Gene, A wonderful, creatively written story. Thanks both to you,the idea initiator and parameter setter, and perhaps congrats to Gemini for poetic moving writing.
My first thought was to forward this to David Brooks, Thom Hartmann, or Ezra Klein. Then I thought this is one subsystem, one path in a cluster of interwoven systems. I think of the book, The Curse of Goliath, saying that all empires collapse with inevitable capture of most of the wealth by a small elite who become rigid rulers - and in rigidity the empire collapses..each and every time. I think of Pikety and the relentless accumulation of wealth, how weath then captures the government leading to a corporate fascism polarizing and destroying trust everywhere - driving us to extreme individualism as in the book, 1984. I see even the local school boards and local politics becoming politicized and polarized, families polarized, the ability to think captured by addictive social media, the greed and speed and destruction of late stage capitalism.
So what does the individual do? They move from the oppressive red states if they have the resources, or move to Canada or other friendly countries, or if wealthy buy an island. We are living in a time where all efforts to work together are called terrorism or communism. The zeitgeist is that compromise is becoming taboo. So what is one to do in this winter of greed, hatred, and decline.
The stoics would say, Do what your conscience says is right even if you die trying. Live right, do right and be as happy as you can be. It used to be that many people would go to church for comfort - even the slaves prayed to a Christian God to relieve their suffering. And now too many churches are polarized, and forces of hatred and control themselves.
For me, the realization that 90% of the voting public have the cognitive capability to deal only with issues with a one-year time span - that's why politicians talk about kitchen table issues - like inflation, the price of gas. When many of society's problems need to be solved by dealing with 50 -100 year time horizons. Income gaps, climate change, AI are long term issues where the the majority of voters have no clue.
So we soldier on and do our best.
The US's current problems were largely created by the corporate elite's successful implementation of the Powell lMemorandum af around 1972. The right wings plan to take over the media, universities, and to buy the govt itself. They have succeeded masterfully.
Perhaps this level of analysis is too large complex for causal loop diagram systems analysis, but congratulations Gene for doing outstanding work with pieces of all that I have described. The challenge is how to put it all together in an analysis and story for the reader to grasp.
What do you mean doomed? Like doomed when Roosevelt introduced the New Deal - that set the stage for 50 years till Reagan started the dismantling in 1981
Gene, A wonderful, creatively written story. Thanks both to you,the idea initiator and parameter setter, and perhaps congrats to Gemini for poetic moving writing.
My first thought was to forward this to David Brooks, Thom Hartmann, or Ezra Klein. Then I thought this is one subsystem, one path in a cluster of interwoven systems. I think of the book, The Curse of Goliath, saying that all empires collapse with inevitable capture of most of the wealth by a small elite who become rigid rulers - and in rigidity the empire collapses..each and every time. I think of Pikety and the relentless accumulation of wealth, how weath then captures the government leading to a corporate fascism polarizing and destroying trust everywhere - driving us to extreme individualism as in the book, 1984. I see even the local school boards and local politics becoming politicized and polarized, families polarized, the ability to think captured by addictive social media, the greed and speed and destruction of late stage capitalism.
So what does the individual do? They move from the oppressive red states if they have the resources, or move to Canada or other friendly countries, or if wealthy buy an island. We are living in a time where all efforts to work together are called terrorism or communism. The zeitgeist is that compromise is becoming taboo. So what is one to do in this winter of greed, hatred, and decline.
The stoics would say, Do what your conscience says is right even if you die trying. Live right, do right and be as happy as you can be. It used to be that many people would go to church for comfort - even the slaves prayed to a Christian God to relieve their suffering. And now too many churches are polarized, and forces of hatred and control themselves.
For me, the realization that 90% of the voting public have the cognitive capability to deal only with issues with a one-year time span - that's why politicians talk about kitchen table issues - like inflation, the price of gas. When many of society's problems need to be solved by dealing with 50 -100 year time horizons. Income gaps, climate change, AI are long term issues where the the majority of voters have no clue.
So we soldier on and do our best.
The US's current problems were largely created by the corporate elite's successful implementation of the Powell lMemorandum af around 1972. The right wings plan to take over the media, universities, and to buy the govt itself. They have succeeded masterfully.
Perhaps this level of analysis is too large complex for causal loop diagram systems analysis, but congratulations Gene for doing outstanding work with pieces of all that I have described. The challenge is how to put it all together in an analysis and story for the reader to grasp.
Isn't the person with a one year horizon likely doomed when faced with someone implementing a 50 year plan?
What do you mean doomed? Like doomed when Roosevelt introduced the New Deal - that set the stage for 50 years till Reagan started the dismantling in 1981
I meant the short term horizon is unlikely to succeed against a 50 year horizon.