The Mess

It is hard to imagine what this country would be like if its leadership has been moral, prudent, and brave.  The fifty's might be a good guess but that would not account for the technological advancements which seem to propel us into an unexpected future.

Assuming that the technological genie would not have been let out of the bottle one can only guess that we would not be facing armageddon because the Islamist factions currently in turmoil are largely so because of the rebellion against western influences and western encroachments facilitated by technology and its insatiable appetite for energy, influence, and pleasure.

Acknowledging the population bomb that is currently engulfing the world with its impact and affects, it is possible to imagine that because of the lack of technological advances death would be at a much higher percentage than it is with every possibility that famine and conflict would be more common than it is today.  Because of technology the bomb has increase in potential while the environment is being diminished. There is some hope that technology might save us plus there are some trends that point to a stabilization of population even a reversal. Which in its self will cause a breakdown of the current economies.

If the government had not been taken over by the immoral, the corruptible, and the narcissistic segment of our society the over-spending and the willingness to in-debt the nation to foreign countries would not be the noose tightening around our throats endangering our sovereignty let alone diminishing our well-being as it is.

Considering the immense resources this county has and the likelihood that our citizen's industry would have propelled innovation and change, it seems to be that it would have been at a less break-neck speed if the natural braking mechanism of capitalism's profit and loss had not been defeated by government.  Private enterprise is much more prudent when government isn't attempting to incentivise it tax collecting potential. The greed of business is naturally off-set by the potential for loss until government legislates avenues for risk-free adventures all in the name of influencing power and accumulating wealth.  The bread and butter off the legislative class of thugs and scoundrels in and around government.

We have met the enemy and it is us. Our willingness to put off the hard things and indulge in the easy things with no or little regard to the future or the environment has always been a character flaw of this species. Bravery exists in too few of us but it has enabled the rest of us to stand on the shoulders of giants and experience prosperity never before experienced. Even the kings and despots of the past would envy the luxuries many of us enjoy as commonplace.

So where do we go from here.  Obviously it will be different for each and every soul on earth. However, the resetting of the social norm is rapidly approaching.  With no place left to escape the peoples of this world are about to experience a profound change.  With little influence the average citizen is subject to the whims and unintended consequences of it governing class and the economic realities of greed, gluttony, and corruption.

Wistfully I long for a time where people would be truthful and our leaders would be honest.  I long for a time when expectations were diminished and desires moderated. A time where we respected one another and instinctively conserved our resources.

It is not going to happen. So I can only imagine a world that had infinite potential squandered by a heedless species with too much power over its environment and too little power over itself.  RIP planet earth.  If there are any survivors perhaps the few remaining resources will be limiting enough to extend their eventual demise but insufficient to enable their rise.  I don't see this species evolving into anything useful.

Even if we were to succeed at developing energy systems that do not deplete the environment we will still have to figure our how to be good stewards of the renewable resources, conserve the consumable riches of this planet, how to not pollute ourselves and countless other species into extension, and how to feed, cloth, and house a demanding if not an expanding population.