Sometimes it seems civilization is always “the best of times, the worst of times.” Good and bad continually compete to define the future. Only rarely is life perfectly balanced or obviously destined to become brighter. And when we think that may be true, it is often just hubris unaware of an unexpected disaster lurking just ahead.
One new issue, among many, is that so many of us are so aware of how fragile things seem to be that we are perpetually worried. Instant updates have made us all cultural hypochondriacs, imagining massive illness with every ache or collapse with every awful news story, however minor in the grand scheme of things.
My hope is that society can evolve just like an organism. And learn just like a mind. Perhaps at some point a mass of people who count become immunized to social media. Or somehow that deus-ex-machina of AI begins to instantly ground all that is claimed with honest fact. Perhaps civilization can acquire its own electronic immunities.
But nobody knows, and it is a process that seems undirected. Advanced countries have tried to teach science and history, but masses of folks ignore all general education. Authoritarian governments try to decree “truth” but usually end in revolution by those who disagree with the groundwork. Who knows?
Not I. In the meantime, as all this goes on, it sure is entertaining to live in “interesting times.”
HuntingtonHarborThoughts 