In the last two days, Israel has attacked Qatar and Russia has sent drones into Poland. If there are any doubts the world is spiralling downward into full-blown war, they should be put to rest now. Poland is a NATO country, and the US has a military base in Qatar and it is considered an ally.
So - what is the response?
Nothing.
Essentially, both Israel and Russia apparently have a free reign to do as they please and all they have to deal with are words of condemnation. But, words are inconsequential if they aren't backed by actions. Yet, the only actions the rest of the world can make are either more economic sanctions (that haven't worked) or sending in military. The problem with the latter is that both Israel and Russia have nuclear weapons and at least one of them is likely to use them.
So the world keeps spiralling.
How far down will we slide before enough is enough and something is done? That something will either be the strongest push toward peace we have ever made, or it will be the final nail in the coffin of our species. And while this sounds like a polarised view, polarisation is the state we live in today.
It is interesting though, as while many people are spending their time on the new iPhone 17 features, or how AI is going to make their life easier, or what the score of the whatever sporting team is - the world keeps spiralling.
It is depressing to consider that we as a species have so much ability, yet we are coupled with so much stupidity. Rather than making the world a better place to live for everyone, we spend the majority of resources making it worse for most people. And most people are getting slowly crushed and forced to continually learn to make do with less, even though there are more resources available to leverage. We have the most information we have ever had, the most opportunity to automate the crap away so we can spend time doing valuable work and enjoying life - yet, how is that working out for most people?
Are things getting better?
Don't focus on individual points, but zoom out and look at the meta view. Are the lives of the average person improving? Is the quality of education, health, the safety in your city, the food availability and whatever else is import, improving? If not, it doesn't matter what individual points are improving and how, if the average is going down, because eventually, life is unsustainable.
While business is constantly optimising for profit, what is actually getting optimised is our wellbeing as humans, where as much is being extracted from us as possible. The optimisation of humanity isn't about optimising for wellbeing, it is optimising for subsistence. How tightly can we be squeezed, before we suffocate. And how many can suffocate before it impacts on profits.
It is no wonder people avoid reality.
But avoidance just means that conditions of humanity will keep deteriorating while those who profit from the deterioration keep profiting. We are failing ourselves as a society.
It is depressing.
But, what is going to be the catalyst of change that pushes the spiral in the other direction and starts to improve wellbeing? What is going to be a big enough event that shifts the world focus? If we look at the recent past, the only things that have really pushed back on the decline, have been severe decline with tens of millions of deaths. Is that hat "has to happen" for us to relearn what we have seemingly forgotten?
We are pathetic by nature.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
Be part of the Hive discussion.
- Comment on the topics of the article, and add your perspectives and experiences.
- Read and discuss with others who comment and build your personal network
- Engage well with me and others and put in effort
And you may be rewarded.