As Smallsteps and I were walking through the supermarket, a flashing screen caught her eye for one of the several lottery draw amounts. She asked about it and we discussed where the money comes from and how people are very unlikely to win. Tonight we were walking past again and she checked the amount flashing of 40 million dollars and she said "imagine winning that..." So I asked what she would do with it and she said she'd be happy, but didn't really have an idea, so she asked what I would do.
I would get a bag of cash and take it around to all the people who hate me and say "Ha!"
You can't do that daddy, that is teasing.
And while she knew I was joking, she also added that she thinks it would be unsafe to carry around so much money in the car. Good thinking 99. Winning the lottery will never happen for me though.
Never say never.
But the lottery isn't what I wanted to write about here, it is the "never say never" statement, because it is both true and untrue simultaneously. Never is the same as forever, we can't really comprehend either of them. Because while we can say "never" with some certainty, it could be that under the right conditions, something could actually happen, whether it is likely now or not. The universe might make it possible in the future, so even if none of us are around to see it, never arrived.
A lot of what I write about is theoretical, hypothetical, or just an opinion. Everyone has an opinion on everything, but that doesn't mean it is based on theory or even a valid hypothesis, as an opinion can be fully uninformed. Still, even the strangest theories predictions might happen one day, if the stars align.
Yet, what I have often found over the years is that when I put a possibility out there, people will make some kind of assumption that I believe that this is the way it is going to go. For a common instance, the scenario where the rest of the world isolates the US from the global economy rather than kowtowing to the whims and fancies of the US government in the hope for continued or increased access to the US market, or less punishment. This should happen, but do I think it will happen?
Unlikely anytime too soon.
This is not because it couldn't happen, but the people who would be required to make the decisions for it to come about, are not going to make those decisions and probably never will. But, people die, culture changes, attitudes shift. So the potential is there for it to happen, and with the speed at which technology is advancing and how people are being influenced, it could happen far more rapidly than many would suspect. Look at how AI, which has been in the pipeline for decades, is "suddenly" making an impact on people's everyday lives.
The rate of change for almost everything physical has been supercharged and is still accelerating. And when it comes to empires, their lifespan is decreasing rapidly. Ancient Egyptian civilisation lasted 3000 years, the Roman empire 1200, Byzantine 1100, British 400, and we could say that the US is somewhat of an empire since the end of World War 2 - but for how long?
For most people, it doesn't matter if it is going to outlast their life experience. That means for most middle-aged people today, they are pretty agnostic past the next few decades. And if we look back the last few decades, that indicates that there will be more of the same.
But that isn't necessarily the case.
Look at obesity, where half a century it was almost non-existent anywhere on earth, and now it is so ubiquitous is considered an epidemic by health professionals, and "fashionable" by those who don't want to take responsibility for themselves. And look at the internet and how quickly it has come from release to the public as a way to lower the barrier to information globally, to the point that the information can't be trusted, people are addicted to scrolling and are getting married to AI chatbots - Thirty years from public release to severe social retardation.
It can happen.
I can't predict what the catalyst is, I can only hypothesise. But a whole range of future conditions could happen if the right pieces align at the right time. I am not saying it will, but what if "someone like me" discovered the secret to clean, cheap energy and rather than profiting from it, made sure it was available to everyone freely. What would the world look like if energy wasn't something to hoard and fight over? What would happen to the current power structures built on energy trading?
Pie in the sky....
You never know.
If something like that happened, pretty much all the stability that people feel in the status quo is disrupted, and the current power structures that are essentially energy routers for profit, collapse. Or could collapse if people decide it. Because "we the people" actually hold all the power to change anything and everything in the economy, we just don't wield it well, because we are so disorganised, disinterested, and seeking convenience. As much as we might complain about the way things are, we are happy that they are familiar and not much is expected of us.
All we need do to fit in, is consume.
But if we consume differently everything changes, because supply is driven by demand, so demand different, and supply shifts. If it doesn't shift, profits sink, and that is not how corporations operate. If people demand an end to child labour, it will happen, because those who use it will have no clientele and will lose money. If people demand an end to corporate tax loopholes, it ends or the companies using it will again - have no clientele.
But it is too inconvenient to change our demands.
So it is unlikely to happen, but it could happen if we choose to make the change in ourselves. But, since we hate change and the corporations and the governments know it, they will keep manipulating the system for their benefits at the expense of us, and we will keep asking them for change, like the beggars we are. They needn't change though, because they are getting just what they want. If we want change, we are the ones who are going to have to *demand it, and that demand isn't in what or how we ask, but in how we spend our time, money and attention.
So as I see it, the people who think that it can't happen only believe it because their experience tells them that it won't happen. Human nature is what it is, and it is predictable. However, things can change and they will change at a rapid pace from now on, but I predict that it isn't going to be for the better, because we as a global society, don't want to do the work to be better ourselves as individuals.
Humanity could be a set of conditions where we thrive as a peaceful species, full of opportunity, beauty, fulfilment and love.
But it will never happen.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
Be part of the Hive discussion.
And you may be rewarded.
