The Dummies Guide To The 5 ASSUMPTIONS, Which Got Us Into This Mess!!
- We assumed our economies would grow forever. However, we overlooked the law of diminishing returns and the inherent "limits" to growth, pointed out way back since the 1970s, yet, mostly ignored by one and all. Alas, now we realize, maybe a bit too late, that Degrowth is real. Plus, we thought we had conquered disease, yet, our economies were ravaged by an once in a century pandemic.
- We assumed interest rates would stay low forever. However, we ignored the laws of demand and supply, wherein neither supply side economics nor "pump priming" demand would be the answer. Moreover, the very real inflationary tendencies, an outcome of unbridled "printing of money" were often dismissed as "transitory". Alas, now we're saddled with the "higher for longer" mantra that everyone and their dog is parroting.
- We assumed that the climate would remain the same, discounting the impact of human made emissions and rampant environmental and ecological destruction, which our "obsession" with growth at all costs wrought on the planet. Net result: Runaway climate change in the Anthropocene. Alas, it now falls on hitherto dismissed "doomsayers" like the extinction rebellion crowd, to do "something" urgent.
- We assumed wars were a thing of the past, especially those fought on conventional trench warfare battlegrounds. However, we overlooked human stupidity and the very real aspect of a divisive world fueling (literally and figuratively) destructive wars worldwide. Alas, where are the peaceniks when we need them the most?
- We assumed technology would be net positive for the world. However, we now realize that while technology is indeed value neutral, but, the hands using it, are driven by baser minds, hellbent on devious and nefarious ends to which such technologies are being deployed. Alss, the most "benign" thing that can be said about technology now is ChatGPT helps students with their homework.
AND, perhaps the biggest "mistake" of all is our inability to "connect" each of these assumptions and "unravel" the "message" each of these were sending us. In our interconnected world, it is life threatening if we can't "see" what the "signals" are telling us and yet, we got lost in the "noise" of our ever increasing hyperpartisan discourse.
BUT, we still continue to "assume" that we would return to "normal", whatever that is. We're told this is the New Normal, where wars start in the blink of an eye, and where unimaginable human suffering is "collateral damage", worth the "costs" of the conflicts.
Mebbe, we should just "assume" that this is an elaborate deception, which would disappear one day. Or, is this the CON Matrix which we're destined never to "escape", unlike Neo, who did take the Red Pill, while we reassure each other to take a "Chill Pill"!!
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