflection points that turned out to be a "fake-out," and some new invention gives new hope for the future, again shifting the fear balance.
This scale is not true, nor on an individual nor societal level. Having more makes people bolder in general. See how billionares or VC take huge bets, or how Germany threw all its gains into WWI.
I suspect the risk aversion has to do with social anxiety that accompanies the tendencies to exist more and more in virtual worlds. Instead of physically going out to interact with people, you can do it online. Instead of going on a physical adventure, you can play a video game or watch a movie. All of these carry almost zero physical risk, but more so, as we move away from the physical into the virtual, the mental muscles that power social confidence deteriorate due to lack of use, giving rise to social aversion and loss of social skills.
Weird that the author lays anxiety about nuclear power at the feet of millennials and zoomers.. in my experience a lot of young people are apathetic or supportive of nuclear, it's the boomers who are still stuck in the fear-mongering from the 70's (or are simply NIMBYs who hide their selfishness behind more socially acceptable excuses).
Are zoomers and millennials actually cautious and anxious about increasing adoption of renewable technologies? About further development? There are strong signs that it will not be enough to avert major disruptions to the planet and ecosystems we depend on to thrive... but no young person I've met is in any way negative about the idea of more progress with renewables and other climate-focused tech. We are anxious that humanity is still producing more CO2 than ever before in human history (we are merely slowing the pace of increase.. slowly), with no sign of that radically changing any time soon.
As far as healthcare goes... well, let's just say that in the US at least, we have reasons to be skeptical that more technology is going to solve the problems that lead us to having the most expensive yet some of the worst healthcare outcomes of all the wealthy democracies in the world. It's an incredible healthcare system for those who are rich and those who are lucky enough to have amazing health insurance (and don't get unlucky, because even amazing insurance fucks people massively from time to time). For the rest of us it's bad, if not dire, and the next big data idea, new cancer treatment, or drug delivery system is not likely to change the abysmal reality that those of us living paycheck to paycheck have been facing our whole lives: if you get very sick, you are probably going bankrupt, and may end up losing your job and housing depending on how symptoms and treatment go.
Nietzsche predicted this surprisingly early into modernity - that in response to the Death of God, society would become decadent and nihilistic. It’s the best explanation I’ve come across.
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