eli5 What does “the more things change the more they stay the same” mean?

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eli5 What does “the more things change the more they stay the same” mean?

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6 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

It means that the human condition never changes, we all need food, water, and shelter.

It also means that since change is inevitable and constant that even when everything is changing that’s just more of the inevitable changes we all have to deal with.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Change is always happening, and people’s reactions to it are fairly constant. The individual players might change, but the system remains.

Hate your old, ugly car? Buy a shiny new one! A few years later, you’re back to hating your old, ugly car.

Don’t like the smug bastards in power? Vote them out! Then you can be the smug bastards in power, and others won’t like you.

SSDD.

Etc.

Anonymous 0 Comments

It’s easy to notice when something changes. It takes time and a sequence of changes to be able to realize which parts do not change. The longer you observe something, the better you can be at noticing the parts that remain constant.

The phrase is often used in contexts when you want to highlight your understanding of the fact that the change you are observing is just superficial and nothing important actually changed. E.g., an opposition party wins the elections; a tech company switches to a hot new framework for their new product; a new year of students enters the university; or a disposable razor company comes out with a new model that has five blades instead of four.

Anonymous 0 Comments

It means that although things seem to be changing on the surface, the fundamental nature of the situation is the same. For example, new technology is developed that makes manufacturing much more efficient…but the workers still have to work just as long and hard for the same amount of pay. A new politician comes to power and makes lots of radical changes…but the rich still get richer while the poor are worse off.

Anonymous 0 Comments

The ocean tide if watched for a short while changes drastically. Watch it longer and you find a pattern that repeats unchanging.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Generally is used as a cynical confirmation of things never improving. One might say it when a new politicians who promised change turns out to be corrupt like the one before or when a new job is boring like the one you left.