Wednesday, December 19, 2018

It Was the Best of Times, It Was the Beginning of the End of Times...

We live in some very odd times right now. We are making fantastic progress against diseases, we are unlocking the keys to the mind and our genetics faster than ever in history. And yet we are killing democracy and our environment quicker than most of us thought possible.



How to understand this?

Let me posit a horrible answer.What if the richest and most powerful of us (i.e. humanity) no longer needed the rest of us?

In the past, "general health and education" of the population was necessary to support a country via economic and military needs.  Education and health care weren't dolled out because of the goodness of the Kaiser's heart, it was to create an educated fighting force. And in England, education and health care was necessary to create an educated mercantile class.

But now we have drones and robots to fight, robots and 3d printers to manufacture and create. Except for a smattering of needs for the masses to consume, there is less and less of a need for the majority of the world.

Technology has always created jobs in the past, but this isn't the past. This revolution might be the exception.  The vast bulk of humanity is verging on superfluousness. In fact, removing them would be altogether better for the environment of those remaining.

What does this mean for us? And, more important to those with children, what does it mean for the next generation?

Most movies / tv shows that grapple with this show a mass of humanity living in squalor and a lucky few who don't have to look at the squalor day by day. But let's be honest. What if wiping out 3/4s of humanity stopped the slide into squalor?  How among the top 1% would stop the most powerful from wiping out 3/4s of humanity? IN fact, who of the remaining 1/4 would stop it if it meant a better life for them and their children?

After all, in the US, the richest country in the world, we already deny healthcare for the poorest, ignore rotting bridges, schools, airports and infrastructure, because the richest don't use them. Our museums, universities and great parks are amazing. Because, they are used by the richest as well as a smattering of lucky middle class. Our government responds to the richest only (both Democrats and Republicans). We are actively denying letting the poorest immigrate or seek asylum.  In fact, we are actively deporting the poor with green cards on the flimsiest of excuses.

I am not saying our government would kill people, but I am not sure we would stand up to someone else that was killing lots of people.

We stopped caring in South Sudan, Somalia and the Balkans. We have proved we have limited push back in Yeman - only because pictures are coming out of sick children. We have ignored hundreds of thousands of muslims in China under lock and key. And that was all due to ethnic problems.

Australia ignores boat people. Europe ignores African immigrants. Americans ignore Cnetral Americans. If they all magically "disappeared" (instead of "were killed") who would object?

The beginning of the end.....