(Verse 1)
Covid pandemic, life's tragic,
Work From Home, no more traffic,
Elon Musk in the space race,
Twitter falling from its grace.
Netflix plateau, lost its glow,
Reddit blackout, a serious blow,
Interest rates, an upward hike,
Donald Trump, another strike.
(Chorus)
We didn't start the fire,
It was always burning, since the world's been turning,
We didn't start the fire,
No, we didn't light it, but we tried to fight it.
(Verse 2)
Decentralisation, global reformation,
Tech Antitrust, digital conflagration,
Ukraine crisis, world’s at bay,
In this whirlwind, we lose our way.
Artificial Intelligence, the next experience,
Climate crisis, deadly seriousness,
Nazis, Fascism, old fears return,
Democratic backsliding, when will we learn?
(Chorus)
We didn't start the fire,
It was always burning, since the world's been turning,
We didn't start the fire,
No, we didn't light it, but we tried to fight it.
(Verse 3)
Automation, job annihilation,
Mass unemployment, rising desperation,
Homelessness in the city streets,
Wildfires burning, the heat repeats.
(Chorus)
We didn't start the fire,
It was always burning, since the world's been turning,
We didn't start the fire,
No, we didn't light it, but we tried to fight it.
(Bridge)
From the pandemic to the space frontier,
Through the crises that we all fear,
From the ashes, we'll still rise,
In our hearts, the human spirit never dies.
(Chorus)
We didn't start the fire,
It was always burning, since the world's been turning,
We didn't start the fire,
But when we are gone, will it still burn on, and on, and on, and on...
(Outro)
We didn't start the fire,
But we hold the power, in this defining hour,
We can tame this fire,
Though we didn't light it, we have the strength to fight it.
It’s scary how greed has made the world so hostile. It’s hard to stay ignorant about these issues because it’s just one search away on a phone. Yet, people still choose ignorance. I feel a little lost and hopeless sometimes even though I try to do my part. Finding a safe space online seems crucial for my mental wellbeing. Glad I can be here
To be perfectly fair, the world has always been screwed up in a hundred different ways at any given time. It's just more immediately visible to every single person these days
Sometimes I feel like things are just moments away from falling apart. I worry that the leaders are doing their best to cover it up, but one day it will fall apart and it will fall apart suddenly.
History oft repeats itself. By reading a lot about the past, I feel more relaxed about the future.
A book I read recently was a history about a moral panic starting, how people became marginalized, how there were times of extreme terror, how a social movement started, and eventually entered the mainstream. Laws were reversed, the group of people became normal, and became part of greater society.
The goverment had gone from decade+ of progressivism with a opposition party in decline, to the accidental discovery of a powerful social tool to tap into the hate built into humans. They leveraged that tool to bring their party back to relevance in the face of declining power.
It's victories were temporary though, and their very tapping into that hate was what undermined them. The boy that cried wolf couldn't keep crying about it when people realized it was just a ruse.
Almost the exact same things are happening today. A similar moral panic kicked off. Someone is crying wolf and is trying to be the constant victim. Most people will be exposed to the alleged "wolf" (who turns out to be floofy and nice!) And America calms down again for another 20-40 years.
It think we have cycles because people remember things that happen in their lifetime but fail to adequately instil that knowledge in the next and subsequent generations. The wealth inequality of the 1920s was the catylist for much of the economic turmoil of the great depression and laid some of the context for the New Deal era. The strong rules for antitrust and managing monopolies were put in place to prevent a repeat and while the generations who lived through the great depression were dominant they survived. As those older generations died out and as the following generations grew in influence those protections were weakened and eventually mostly dismantled, resulting in massive changes from the 70s onwards. Those protections were eroded and wealth and income inequality grew until we reached and surpassed the levels of the 1920s.
I think the same happens for other things like the idea that Nazis are bad or must be resisted, or that religious ideologies should ve kept seperate from the government, or healthcare is something we can help each other to gain, or that workers can have power by working together. What I find hopeful is hearing discussion of all of these ideas in fairly accessible places and people do seem to be studying history in order to avoid repeating it.
To be honest, 2023 has feel relatively calmer than the past few, I guess covid being that all encompassing to life. Of the things on your list I do think AI is probably the first thing that comes to mind when I think of what we are "on the brink of". This leap that happened the past couple years in LLM was shocking enough, wondering what the next couple are going to look like.
Not feeling optimistic, but trying to stay positive and do good in the world regardless.
Remember to use these hard times to focus on the things that really matter. Enjoy nature, have empathy for others, be kind and supportive, stand up for what's right.
