Does Philosophical Advice Change Over Time?

I think the most interesting thing about philosophy is that it's basically old bearded men giving wisdom. However, times have changed-we have electricity and DoorDash.

Sometimes I see older people giving advice to the younger generation, and I wonder how accurate it is-not in a demeaning way. I actually respect their wisdom and their willingness to help. I just wonder if we have it harder than they did, or if the advice is outdated. Or maybe philosophy doesn't change.

This is a precursor to a new book I'm writing called Never Off. The final chapter is called "Does Philosophy Change," and it explores whether my dad's advice about working hard is still applicable now, when people are getting successful by using AI and taking shortcuts.

Obviously, I know every generation has its struggles. Right now, it feels like the world is ending. Optimism is slowly fading, and it's hard to be positive when everything just feels cooked. Or, at least, that's what social media is portraying: wars, mental health declining, a non-existent job market, and everyone struggling overall.

Other generations had their fair share of problems too. Maybe it's not as exaggerated or apparent because social media is now more prominent-it's ubiquitous.

When older people say everything will work out, trust your instincts, have fun, travel-can we really trust that? Right now, everyone is struggling, and staying optimistic is hard. Maybe they went through the same thing. Their version of AI was the introduction of computers. They had recessions and plenty of other problems.

While I want to believe older people and trust their advice, it's just not something I can process logically, simply because they didn't go through what we are going through.

But then again, why would a philosophical principle change over time? Take Stoicism, for example. Stoicism, in a nutshell, is: you can't control your external environment (other people, opinions, climate), so don't worry about it, because you can only control your own thoughts and actions-nothing else.

Stoicism wouldn't have changed. Marcus Aurelius wrote about it around 170 CE, and we still use it today. We use Stoicism now when people don't text back, when we fail a job interview, or even when we feel behind compared to a trust fund kid.

Some philosophical principles don't change. The circumstances do, but the principles stay the same.

So should we trust our elders? It might be logically hard, but it might be something worth contemplating.