A Brief History of the Not Too Distant Future

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By ColdWarBaby

Welcome to the City of Tomorrow

Text & graphic by Richard W. Posner
Text & graphic by Richard W. Posner

A society is by definition a social entity: 3 a: an enduring and cooperating social group whose members have developed organized patterns of relationships through interaction with one another.

Notice that the definition reads "cooperating", not competing. No such entity exists today in America, or ever has to the best of my knowledge, anywhere, in the history of the world. In the U.S. there is currently a fascist enterprise, its' sole purpose being the subjugation and exploitation, for profit, of all humanity. It is well on the way to achieving its' goal.

We have been launched into a state of permanent war. Cheney, Bush and the rest of the new royalty have no intention of relinquishing control in their lifetimes. Despite eloquent claims and seemingly astute observations by numerous pundits of the incompetence of the Bush administration, the Project for the New American Century is well underway. No such incompetence in fact exists.

Sometime before the '08 election, American will experience another false flag "terrorist attack", a new and improved 911. Martial law is just around the corner. Within the next 3 to 5 years we will see the North American Union become a global, military dictatorship featuring Bush with his ball & Cheney as supreme commanders. While we fiddle the world will burn.

As long as free market capitalism exists so will war. Death has become the most profitable enterprise in history. Devout free marketers have no conscience, are untroubled by morality or ethics and live only for profit.

We can't fix any of the problems of America, or humanity in general, until we can cure the disease of greed. Until we learn to share we will continue to kill.

As resources essential to survival become increasingly scarce the aristocracy will become more and more concentrated in several mega cities. Most of the remaining population will be conscripted to various labor populations outside these cities controlled by Blackwater type "security agencies" and maintained by the likes of Halliburton. There they will be forced to produce the goods required by the masters. A smaller number of "lucky" peasants will be kept within the cities to function as servants providing "services" and distributing goods.

It will be an era of global slavery with the great mass of humanity in thrall to a relatively small group of the ultra rich and powerful. But, because of their insatiable greed and lust for dominance, the masters will continue to ignore the simple reality of a finite ecosystem with limited resources. They will persistently consume at obscenely wasteful levels and the global climate disaster will continue.

Eventually it will become impossible to provide the level of luxury to which the elite have become accustomed. Finally even essentials will become scarce. The cities will begin to squabble over dwindling necessities. In time these minor skirmishes will escalate to intercity wars. These conflicts combined with the disastrous affects of addictive, unbridled consumption will lead to something akin to the fall of the Mayan Empire but on a global scale.

Perhaps, at some time in the very distant future, the next intelligent life form to inhabit the Earth will stumble upon the ruins of what were once massive, opulent cities hidden in dense jungle growth and wonder how such an "advanced civilization" suddenly disappeared.

I must apologize. I find myself increasingly amused at the prospect of the extinction of the human race. What has become particularly comical is the increasing numbers of folks wringing their hands over the plight of this, that or the other species that is about to disappear forever. People running around beseeching us to "save the Earth" haven't got a clue. The Earth isn't going anywhere. We are. We should be talking about saving the humans. A happy byproduct of saving ourselves would, by default, be "saving the Earth"! We can't have us without it! What part of this don't we understand? The Earth did just fine without us for billions of years. After we have successfully followed the dinosaurs into extinction the Earth will continue to evolve and flourish without us. It will heal itself. It will bring forth new species to replace of those that have gone.

Perhaps another species will follow an entirely different evolutionary path to "sentience" and achieve that thing that humans never could: Civilization.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/help-stop-global-death-and-destruction

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sandra rinck profile image

sandra rinck  says:
4 months ago

I wrote a hub once, it was called, who is more important, God or People. Not many takers on that one. Of the ones that replied, it was God is more important, and I can never really understand how People are not more important than God.

I guess my pathetic view of the will of God is to the will of the people. I mean me for you and you for me, helping each other so I thought. Aperantly I am a disguesting testament to God, but you know what, I appreciate your views.

Sometimes I see the prospects of extintion appitizing too but I don't give up because I love my little girl and as much as people can really piss me off, I love life too and people.

I actually don't disagree with your term homosapien parisites, but I am certain there are people out there trying to fix it. I think at this point most is irreversable, only because the future looks glim and not many are willing to see life for what it is and in a sense, it's not their fault either.

It's sad you know, but unless we can find a way to reverse the brain damage done, it's will ultimatly come down to the hard and dirty truth, life in Hell.

Sorry. I will still try with you and other will try with us, but as much as it sucks to say it, we will probabaly lose.

