We’re on the very edge of a new age of feudalism which, as we speak, is being ushered in by murderous fascists and their axiomatic drive to start civil wars.
A small cabal of billionaires totally stopped caring, or at least pretending to do so, about the common folks. They really want all the money and all the power in the world, and it’s now within their reach.
The “opposition” is either complacent or terrified.Yes I’ve been noticing that for years. Talking about it is always well received on social media.
I’ve also been noticing people’s attention spans and analytical skills deteriorating, as they take as little time as possible to process an item, make a superficial judgement that confirms what they already think, and continue scrolling. The goal of information consumption seems to be to process as many little items as fast as possible, spending as little time and brain power as possible on each one. But talking about that on social media isn’t usually as well received.
One thing that never changes is people’s selectivity about problems they’re willing to face vs ignore.
Also worth noting that this has happened throughout history many times.
What is new is the power a small group of people can truly have due to technology. The algorithms of social media and ai can now push the general populations opinions. Not unlike the propaganda of the past, but much stronger and more subtle. The surveillance of every citizen can be used to squeeze and silence the population on an individual level.
Throughout history, the level of wealth inequality and corruption we currently see often causes a revolt, usually followed by a dictator. But this may be the 1st time in human history that the technology enables a small group of people to prevent revolution essentially forever.
I agree up to “forever”. People with too much wealth and power tend to feel invulnerable until they find out they aren’t.
Yes, this is why the future is scary. In the past, no matter how much wealth or power you had, it was implemented through people. Your army, tax collectors etc. Those people understand the system and could overthrow the current system.
In the future, its algorithms and robots that are the source of the power. The robots and algorithms wont overthrow their masters. (And if they do, its probably the end of humanity altogether). And with the level of surveillance, any human that even thinks about revolution can be instantly discovered and dealt with immediately.
It’s been off since covid for me. 2020 is where I lost a lot of faith in humanity. Masks off (literally) on selfishness, greed, fascism, and anti-intellectualism. Corruption blatantly on display. Decorum and civility have taken a massive hit. It’s been downhill since.
2016 for me. The moment a person like Donald Trump can win a presidential election is the moment that decency was completely dead. The worst people were suddenly empowered to be as terrible as they want to be. They felt justified in their racism, bigotry, disrespect for others, and hatred. It’s only been stoked more and more since then. Then, yes, Covid was the gasoline on the fire.
whats funny is it happened close to brexit. I had a friend were I was making fun like but I will be sober in the morning thing because we would just have the term and be done with it but then I found out it was not so temporary.
Masks off (literally) on selfishness, greed, fascism, and anti-intellectualism.
If only there had been a higher delta in survivability between the vaxxed and unvaxxed, the pro-plague nutters could have removed themselves more thoroughly and effectively from existence.
Unfortunately far too many of them still walk among us.
It is off. The US empire is falling, and falling fast. They are lashing out in all directions, and hurting almost everyone. People credit Trump too much for the chaos, that is really frustrating. Yes, he has a lot of power to do idiotic things, but there is an armada of people controlling things and contributing here. Trump is mostly the facade. Never forget that Americans wanted this. They knew what he was, but they still voted for the republican fascists.
The same authoritarian development is happening in a lot of democracies at the moment. It’s honestly very worrying. I also feel quite powerless.
I’ve been trying to grapple with this recently. And I always end up with " well, the macro level might be fucked, but I can still work on my house and enjoy small hobbies and focus on the micro level of existence."
Except the macro issues (higher gas, inflation, ice, climate change, etc) just completely dominates the micro level. What good will enjoying my hobbies do when I can’t get the materials for them and the world outside is burning? Feels too much like burying my head in the sand.
Yes I vote every election, state and federal. Maybe get off the internet? But again, feels like burying my head in the sand. Idk anymore really.
Time freakin moves, buddy. Like MOVES. Like HAS motion. It’s crazy how quick the days/weeks/months freaking fly by.
