All of this push for global fascism and tightening of chains across the world is actually an extinction burst that’s happening precisely because the world is waking up. The oligarchs see one last chance to hold onto power before the common people flip the board.

Costco hot dog is still $1.50

Every day I learn a little more about the world and that generally fills me with optimism, depending on what I learn. If I learn about history, it helps make sense of the current situation. If I learn about psychology it helps me understand myself and others. If I learn about science it helps with my job and all of the above. If I spend a lot of time in news stories and politics it seems to have the opposite effect and I become pessimistic and negative. I’m limiting my exposure to those things. I stopped using mainstream social media 10+ years ago. I go out in nature, do exercise, sleep, eat vegetables and cook food with my daughter. We make fun of each other and share jokes. If I can do all of those things consistently, I can be optimistic. It’s not always possible and that’s also to be expected.

I think Gen X and younger are, overall, better at dealing with emotional issues than their parents and grandparents. Granted, there’s definitely still room for improvement.

But it’s no longer considered socially acceptable (much less preferable) to use your kids as a piñata to vent your anger on instead of seeking therapy. It’s also far more common for parents to show physical and verbal affection toward their kids. Something my (boomer) parents virtually never did. Probably because that’s the dynamic they were taught.

I dont have any firm evidence to back this claim up, but conversations with parents that are relatively close to me in age has shown that I’m not the only one who has observed this trend.

I’m more interested in what the people on the street have to say. They are closer to keeping or abandoning hope than keyboardists could ever be. Whether federated or not. That being said, the elections in eastern Europe and South America turning leftwards gives me hope that the North American elections, soon to come, will turn the same way. The whole world needs a bit of a breather and way less noise.

Three Thoughts:

1. In the long run, things have steadily improved for the majority of the world’s population. That doesn’t mean there can’t be setbacks along the way in the form of dictatorship and mass murder… but viewed over the long term, we’ve all become wealthier, healthier, and lived longer. Of course, this isn’t a sure thing, but it gives us hope that things will eventually be even better than they are now.
2. Billionaires aren’t superhumans, even if they think they are. The fact is, capital doesn’t create anything. WE create value through the work of our hands and minds. Without us, these people are nothing, and even with the stochastic parrot currently being hailed as “AI,” they’re just fooling themselves. It follows that even the biggest narcissists don’t stand a chance when we work together… and if there’s one thing humans are good at, it’s that.
3. People are much better than their reputation. If someone falls in a pedestrian zone, someone helps them up. If a traffic jam forms on the road, a rescue lane opens up. If you ask a stranger for help, you’re usually not let down. Far too many people believe that humans are “just animals with a thin veneer of civilization,” yet the vast majority are clearly more social and altruistic than is generally assumed. The narrative that “all people are bad” is, in my opinion, merely a self-serving narrative propagated by the ruling egoists to justify their own authority, and it’s passed on based on the assumption that we’re all just as selfish as our leaders.

Are these points open to criticism? Sure. Still, there’s at least a spark of truth in them, and that gives me hope.

Developments in green technology.

The most obvious is, of course, solar power (it ABSOLUTELY ROCKS) and new, eco-friendly batteries, but there’s so much more:

• Organisms that eat plastic
• Novel recyclable materials
• Reusing industrial waste to produce tons of useful products (personally working on that!)
• Novel eco-friendly fertilizers
• Actually nutritious plant meat and milk substitutes

And so, so much more!

Also, there are a lot of organizational changes that help:

• Recycling is getting more widespread
• FOSS and hacky folks allow electronic devices to live way longer than they otherwise would
• Bans on petroleum-based plastics in many applications propel cleaner alternatives (including clean, renewable plastics like PLA)
• And more again!

We have all it takes to build a sustainable, almost solarpunk world. With enough political will, we can make it happen. It’s not “futurism” anymore - it’s a reality we can forge here and now.

Trump is old and sick. Putin is old and sick. Xi is at least old. Most troublemakers are way beyond. It’s just a question of waiting them out.

In France, high-schoolers are launching a revolution, new generation rocks!!

Pet a cat when you encounter one on the street There are plenty of street cats where I live

Even the broken clock that is Jordan Peterson can be right every once in a blue moon

Global warming cannot cause humanity to go extinct. Nuclear war cannot cause humanity to go extinct. Population decline cannot cause humanity to go extinct.

If you think any of these are possible, you do not know enough about global warming, nuclear war, or population decline.

In short, things may get very, very, very bad. But hope springs eternal. And there are very, very few scenarios that won’t leave many millions of people alive to pick up the pieces.

Someday I’ll be dead, and therefore not suffering.

There’s one thing that’s happened this year that inspired actual hope in me. (I am generally a cynic, having read too many history books.)

I made a video about Flock buying out their employees and, in researching it, learned that Flock (as of a month ago) had lost nearly 400 contracts in 36 states. An independent outfit is tracking it because, obviously, major media outlets don’t want to talk about the unpopularity of fascism.

Thing is, this accelerated last summer, which means a lot of people who are otherwise apolitical are learning about Flock, going to city council meetings and doing boring, pedestrian and effective political organizing for a good cause.

That is objectively a good thing.

This is a bit trite, but there are a lot of delicious foods to eat, and so many cats to give scritches to. Concerts to hear. Songs to sing.

I was at the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix and they had a violin made out of literal trash. It’s a testament to people’s resilience and yearning to create. There are so many wonderfully creative people out there, I’ll never have the time to consume the every good bit, especially when I feel well enough to create stuff of my own. I love seeing the things people, especially people I care about, create.

two things

1. one day he’ll die
2. one day I’ll die

that’s about it.