So raise your voice, say whatever the hellz you want to, I am listening. :)

ColdWarBaby profile image

ColdWarBaby  says:
4 months ago

I know you may find this hard to believe but I am utterly convinced that the human spirit is fundamentally one of light, not of darkness.  There IS a primal battle between good and evil.  It’s NOT a fairy tale or a myth, although it is reflected in many them.
My “god” is life itself.  Wherever and whatever it is, if it lives it is sacred.  I know this can get silly when you think of the number of living things we kill every day just by moving through the world.  This is just part of the natural process I suppose.
As I’ve grown older I’ve also grown more cynical and jaded.  I’ve been fighting the madness since I was ten.  It’s always gotten me in trouble.  I can’t stop and I no longer try to be particularly diplomatic about it.  I allow my cynicism, frustration and sarcasm to color my writing precisely because it sometimes gets people worked up.  Even though there was a lot of disagreement on my other HUB, the “Free” Market thing, I didn’t deny or delete ANY comments.  It’s the interaction that matters.  If ONE person can be brought out of the trance then something worthwhile has happened and my belief in the innate goodness of most people is further justified.
I appreciate very much your ability to see beyond my extreme verbiage and comprehend the real message of my ager and passion.  There’s not much time left and I’m not going to go quietly.

Chef Jeff profile image

Chef Jeff  says:
3 months ago

I often wonder if we should just give in to biology and take our place amongst the predators of the world, drop all the pretenses and just live like wolves, lions and tigers - kill or be killed.

I understand we do that to a point already, especially when dealing with other humans, but what if we just dropped all the feel-good attitudes we have about ourselves, became cold, unthinking killers and found our proper niche in the world? Does the shark contemplate the right or wrong of its actions? I doubt it: without saying so, it knows its place in nature.

Like Sandra I hope we can find our way out of the pit, find a way to let the light of the Human spirit within us shine, and live up to the ideals you also hope for, CWB.

I will fight as long as I can, so we have that in common CWB - I won't go gently into that long night, to use Dylan Thomas' words. I will go roaring and screaming and kicking, for as long as I have the strength to do so.

Great hub, so please keep them coming!

Chef Jeff profile image

Chef Jeff  says:
3 months ago

Just out of curiosity, did anyone commenting on this hub ever read Earth Abides? Similar idea, and the author wonders whether or not we deserve to exist.

ColdWarBaby profile image

ColdWarBaby  says:
3 months ago

I have never read Earth Abides. The title sounds basically like; the planet will get along fine no matter what. I guess I have said as much more than occasionally.

At the end of the day, the only thing that keeps me going is the belief, at the very deepest core of my being, that the human animal has within it the ability to ascend to a higher awareness. I believe it is our responsibility to care for and nourish life when and wherever we may find it. We take much from the universe without giving back. We will have to metamorphous from parasite to symbiont. We must learn to share.

Chef Jeff profile image

Chef Jeff  says:
3 months ago

You know, you have touched on something that has had me wondering since I was a child.  I am not a huge believer in seeing the future through dreams, and I am skeptical of those who claim such power after the fact.

That said, I often have dreams where I am amongst others who have somehow risen part the present and have been able to catch a glimpse of something better, something wonderful.  At first I thought it was an after-death dream, with my vision of what Heaven would be like, but this place I briefly glimpse is not Heaven, and I am not dead in my dream.

Rather, it is like transcendence past where we find ourselves now, into the next realm, if you will, or a realm which is there but we are blinded by our mundane existence and can’t see the forest for the trees.  It’s hard to explain and I often wondered if I was merely going crazy, which is more than possible! 

Still, the vivid reality and familiarity of it made me wake up feeling as if I had gone briefly to Heaven.

I have to wonder if there is some collective memory we humans have, or perhaps a brief sight of what we could be, and it manages to break through the humdrum of our daily existence.  They used to say the dreamers saw reality in a different light, and I wonder, since I am probably one of those dreamers, if that is what they mean. 

ColdWarBaby profile image

ColdWarBaby  says:
3 months ago

Careful Chef. People will start looking at you askance and whispering when they think you will not notice!

I am more inclined to think that what you are describing is a collective awareness, a subconscious knowledge of our true capabilities. The human race is in its infancy, the proverbial enfant terrible. It may not survive even through puberty let alone to adulthood.

Please continue to dream, which really means imagine. Imagine a world of people living in peace and tranquility sharing, without conflict, in the bounty of a rich and healthy planet. Imagine the amazing technology we have even now being used to benefit all people. Imagine great minds cooperating to reach out into the universe to any life that may be sharing the cosmos with us.

The first step in making anything real is imagining it to be so.

Thank you for reading and more for your comments. Even when not in full agreement they always add rather than diminish.

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