A Scary Read

[Gerald Wilgus]

Horror novels will only elicit a chuckle from me. It is looking at societal trends that seem to follow prognostications that frighten me. I just finished Sagan's, The Demon Haunted World. The thing I find frightening is this:
“Science is more than a body of knowledge; it is a way of thinking. I have a foreboding of an America in my children’s or grandchildren’s time—when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the key manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what’s true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness.”

 

[Neonatal RRT]

Horror novels will only elicit a chuckle from me. It is looking at societal trends that seem to follow prognostications that frighten me. I just finished Sagan's, The Demon Haunted World. The thing I find frightening is this:
“Science is more than a body of knowledge; it is a way of thinking. I have a foreboding of an America in my children’s or grandchildren’s time—when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the key manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what’s true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness.”

Very true. The reason people like you and I get concerned, is that, for the most part, this is happening on many levels. We have lived long enough to witness the transition. Younger people don't see it happening because they don't have a long enough point of reference and perspective. At this point, they are blissfully unaware. If they eventually live long enough, they too will have see the transition. I could go on a long, long proof of all of this and the dangers of it, but that, I could write a novel on.

 

[Gerald Wilgus]

Very true. The reason people like you and I get concerned, is that, for the most part, this is happening on many levels. We have lived long enough to witness the transition. Younger people don't see it happening because they don't have a long enough point of reference and perspective. At this point, they are blissfully unaware. If they eventually live long enough, they too will have see the transition. I could go on a long, long proof of all of this and the dangers of it, but that, I could write a novel on.

I have seen the hollowing out of critical manufacturing. Even companies trying to build chip foundaries in the US are having difficulty finding the skilled labor to move and install critical equipment in clean rooms designed for 4 nanometer architecture leading to year long delays. We are also losing a generation of quality professionals. The result are things like the 737 Max where the MD takeover of Boeing put in place their lack of proper quality procedures that flew Boeing engineering and manufacturing into the dirt. The United states used to be a leader in Machine Tools, not any longer even in the top 10. These are the tools which form the basis of all sophisticated manufacturing. We are seeing the results of the discounting of engineering and manufacturing skills where actual wealth is created.

 

[TBRS1]

Very true. The reason people like you and I get concerned, is that, for the most part, this is happening on many levels. We have lived long enough to witness the transition. Younger people don't see it happening because they don't have a long enough point of reference and perspective. At this point, they are blissfully unaware. If they eventually live long enough, they too will have see the transition. I could go on a long, long proof of all of this and the dangers of it, but that, I could write a novel on.

So where do you see the transition becoming noticeable?

In my life, I have seen everything change. Much has been really, really good, but some seems to have been bad. To me, it seems that the internet has had an enormous impact; very, very good, but also very, very bad.

Seems like that's something we're going to have to all learn how to deal with.

 

[Gerald Wilgus]

So where do you see the transition becoming noticeable?

In my life, I have seen everything change. Much has been really, really good, but some seems to have been bad. To me, it seems that the internet has had an enormous impact; very, very good, but also very, very bad.

Seems like that's something we're going to have to all learn how to deal with.

I think the transition has become noticeable. The gullibility of social media users in not recognizing that they are the product in a rentier economy of late-stage capitalism is a tipoff. The lack of understanding of energy policy, especially the greenwashing, is another. People fail to recognize that climate effects are not just being driven by energy choices, but by population growth. Corporate media which determines the ideas allowed for discussion by the population sheeple remains unquestioned. There are profound disconnects, like people wary of chinese power without understanding that their buying habits created it. Or supporting Walmart without recognizing that each and every store costs the taxpayers of their states around a $million per year. The list is near endless.

 

[Aneka]

Horror novels will only elicit a chuckle from me. It is looking at societal trends that seem to follow prognostications that frighten me. I just finished Sagan's, The Demon Haunted World. The thing I find frightening is this:
“Science is more than a body of knowledge; it is a way of thinking. I have a foreboding of an America in my children’s or grandchildren’s time—when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the key manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what’s true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness.”

This is the world we live in now.

 

[TBRS1]

I think the transition has become noticeable. The gullibility of social media users in not recognizing that they are the product in a rentier economy of late-stage capitalism is a tipoff. The lack of understanding of energy policy, especially the greenwashing, is another. People fail to recognize that climate effects are not just being driven by energy choices, but by population growth. Corporate media which determines the ideas allowed for discussion by the population sheeple remains unquestioned. There are profound disconnects, like people wary of chinese power without understanding that their buying habits created it. Or supporting Walmart without recognizing that each and every store costs the taxpayers of their states around a $million per year. The list is near endless.

What you say is true.

Going back to the idea of horror novels you began with, what you've said reminds me of an H.P. Lovecraft quote :

The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far.​

In this quote, being unable to put it all together is the thing that keeps people from the horror of discovering what is really happening.

Not sure that's really a good thing...

 

[Neonatal RRT]

So where do you see the transition becoming noticeable?

In my life, I have seen everything change. Much has been really, really good, but some seems to have been bad. To me, it seems that the internet has had an enormous impact; very, very good, but also very, very bad.

Seems like that's something we're going to have to all learn how to deal with.

Well, you are correct that we're going to have to learn how to deal with it. Some things are better and worse. However, the real dangers lie when you have the combination of factors that we have now. It's the entire "ecosystem" that we have globally that could push us towards prosperity and an "age of abundance", or very much the opposite, where only 0.001 percent experience this and society collapses into an extreme, dystopian, authoritarianism. A future dark ages. The choices we make will determine our path, but the problems lie in the fact that only a few, multi-trillion-dollar entities own the overwhelming majority of media, the educational systems, the transportation systems, the military industrial complex, the power grids, the food, and the natural resources. When I say this, they are majority shareholders, they own all of it, they make the decisions. They control the politics, the conversation on social media, the advertisements you see, the entertainment we view, what information is being disseminated, and all the meta-data on all of our activity is being collected. AI is the next frontier. BlackRock and Vanguard, to name a few. The World Economic Forum is where global strategies are created and governments are having their strings pulled.

50 years ago, we didn't have the level of globalization we have now, for better or worse, but when you have only a few entities pulling the strings, it effects all of us. The old days of building empires by military force are gone. Now, it's much more a long game. Create conditions in which decay occurs in key areas, education, infrastructure, government functions, healthcare, skill sets, etc. that then create a sense of hopelessness for the future, distrust in governments, distrust in the media, where opinion and feelings have equal or more value than logic and truth, and then, at some point, a "savior" arrives for the people. An authoritarian figure that says, "Only I can fix this.", and then they are elected into power to rousing, cult-like applause. We've seen it time and time again in our history, but the methods being used are far more insidious and calculating. You can't take over the world with a military, but you can take power by creating conditions that will put an authoritarian in power as an act of desperation and hope.

I am an independent thinker. I've always been on the outside, looking in, on the periphery with a view. I look at the far-right and far-left extremists, how the "lunatic fringe" has crept into the mainstream, is influencing the conversations, how both scream "freedom, rights, and equality" whilst ironically and ignorantly taking us towards authoritarianism in their own ways. I take the time to step back and examine both these elements, their news outlets, their culture wars, how they interpret things. I take the time to follow the money trail. I am an observer in this regard, analyzing the game as it's being played out in front of me. I do this as a selfish means of protecting myself, my wife, and my family by looking into the future 5, 10, 20 years with cautious optimism, planning my moves well ahead of when I actually have to play them, my current and future investments, setting myself up for potential success. I can't do this without being aware. There are great things we could potentially have, or the worse-case scenario. Plan for the worst, hope for the best.