First of all, I'm sorry to hear about the situation in Poland- that really sucks. A few years ago I was in a position where I had a similar fear of society collapsing around me. It really scared me, and the threat of government collapse hasn't gone away yet, but my attitude towards it has- I no longer live in fear of collapse, or worry about preparing for it, I just live my life as normal. My rather depressing reason for being able to change my attitude was this thought: "If the collapse happens, I can always just off myself and avoid the worst of it. Spending my days trying to prepare for the collapse, and subsequently, surviving in a post-collapse world is far more effort than it's worth, and death is a much simpler option". I think I'm able to do this because I don't see death as an inherently bad thing, but I think I'm psychologically unusual in this regard. Secondly, regarding your comment about people with simpler lives being happier- I think there certainly is truth in that. My all-time favourite TED talk is called "Life is easy. Why do we make it so hard?" by Jon Jandai. It's about a man who tried to "make it" in the city and ultimately found pleasure in simple village living- I really recommend it! Ultimately I can't say if your friend is right about us being happier than our ancestors- this is at its heart an empirical question, and we don't have happiness surveys from centuries ago. However the closest data we have (Self-reported life satisfaction vs. GDP per capita) suggests that there is a correlation between wealth and happiness (though if I recall correctly there are exceptions- people in Thailand are happier despite having a lower GDP per capita). So I'm a little more inclined to agree with your friend, but the data isn't conclusive, and I definitely think there is truth in what you say about simpler/less choice = happier.
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First of all, I'm sorry to hear about the situation in Poland- that really sucks. A few years ago I was in a position where I had a similar fear of society collapsing around me. It really scared me, and the threat of government collapse hasn't gone away yet, but my attitude towards it has- I no longer live in fear of collapse, or worry about preparing for it, I just live my life as normal. My rather depressing reason for being able to change my attitude was this thought: "If the collapse happens, I can always just off myself and avoid the worst of it. Spending my days trying to prepare for the collapse, and subsequently, surviving in a post-collapse world is far more effort than it's worth, and death is a much simpler option". I think I'm able to do this because I don't see death as an inherently bad thing, but I think I'm psychologically unusual in this regard.
Secondly, regarding your comment about people with simpler lives being happier- I think there certainly is truth in that. My all-time favourite TED talk is called "Life is easy. Why do we make it so hard?" by Jon Jandai. It's about a man who tried to "make it" in the city and ultimately found pleasure in simple village living- I really recommend it! Ultimately I can't say if your friend is right about us being happier than our ancestors- this is at its heart an empirical question, and we don't have happiness surveys from centuries ago. However the closest data we have (Self-reported life satisfaction vs. GDP per capita) suggests that there is a correlation between wealth and happiness (though if I recall correctly there are exceptions- people in Thailand are happier despite having a lower GDP per capita). So I'm a little more inclined to agree with your friend, but the data isn't conclusive, and I definitely think there is truth in what you say about simpler/less choice = happier.