Thoughts for the Future

I often find myself wondering what people's breaking point it. Everyone has a breaking point, some just snap faster than others. I believe it's the same with cultures, nations, organizations etc. What does it take to bring people in upheaval? How far must one be pushed before they're ready to stand up for themselves, even radicalize? We're in a period of protest. Every other week I see a new group of people angry at some other group of people. More often than not, it's groups seen as less powerful or less in control that are the truly angry ones. In particular, we're in a time where more than ever before, citizens are taking their governments to the sword. I look at Hong Kong, traditionally the most non Chinese part of China (and trust me, they don't wanna be Chinese) that had a visceral reaction to Chinese law creeping into it's own state. They violently reject the Chinese and have been, at the time of writing, at war with their own government for mon...

Loneliness is something I think we've all experienced at some point in time. Maybe you felt like nobody was there when it mattered most or that the people you thought you knew, weren't really the people you thought they were. I think for a while now we've all been experiencing loneliness as a much deeper and visceral level and I think we've also been experiencing it more often. This has got me thinking. Why is it people are feeling lonelier, more isolated, anxious and depressed? Moreover, why is it getting worse? I think that people are getting lonelier. Or even, that people have lost their sense of community. Especially in highly developed countries. People are spending more and more of their time alone in their homes or alone in a crowded room. In the information era, data has replaced speech in a way. While we exchange much more than we used to, and much faster than we used to, I still feel there is an emptiness we're not filling. It's as if we are alone in...

Those who seek utopia will encounter nothing but despair. The idea of utopia has existed for as long as humans could think. Utopia is considered to be the pinnacle of human civilization. A civilization where all are equal, there are no wars or fighting and no one person suffers. On face value, the utopian idea seems like a just ideal to strive towards. Who wouldn't want to live in a perfect society? Who wouldn't want to live in a world where nobody has to suffer and especially one where nobody has to suffer for the actions of someone else. Well, to be quite honest, the utopian ideal is very, very wrong. There are a couple reasons why. You'll notice that my definition of a utopia is vague. This is intentional. The first use of the word Utopia was by Sir Thomas More in the book Utopia (1516). This is a huge issue with the idea. It's vague and interpretable.  Because everyone has a different utopia, it is almost impossible to reach a consensus on the issue. Someone...

I'm a huge fan of popular culture and entertainment. From music to movies to books and articles. Art, to me is the most worthwhile human creation, because it can so perfectly dissect and breakdown our most personal and harrowing emotions into bite-sized pieces so that we can vicariously experience and analyze them without having to suffer ourselves. We attach ourselves to these characters and feel joy when they complete the journey and feel sorrow when they lose. Through interesting and engaging storylines and especially through well rounded characters, one can be immersed into a world completely different from the often bleak reality filled with unending suffering we inhabit. This goes back to an earlier blog I wrote about Heroes. The expression of art is incredibly important to the development of a society. A truly engaging and nuanced piece of art can change the course of culture. It can change the minds of people or act as an intensifier for the thoughts of a community. ...

After a couple days off, today we return to the general idea of this blog. Which is to talk about the future of human civilization and especially how western countries will be shaped by both social and technological issues in the coming years. Today we tackle a subject that is divisive and emotional. The future of the socio-economic landscape. We live in a period that has seen disparity between the lower, middle and upper class citizens. So the question is, will it get worse? Will the rich get richer and the poor, poorer? Let's dive in to get a better idea of the situation because this is a volatile subject that ebbs and flows following technological and cultural advancements and missteps. So let's look forward to the next five to ten years. The biggest problem facing us is the huge amount of unemployment we might see through robotization and automation in the coming years. Think driverless vehicles as an example. Millions of people that are taxi drivers, or work for compan...

So let's hit one from left field here. I realize this blog is about my thoughts for the future. Where I think we're headed as a civilization, our grave missteps and our best decisions. But today, I say screw that. I'm gonna talk about something totally different that in a way has nothing to do with what I usually write but is in a sense something that has become a part of me as I grow up trying to become an entrepreneur and public voice. We're gonna talk about men’s fashion. Didn't expect that right? Well it's something I'm passionate about not because of my own image or even the first impression. I mean it's a little bit of that but so much more. Learning how to dress well is a process that initially seems like a rebranding of sorts and it is, but what it really gives you is confidence. Dressing well, getting that killer outfit is like getting a suite of armor. It gives you confidence to let everything just bounce off. There's only so many insul...