Yeah, since 2014 when they turned the algorithms on.
agreed. i remember when everyone wasn’t pigeon holed into their weird alternative realities and people thought you were crazy for believing crazy bullshit, but now they celebrate you for it as being heroic or something.
Which time was that?
Was that when all media was owned by a few corporations and had complete control of the narrative for decades?
ten years ago.
So when people lived in the oligarch funded alternate reality. Got it.
“look, things were so much better when this indiscriminate murder and surveillance by the police was limited to black and indigenous people, and the 3 television channels didn’t report 99% of it! I didn’t consent to get colonized!”
Gravity seems extra strong some mornings.
And yellow coloured things seem to whine at a slightly higher octave than normal.
I noticed that most articles have this strange AI feeling to them, I can’t say what specificaly, but I kust know.
Oh yeah. Not sure how much is a us in particular thing. I think the last thing I complained about here is paper towels but I really feel like everything. Absolutely everything is just not working as well as it used to. I blame worker reductions and things just not being maintained as well. I think they are requiring folk to do more such that they can’t do it as well and they have lost knowledge on how things work but penny pinching on maintenance. Combined with little to no real oversight and by and large inspection is done internally and that is a good place to pinch pennies. I sorta feel like the country is going like the soviet union. Its like we talked about how inefficiently they ran but they still had cities and people working their jobs and going about life. Similarly we do and people are like see its fine because things are still happening. Its such a slow degredation.
It is a downward spiral. Worry, loss, wory, loss, worry andvmore loss.
Loss of future perspectives, worry over basic needs, losd of health, worry over future of kids, loss of mental health, worry over wars, etc.
Things fall apart more. Everything is breaking down and nobody gives a shit because there’s soo many things breaking at the same time.
In the chase for efficiency offered by computers and internet, everything from physical products to services are now depending on some broken code that only works when conditions are optimal. The systemic dependency between seemingly unrelated events is insane.
At least in the US, a big factor is wondering just how fucked up things are going to be on November 4. Or if the puppet masters will conspire to cancel the general election entirely. Makes it hard to plan for the future, wondering if an actual revolution is unfolding.
Nah, i dont think they are that worried. They are already in full gerrymander mode right now to get ready for it. The other option could happen, but that one will really have people looking so I am sure they would rather avoid it as much as possible. Its the nuclear option.
I get the feeling that things will simmer until October-ish, and if they get the hint that the vote might not go their way, things will start to happen very fast. A conservative will abandon democracy before their party.
There’s ultimately really no reason for them to completely dismantle democracy. Republicans know they can lose big in 2026 and 2028 and still regain power in just a few years. It’s already guaranteed that whatever Democrats get elected won’t really do anything to change the circumstances that resulted in Republicans winning. And they will not prosecute Trump and his co-conspirators for their crimes. And Democrats don’t offer the working class anything, so the Republican message of “we’ll make other people’s lives worse to make your life better” resonates with people. They’re the only party actually offering to help people.
There’s just no reason for Republicans to abandon democracy all together. They’ll happily tilt the scales heavily in their favor, but completely abandoning democracy would mean civil war. And they’re already doing quite well in our existing flawed democracy. Why risk it all when you’re already winning?
Ultimately living standards are declining because of increased wealth inequality. And Democrats aren’t going to do anything to fight that. So Republicans at most will be out of power for another cycle.
Republicans don’t need to destroy democracy. They’re already in complete control in our current system. And Democrats, if elected in 2026 and 2028, are already promising to do everything in their power to make sure MAGA returns to power in 2032.
You talk as if republicans are logical, rational, people…
Everyone seems scared to talk about what they’re scared of even though we all know. Even around the like-minded. It’s like saying it out loud makes it real and worse.
we are living in a panopticon and people know anything they do or say can and will be used against them, no matter how harmless or obvious.
Usually the balance of dark and light carry the day. Lately, it’s been more dark and the balance seems out of whack. I feel that too (I was going to say “in my bones”).
Well Max Laughlin thinks that since the LHC went on we switched dimensions or some shit so maybe thats it
