A fantastic article by MIT Technology Review republished on Medium.com last month summarizes the best available information we have about the macro political-economic forecast for the remainder of my life.
“The next 30 years are likely, instead, to resemble the slow disaster of the present: we will get used to each new shock, each new brutality, each “new normal,” until one day we look up from our screens to find ourselves in a new dark age — unless, of course, we’re already there.” This describes the flow of one unbelievable action after another that I’ve lived through here at Money Island.
(People will) “become used to random acts of violence as angry and sometimes starving citizens act out against increasingly repressive governments struggling to maintain control.” No doubt this describes the actions of the watermen we’ve seen already and includes future landowner actions against land use regulators. My story already includes examples of government in this highly distress community using violence and brutality to maintain control over citizens – especially environmentalists!
“Revolution or collapse — in either case
, the good life as we know it is no longer viable.” A reference to the book “Collapse” by professor Jared Diamond is appropriate and useful here.
“This is not our future, but our present: a time of transformation and strife beyond which it is difficult to see a clear path.” It is unrealistic to expect others to understand the issue and agree on the path forward.
The message is clear. For the past few decades I have been focused on being a positive force for change. Baysave tried to prevent disaster by working with people and government. The motto “think globally but act locally” made sense but was ultimately wrong. Now it is clear we must change to plan for the future as it will be; not the future that we hope will be.
- Do not expect to see actions in the common good
- Do not expect government to be a partner
I see daily violations of law now. More than in the past. Even as I write this blog post. It makes no sense to “report it”. I’ve learned that lesson the hard way. It used to be that my manual photography would randomly catch an illegal act in the background of a shot. Now today’s security cameras record it on a daily basis. I wonder if they know or care.
Today I installed air conditioning in the bedroom. It is transformative to my quality of sleep yet I’m still only up to about 5 hours tonight. Fitbit tells me that my average is less than 4 hours. I don’t understand why my body acts more strongly now to bug bits and allergens in the air. Google gave me no new insights.