We'll all endure, some how some way. Peace and love to y'all.
At this point we should have a "We Didn't Start The Fire" parody for all the nonsense that's happend over the last 3 years. Feels loke the Roaring 20s, but just more cbaotic and socially conscious.
All I'm trying to do is just find myself and enjoy life, and I'm a little anxious to see where we end up. Hopefully it's somewhere where we come out better as a society.
Honestly, we are potentially on the cusp of the next great societal shift not only in how countries are ran, but probably also where the sphere of global influence resides. I don't know how it will all end it, whether it will end with China superseding the US as a global influencer and power, or if we will go the way the Nazis have been trying to direct us since the 30s and the entire world takes a dramatic shift to the far right.
Quite frankly, it's terrifying. Being in the United States and watching our political climate dissolve into a party who is afraid of embracing the young and go further left, and a party whose only interest is owning the libs and helping the 1% become even wealthier while the rest of us have to suffer through greedflation is really frustrating. My wife and I have talked about leaving, but we have JDs, and American JDs are basically useless outside of the U.S. unless you went to Harvard/Stanford/Yale and can land a job in Big Law, which we did not.
I've thought about going back to school and getting a degree in programming, or trying to find another way to learn and get the experience/certifications I would need, but I have absolutely no idea where to start with that or how to look for those kinds of jobs.
We could indeed be on the brink of something. The conditions are there but for what? Will we end capitalism, make a new system and try for a better world? Or will we fall into fascism once more?
Even if it's finally the day we move on from this system that keeps threatening to collapse on itself every 6 months... it's gonna get a whole lot worse before it gets better...
I'm fine. Covid isnt causing chaos anymore, WFH is optional (thankfully, i don't like it), I don't really care about Twitter or Netflix, reddit is a shame but there are alternatives, my mortgage rate is fixed at 1.8% for 30 years, Trump is on the other side of the ocean...
Most of the sh*t going on the in the world doesn't have very big impact on my life. Some do, but when I can't influence it (on my own) I try to not let it affect my mood.
I had a thought about all the alien stuff and if its true why the US government kept it a secret, and I was like "oh of course, its because the government is made of aliens"
I had to take a moment and think about how plausible that now feels lol.
I try not to get too caught up in world events. Right now I'm trying to make some improvements in my personal life. I got a new job which I haven't started yet, and I want to buy a new car once I get paid.
Global issues are obviously important, but don't neglect your own life and your own community.
I'm good. Helping in local community, which makes those global issues less touching. However I know, they're important, but I'd gone mad if I was thinking about the all the time.
Considering the COVID pandemic is still mass infecting people (with somewhere around 1/10 people getting Long-COVID, and some percentage of those people being disabled long-term) and now it's leading to weakened immune systems and fungal infections, my guess is another mass health-disruption event is what we're on the brink of.
Or maybe mass homelessness and poverty. Does anyone remember that two-parter from Deep Space Nine where they go back in time with ghettos in San Francisco? Past Tense. It was set in 2024.
It feels like that time at a party where everything escelates. But not in a good way, more like something resulting in the worst hangover of humanity. Being over 30 I dread this hangover.
I think the Beehaw mods are on the brink of a nervous breakdown. With the influx of reddit users (like me), running the site must be like working retail on Black Friday - but it’s happening EVERY DAY.
Like there's an impending economic shift coming due and the powers that be are doing everything they can to try and prevent it. Unfortunately for them this is inevitable.
Jesus will soon return and take his chosen. I personally doubt that list will include me because while i think "god" may exist i dont think he pays attention to or really cares about us. He is just playing World of Tanksor something
One can learn from it that when the world ends, another one begins. It does not negate all the tragedy, broken dreams, suffering, violence, etc. It's also a kind of a curse because all mistakes will be made again at some point, all achievements will be lost inevitably. But at least the life goes on
Terrified... I don't know what to do. I don't know what anyone can do about all of this... Can anything be done about this mess? People have been trying to make things not relentlessly terrible all the time starting from their local levels for decades, centuries even, and things are still fucking awful. Less awful, of course, but that's not the same as not awful. And it seems like a lot of the bad news is a lot bigger, more frequent, and goes on longer than any good news I've seen and it feels like all anyone has to say on it is either "OH GOD WE'RE ALL DOOMED" or "[insert vague platitude here]". That or "MWAHAHAHA I'M GOING TO MAKE THINGS WORSE" because apparently a lot of politicians love acting like Hitler and a cartoon villain had a baby and they're what came out. Ridiculous. ~Cherri