Surrender Or Courage

Naw, I'm just a realist. There are far too many cruel, evil and stupid people in the world for this whole civilization thing to ever really work.

"It is gloomy moment in history. Not in the lifetime of any man who reads this paper has there been so much grave and deep apprehension; never has the future seemed so dark and incalculable. In France, political cauldron the seethes and bubbles with uncertainty. England and the English empire is being sorely tried and exhausted in a social and economic struggle. The United States is beset with racial, industrial and commercial chaos, drifting we know not where. Russia hangs like a storm on the horizon of European dark and silent. It is a solemn moment and no man can feel indifference. Of our troubles, no man can see the end." -- Harper's Magazine, October 10, 1847

"And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places." -- Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 24, verses 6 and 7

Pardon my optimism, but I am firmly convinced that the best times are yet to come for the human race. The last 200 years have been the most economically prosperous years in the history of the world. Our standard of living is exponentially higher than 200 years ago. The future, from an economic and standard of living standpoint, should be even better. Before the pandemic, the percentage of individuals living at the world's standard for middle class was the highest it had ever been. (Darned microbe.)

We tend to take ourselves for granted. However, think about what we as a species did when the Covid virus hit. Before 2020, it would take from 4 to 10 years, if ever, for a virus vaccine to hit the market. Multiple organizations around the world created a vaccine in six months, mas o menos. We have a heterogeneous communications network that a device costing less than US$50 can connect to. (Fancy term for the Internet.) We now have rockets that land themselves and can be reused. We are on the brink of driverless cars available for contract from your mobile phone. We will have flying taxis. We will have universal translators. We will cure cancer. We will combat climate change. I am sure of this last one. Why? Because we have no choice.

Having said that, I am scared to death of the rise of totalitarianism around the world. Notice that along with the economic prosperity of the last 200 years, we experienced two world wars where tens of millions died. It may just be that we will see World War III, maybe sooner than we expected. Hundreds of millions will die. But the human race will survive. I think so. As Kurt Vonnegut would say, "So it goes."

In the meantime, do you want to change the world? You can. Research how you can change your life for the betterment of you and your family and also the world. You will change the world.

Respectfully submitted,

Padrino, the Cockeyed Optimist