Where's the Moon?
I like this shot from the science museum, because it is actually from two different displays and I was able to position myself to get a bit of a moonrise over not only earth, but Australia. Earth is a projection onto a large sphere, the moon is a projection onto a wall in the background. Occasionally I get some shots that I know I will have multiple uses for, and this is one of them.
But while away, I was barely on my phone and when I was, it was to write a post for the day and perhaps answer some comments. I wasn't checking the markets much at all - but the couple times I did, it was all very bloody. And despite me not selling anything now anyway, I still get that pang of sadness. Nothing like I would get all those years ago - but there is some muscle memory there and my body still flinches.
I had lunch with a friend from my ex-workplace today and we were talking about various aspects of work, and the current state of the economy in general - because in Finland it is looking pretty shit. I have connected with a few contacts for my own business, yet even though they might want to, they are unable to justify putting on a consultant as they are looking to cut costs and reducing headcount. It is a pity, because I don't need that much to be able to get things in hand and make ends meet, but they of course aren't there to do me any favours.
It'll work out.
One way or another.
That doesn't mean it will work out well. I hope it does of course, because I don't have much of a backup plan in my life. I was starting to build one, but it kind of fell apart before it had a chance to get moving. I have always relied on the fallback that I can continue working until death, but after the stroke, in a foreign country, with the economy the way it is, and the advancement of technology - it isn't going to be easy. Even if able to survive on lower salaried work, getting any work is going to be a challenge.
With my friend today we were also talking about government wastage, which is kind of interesting at the moment, because for as long as I have been alive, people have complained about how inefficient governments are and how there are too many civil servants doing nothing, and now in the US they are complaining about cutting back on just those things. Sure it isn't being done well, but there has been multiple opportunities to do it earlier, and it wasn't done at all.
However, what I was saying to my friend is that pretty much all governments around the world are going to do similar in a vain attempt to balance their poorly managed books. And, they will fail and instead use any savings made inefficiently, so it will all be for nought. Instead, what I suggested is that instead of just firing civil servants, Finland should do something completely different and get into the wellness business.
Rather than looking at making money as the measure of success, they should look at health, happiness and general wellbeing. They should spend more resources on getting people working toward health-related goals at local levels, and having a massive amount of support for local health and wellbeing initiatives that improve quality of life in individuals, and rebuild communities that have been decimated by the technological push for increased profits.
There are tens of thousands of people managing the unemployed, when what they could be doing is training and employing people to work in healthcare. Not illness care alone - healthcare. Countries should start addressing the future and instead of building armies of destruction, there should be an army of healthcare workers who are out there helping people live their best lives at the physical, mental and social levels.
I know it is likely never going to happen.
But hey, the economy is in the toilet and doing what we have been doing in the past is not going to work, because the technology and social structures we have built are different animals. Much like Keynesian economics playing with taxes never imagined or allowed for global conglomerates like Apple and Google, our economic, business and social practices are no longer suitable for the world we actually live in. We might have the best intentions, but applying what we have done in the past, is now harmful.
Instead of governments paying for more inefficiency using our tax money, they should be looking to support businesses that are improving the wellbeing of people, even if there is not an immediate profit to be made. Health is like a good education, the value is not realised immediately, it accumulates over time. However, poor health has immediate drawbacks, and the costs are enormous.
We need to do better.
We need to take a step back from what we know, have a look at what is actually going on in the world and then, revaluate what we want and what the next steps should be. Where we are headed now is not just for more of the same, because it is being applied to a different set of problems. Instead, we are going to speed up and head down that slope at an increasing rate.
Until we reach the edge of the world, and fall off completely.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
