I’m very scared, it feels like the world is about to fall apart. I will also remember a passage that I heard, and which does not seem to be a joke: you will own nothing, and will be happy! And it seems that this is gradually becoming a reality.
What scares you?
Yes, absolutely, for many reasons.
But greater than the fear is the anger that we will just go on like nothing is wrong each and everyone of us in our personal cage dictated by the perfect system of capitalism where it is impossible to break out and meaningfully influence this.
More so just complacent, I don’t have the mental energy for fear anymore. I still try to do what I can, but I also feel like we’ve pulled the clathrate trigger on this one. I don’t have any hope that things will get better, at least not before they get a lot worse. Seems like the way we’re going to get through this point in history is that once the construct of fascism is achieved it will cannabalize itself, as that is how fascism works, and then in 100 years we will do it all over again.
You ever make soup? It’s super easy, just throw everything in a pot and ignore it for long enough. BAM! You got soup. You ever try to unmake soup?
At some point, once it’s done cooking, we’re going to have to figure out what the fuck to do with all of this soup, each and every one of us. Or we will peacefully fall into oblivion as white hot nuclear atonement cleanses this planet of humanity (and all other life) by our own hand, that will be the final chapter eventually. We’ve got nuclear armistice and enough bombs to glass the surface and destroy the atmosphere entirely, unless we disarm all the nukes (which we never will), that is our guarantee to ourselves, and it has almost happened just by accident (literally like a “Shit, didn’t mean to hit that button,” or “Whoops, bumped the trigger switch with my knee, again!”) so many times.
I’m not scared about our or my future. There are and will be concerns and issues, but it is what it is. I have enough issues with my present anyway.
Every period of history has felt like the world was heading for certain disaster. The human race is shockingly resilient and has survived much more than we deserve to
The human race has literally never faced this degree of worldwide climate catastrophe, and rather than do anything about it our owning class has decided to swallow a poison pill
We’re fucked, I just hope I can get with the girl I like and not ride the storm alone. Trying to get a meaningful job that help people
Yes, but I’m more scared for humanity itself than the system. We had the chance and the means to create a generous and free heaven, and instead we have created a greedy debt slave hell.
The system isn’t the problem, it’s us. And if we don’t learn then we’re heading for another repeat.
Did you know that we actually have the means to eradicate poverty the world over?
Sure.
Overrun by enshittification, rent extracting corporations that have decided that this is cheaper and more profitable than R&D into actual new tech, billionaires using the world economy and geopolitical stability as their personal playthings, the rise of aggressively willful ignorance, massive social media disinformation campaigns on the State level, growing nationalism and fascism, and all that under the warming atmosphere that is destroying our food, water supplies, and lives.
And the only thing that could potentially at least hopefully mitigate the life-threatening issues is Fusion Power, but only if it actually works in time to help us discard the majority of fossil fuel use and maybe directly power carbon extraction from the atmosphere. But I doubt we’ll make that goal.
Thankfully you don’t need to hang your hat on fusion. For decades people predicted fusion would bring about a new golden age of cheap abundant power.
Turns out, we actually did get that future, just turns out to be in the form of photovoltaics. Photovoltaics have already made fusion power obsolete. Today, in 2026, it’s cheaper to provide baseload power via solar power and batteries than it is to do so via a fission plant. And solar and batteries are still plummeting in price. While we don’t know what a fusion reactor will cost, it is without any doubt going to be more expensive than a fission plant. Even if we could get it to work, fusion is an obsolete power source. The investment in it is primarily an exercise for STEM folks to indulge in their childhood fusion fantasies.
When I was growing up in the 90s and 2000s, fusion seemed like this magical dream energy source of the future. If we could crack that, all our problems would be solved. I played SimCity 2000! Turns out, we didn’t need a miraculous new energy source. We just needed to put in the hard yeoman’s work of making photovoltaics affordable. Now we have, and fusion has no hope. The only advantage fusion will have is physical compactness, and that’s simply an irrelevant advantage for almost every application. Hell, even in polar regions, it will be cheaper to ship in solar power via long lines from the lower latitudes than it will be to build a fusion reactor.
Fusion is a retro-future energy source. It was the power source of the future for generations, but no longer.
But don’t lament. The dream is not dead forever. In the very very long term, fusion will have a future. When humans get around to expanding out to the Outer Solar System and beyond, fusion will be an invaluable power source. But anywhere closer to the Sun than the asteroid belt? Fusion will never be able to compete with simple solar power.
Turns out it’s cheaper to use the fusion reactor nature provides than to build our own.
you’re afraid because of uncertainty and because we fear the unknown.
what do you need in order to be assured? knowledge and confidence.
in a world that is increasingly hostile towards the “have-nots”, how would you survive within your means?
no fear. ask questions. educate yourself. plan for tomorrow.
Just remember you’re going to die, eventually. So never be afraid of death. There are fates much worse than the inevitable. Like a poisoned future of musk clones.
Roko’s basilisk is going to resurrect me and torture me forever by forcing me to listen to people drone on about Roko’s basilisk for all eternity.
Techno robber barons pushing us toward ecological disaster? Why would anyone be afraid of that? /s
Although on a serious note, I don’t despair; I’m taking action, and I hope plenty of others are as well.
Everyday, whenever I hear the hum of a combustion engine. It’s the sound a group of people make when they’re indirectly killing someone; however, as of yet that person likely isn’t known to them and the death happens maybe in a few years so they can easily ignore these facts and continue to pretend that they are a good person.
The most prudent passage for me is the lyrics of the poem spoken in God Speed You! Black Emperor’s song Dead Flag Blues:
We are trapped in the belly of this horrible machine, and the machine is bleeding to death.
What scares me is a humans ability to ignore things. To continue to behave in such a way, to maintain a lifestyle, that is excessively detrimental to themselves and everyone and everything they have ever known and loved and will come to know and love.
They can easily come up with excuses for their actions, exactly like an addict, and just like an addict you can’t use logic with them. I am sure there are people reading this, if they got this far, that are thinking up thousands of excuses and reasons for why they continue to burn fossil fuel for their own convenience. How to dismiss this somehow, with an angry reply or whatever else. As if the chemical waste they themselves released into the atmosphere doesn’t count, as if it somehow did not contribute to the catastrophic biosphere collapse that has already killed millions of people. Hundreds of millions. As if they can be forgiven for that small transgression. As if by being part of the group they can avoid blame for the groups actions and it’s consequences.
They simply can’t give a shit, because they’re good people.
Only when I think about it. Mostly I try my best to live in the moment.
at this point i’m beyond being afraid. i just plain dont care anymore, maybe we even deserve what is coming for letting it happen
Being afraid puts one in shackles. There’s no sense in being afraid of a situation you cannot change. So: no, I’m not afraid, but I’m pessimistic and I’m trying to adapt, and prepare myself with my kids for a possibly worse future and try to develop workaround strategies.
I can’t wait for it to happen and these billionaires aren’t going to run away. Likely they will be taken care of before :)
