As Smallsteps and I were walking through the supermarket, a flashing screen caught her eye for one of the several lottery draw amounts. She asked about it and we discussed where the money comes from and how people are very unlikely to win. Tonight we were walking past again and she checked the amount flashing of 40 million dollars and she said "imagine winning that..." So I asked what she would do with it and she said she'd be happy, but didn't really have an idea, so she asked what I would do.
I would get a bag of cash and take it around to all the people who hate me and say "Ha!"
You can't do that daddy, that is teasing.
And while she knew I was joking, she also added that she thinks it would be unsafe to carry around so much money in the car. Good thinking 99. Winning the lottery will never happen for me though.
Never say never.
But the lottery isn't what I wanted to write about here, it is the "never say never" statement, because it is both true and untrue simultaneously. Never is the same as forever, we can't really comprehend either of them. Because while we can say "never" with some certainty, it could be that under the right conditions, something could actually happen, whether it is likely now or not. The universe might make it possible in the future, so even if none of us are around to see it, never arrived.
A lot of what I write about is theoretical, hypothetical, or just an opinion. Everyone has an opinion on everything, but that doesn't mean it is based on theory or even a valid hypothesis, as an opinion can be fully uninformed. Still, even the strangest theories predictions might happen one day, if the stars align.
Yet, what I have often found over the years is that when I put a possibility out there, people will make some kind of assumption that I believe that this is the way it is going to go. For a common instance, the scenario where the rest of the world isolates the US from the global economy rather than kowtowing to the whims and fancies of the US government in the hope for continued or increased access to the US market, or less punishment. This should happen, but do I think it will happen?
Unlikely anytime too soon.
This is not because it couldn't happen, but the people who would be required to make the decisions for it to come about, are not going to make those decisions and probably never will. But, people die, culture changes, attitudes shift. So the potential is there for it to happen, and with the speed at which technology is advancing and how people are being influenced, it could happen far more rapidly than many would suspect. Look at how AI, which has been in the pipeline for decades, is "suddenly" making an impact on people's everyday lives.
The rate of change for almost everything physical has been supercharged and is still accelerating. And when it comes to empires, their lifespan is decreasing rapidly. Ancient Egyptian civilisation lasted 3000 years, the Roman empire 1200, Byzantine 1100, British 400, and we could say that the US is somewhat of an empire since the end of World War 2 - but for how long?
For most people, it doesn't matter if it is going to outlast their life experience. That means for most middle-aged people today, they are pretty agnostic past the next few decades. And if we look back the last few decades, that indicates that there will be more of the same.
But that isn't necessarily the case.
Look at obesity, where half a century it was almost non-existent anywhere on earth, and now it is so ubiquitous is considered an epidemic by health professionals, and "fashionable" by those who don't want to take responsibility for themselves. And look at the internet and how quickly it has come from release to the public as a way to lower the barrier to information globally, to the point that the information can't be trusted, people are addicted to scrolling and are getting married to AI chatbots - Thirty years from public release to severe social retardation.
It can happen.
I can't predict what the catalyst is, I can only hypothesise. But a whole range of future conditions could happen if the right pieces align at the right time. I am not saying it will, but what if "someone like me" discovered the secret to clean, cheap energy and rather than profiting from it, made sure it was available to everyone freely. What would the world look like if energy wasn't something to hoard and fight over? What would happen to the current power structures built on energy trading?
Pie in the sky....
You never know.
If something like that happened, pretty much all the stability that people feel in the status quo is disrupted, and the current power structures that are essentially energy routers for profit, collapse. Or could collapse if people decide it. Because "we the people" actually hold all the power to change anything and everything in the economy, we just don't wield it well, because we are so disorganised, disinterested, and seeking convenience. As much as we might complain about the way things are, we are happy that they are familiar and not much is expected of us.
All we need do to fit in, is consume.
But if we consume differently everything changes, because supply is driven by demand, so demand different, and supply shifts. If it doesn't shift, profits sink, and that is not how corporations operate. If people demand an end to child labour, it will happen, because those who use it will have no clientele and will lose money. If people demand an end to corporate tax loopholes, it ends or the companies using it will again - have no clientele.
But it is too inconvenient to change our demands.
So it is unlikely to happen, but it could happen if we choose to make the change in ourselves. But, since we hate change and the corporations and the governments know it, they will keep manipulating the system for their benefits at the expense of us, and we will keep asking them for change, like the beggars we are. They needn't change though, because they are getting just what they want. If we want change, we are the ones who are going to have to *demand it, and that demand isn't in what or how we ask, but in how we spend our time, money and attention.
So as I see it, the people who think that it can't happen only believe it because their experience tells them that it won't happen. Human nature is what it is, and it is predictable. However, things can change and they will change at a rapid pace from now on, but I predict that it isn't going to be for the better, because we as a global society, don't want to do the work to be better ourselves as individuals.
Humanity could be a set of conditions where we thrive as a peaceful species, full of opportunity, beauty, fulfilment and love.
But it will never happen.
Taraz
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I think for me it feels more like it could happen because we have a front row seat to how unhinged that man is. It's one of those I don't like that you are doing this, but I also don't blame you sort of things.
