Now Is The BEST Time to be alive

 This is gonna be a bit different. A lot of my writings here are criticisms of socio-economic issues. And of course there is much to criticize. But with New Years approaching I thought it was time to consider what is worth celebrating as there is also a lot worth celebrating. I don’t like the idea that things are worse now or getting worse. This doomerist mindset is a rot and is so limited in what they are perceiving. So, without further ado let’s talk about why things are not getting worse but better, why now is the BEST time to be alive, celebrate the wins of progress and kill this doomerist mindset once and for all.

    EVERYTHING is better is the 21st century, the sex, the food, the music, the weather. EVERYTHING is better now. This sounds like a joke and it kinda is, but I can explain how each of those things are better in the 21st century; The sex; Although the pleasure of sex has remained steady, the risks have decreased. With the more widely available STI testing/treatments, and contraception, the risks associated with sex are lower than they have ever been. So basic cost benefit analysis anytime the benefit remains the same, but the costs decrease, the benefit is thus greater. The food: Food is more widely available and cheaper than ever before, “Oh NO, we have too much cheap food” said nobody EVER. Not only that but with advancements in genetic engineering, we now have more nutritious crops that can be grown in hostile environments. The music: BASSHUNTER EXISTS!!! I really shouldn’t have to say more, but I will. Entire new genres of music have been created (techno is literally a type of music made from technological advancement, hence the name). Not only that but more people are able to produce music than ever before. People who in the past could've never made music either because of cost or disability are now able to. The advent of computers, the internet, & AI (more recently) has made it cheaper and easier to make music. Are all these people gonna make good music? No of course not, all music is never good, but the more people we have making it the better music we get (that’s just statistics). The weather; Cloud seeding. You know those con artists who used to go to drought-stricken areas and say gimme money and I’ll make it rain? Then they’d get money to spray some snake oil mist in the air before they dip, and it wouldn’t rain? Ya, well we can actually do that now.

Don’t get me wrong there are certainly still problems in the world, but we have NEVER been in a better position to solve them. EVERYTHING IS BETTER NOW! And not only is everything better, but we have never been getting better faster, we have never been progressing at a higher rate. Not only is everything better now, but we keep getting better, every day, every hour, every minute. And it is VERY important that we remember that!

Now a lot of people are concerned about many things. And I get it. I criticize systems and think that it is very important to do that. However, it is also important to remember just how far we have come. All technology brings with it new concerns, however it is always a net benefit, even technology at its worst, like the nuclear bomb, when you consider the advancements made that lead to, like fusion/fission, and energy, it becomes hard to say that it was not a net benefit. People think that social media has made us less social, that ‘ol “everyone's on their phones now, no one connects anymore”. But what do you think people are doing on their phones? They’re commenting, messaging, interacting and connecting with multiple people all around the world. People will say many are isolated on the internet, I say no, isolated is what they were before the internet. Now people that would have had no community have one. And if you still really think we are less social now, allow me to reveal my trump card. A little while ago, I was in my house, and I made a new friend in Chicago. Lemme reiterate in case that wasn’t clear enough, a little while ago I was in my house in MAPLE VALLEY WASHINGTON, and I made a new friend in CHICAGO ILLINOIS! People are not less social now, we are more.

What about crime? Isn’t it worse now? No, it may seem that way because like I explained previously how much more connected, we are now. If in the 1960’s someone was kidnapped in New York, I would likely never hear about it, but now, I hear about it at that moment. So it can appear that things are getting worse, but when you actually look at the numbers and the stats, you realize, they are not.

Ok but how about climate change? Climate change is a serious issue, no doubt, no doubt. But consider all the advancements we have made to address it already, like electric cars, hybrids, plug in hybrids, nuclear power (that I mentioned previously). There is even a youtuber called Thunderf00t that debunks many pseudoscientific inventions (like the hyperloop, solar roadways, the Cadillac WTF, ETC.) and he is very concerned about climate change and has begun studying how sodium fuel could help address it. As he explains, in his video, adding sodium to gasoline could make it carbon neutral as well as release a sort of aerosol in the air to counteract some of the effects of climate change. This is what I meant when I said we have never been in a better place to solve them.

    Lastly, let's discuss automation and job loss. Now typically people will say “it’s not a huge deal because automation in the past has always led to more jobs” I will NOT be saying that you may think we’ve been here before, but I assure we have not. For one thing in the past we have not seen automation, we have seen augmentation, automation is new. And there is a potential for this new thing to lead to a utopia or a dystopia. However, even the dystopia is very utopian. As I said before, technology, even at its worst, is always a net benefit. First let me explain the utopian potential; Imagine a world of consumer cooperatives, and liberated machines. Consumers own firms and hire machines (the way proprietors hire laborers today) These consumers make money as the owners and need to work less, leaving them more time with their family, friends, and to just explore the pleasures of life, but still have the means to enjoy them. In short, consumers would have more money and more free time. Now to the dystopian potential (and how even it is surprisingly utopian); Imagine two DAO like companies, a mining company and mining tool company. The mining company mines materials and sells it to the tool company, that makes tools to sell it back to the mining company, that mines more materials and sells them back to the tool company, and on and on it goes. Capitalism taken to its fullest logical conclusion, no consumption, only capital growth. It Sounds bad. And ya, that’s why I called it the dystopian potential. But consider that the only way this potential plays out is if it produces so much more value that it outcompetes the other potential. Now if that is the case, consumers may only receive one percent of this value. But that one percent would be more than we can possibly imagine, much in the same way that even the poorest people today often live better than kings did a thousand years ago, in their wildest dreams.

People say this is a privileged position, and there are certainly people less privileged than I. However, even they are better off. I mean systemic racism is a legitimate issue, however I don’t think anyone would prefer going back to Jim Crow, segregation, or FUCKING chattel slavery. Sexism is also still a legitimate issue, but keep in mind, women can vote, have bank accounts ETC. I mean even one the most misogynistic theocratic regimes Saudi Arabia saw the tide turning so much that they decide to let women drive, in 2017 (bit late to the party on that one, but better late than never)  Like I said there are certainly still problems in the world, the fight for liberty, equality, and progress is a fight that will never end though it is one I am committed to regardless. So, I’m not saying to stop the battle, only to remember how far we’ve come. We still have more to do for liberty and equality, but we have come a long way. The YouTuber DarkMatter2525 has an excellent video on this. Again, we still have a long way to go, but we should not forget how far we’ve come. We should be optimistic and hopeful for the future. The fight will and MUST continue, but we have to celebrate the wins, to not get caught up in this doomer pessimism. I know it’s hard, sometimes it can feel like the ship is sinking, but that’s why I had to write this, because I genuinely believe EVERYTHING IS BETTER NOW, and it is VERY IMPORTANT THAT WE REMEMBER THAT! Happy New Year!