If the rest of the world stops "making deals" and starts taking responsibility to build wellbeing - everything changes.
Be fine as long as it wasn't in sacks with giant dollar signs on them and if you didn't act like you were carrying something extremely valuable XD
Very commonsensical of her otherwise.
When most people seem to want social proof before ever considering the possibility of forming a coherent thought things are going to move pretty glacially.
Oh it would be! Full Scrooge McDuck!
100%
Bahahahahahhaaa XD But obviously just "snow angels" in the notes coz swimming in the coins looks like it would be really painful XD
Sorry, energy can never be free, not in this world of ours. Ask Nikola Tesla.
Our leaders are much too greedy to let that happen. They're dialed in to making as much profit as possible, with minimal effort, and even if it brings untold woes to the people whose well-being they claim to be responsible for.
Much of the mess our world is in now is coming from the top, from the leaders. If the top were purged, the society would become undoubtedly better. But how do we begin to do that?
I have come to realize that all it takes sometimes, is someone with an extraordinary, even crazy vision to make the world a better, safer place, who possess the resolve and the means to materialize his plans. I haven't seen one like that yet, maybe they are still in hiding and will be revealed to the world soon.
One thing I'm certain of: Something monumental will happen to the human race before we reach the end. I begining to believe that event will better humankind in ways we have never even imagined. This is not plain dumb hope, I've seen things, I've read and listened. But I won't tell. Not now.
Different times, different conditions. However, it is unlikely.
Unfortunately, the same way as in the past. Violence. The other way is to just stop supporting - but again, people love to hate the status quo so much, they keep it.
It is possible. It is either all, or nothing.
Well, I think the world has constantly been changing, and what seems impossible today might just be a reality and accessible tomorrow.
It wasn't that long ago it was nearly impossible to travel across oceans.
I think American empire is just getting started and Byzantene was Eastern Roman Empire, so an argument can be made that Byzantene was the same Roman Empire.
That may happen but only if the US doesn't eat itself up first. I have some quaint idea the great American Republic might get divided along political lines, Dems and Republicans on either side, and that the desire for secession might accompany these events which might most likely lead to a civil war. Exactly just like when Abe Lincoln was president.
Obama was in my opinion a better president than Donald Trump and these sorry events could not have happened under his watch.
Civil war is a possibility. At least a lot of civil violence is on the cards.
I think you watched one movie too many ;) Civil war is extremely unlikely.
Civil war like in the past maybe, but civil unrest until it is akin a war, maybe becoming more likely.
Not so sure about that. I would suggest that before it got very far, WW3 with at least China would put an end to life.
That is probably the most likely scenario of the fall of American empire in the next fifty years, but I don't think there will be a war in that time frame that would put an end to life on Earth.
I guess that soon we could each have some personal assistant program that could, if we instruct it so, continue triggering the lottery on our behalf even after we're gone from this world... Or the Stone Gargoyls mining on our SL properties... those require us to claim... but think we do have or had at some point in time some scripted processes that emulated lotteries here on Hive.
Just musing on that continuation-of-personal-luck-even-after-death part of the never statement.
I wonder if it is legal to buy perpetually and have it go to the estate? :D
I sometimes bought lottery tickets when I was in school, but the winnings were small. But at the autumn agricultural fairs, I won big prizes. I bought a ticket for half a dollar and won a piglet one year and a nutria the next. When I brought bags of these animals home (I was 14 years old), my family was a little puzzled :)
A nutria? Is that legal? :D
Yes, they are raised on farms, just like pigs.
Permission to comment, the writing is great and flows naturally. Lottery is indeed a tempting thing if we get a large amount of money. And maybe everyone can win the Lottery if nature has determined the person, the right time, of course there are business steps such as buying something related to the Lottery. My experience once received a prize in the form of a mountain bike, the effort was to participate in a healthy walk by getting a coupon. Later the coupon Will be chosen randomly.
The tipic of greed. Sometimes we get caught up on choosing leaders, during the campaign it's like people selling drugs by making light promises..this..when they become leaders, they usually forget their promises. What happens is that greed enriches themselves and ultimately the people suffer during their term as leaders. Finally wealth, power, and fame can be a source of happiness, but can also be a cause of suffering. Thank you.
HA! look at all my money! :P
and FU money.. I had a guy who was like my leader in this company thing I did back in college days.. he said u want FU money.. so if/when anyone tells u what to do.. u can just tell them FU, I don't need ur SH!#!
ur talk on power made me think of Tony stark.. he never shared his power, but probably good cuz the crooks would find a way to corrupt it and it might cause even more problems that i cant even think of..
Yes, the problem is we see things through our own very limited realm of experience. I don't mind if the whole world is rearranged - I mean, I didn't think we'd see it in our lifetime Taraz but then we didn't anticipate AI being this good this soon. As long as nuclear war is so unlikely that it's as unlikely as me winning Ozlotto having not bought a ticket.
I have never really been one for lottery tickets. The odds are just so insane, I guess I never really saw much use in it. However, I have recently considered getting myself one every so often. You never know.
forty million would change routines fast, even if she’s not sure how
Thanks :)