The Ageless and The Useless, page-5

Very nice essay. Thank you for bringing it to our attention.

It's such an extraordinary age. My background is photography, marketing, graphic arts. I watched technology decimate firstly compositors, then graphic reproducers, then photographers until many aspects of the printing industry became no more than cottage industries. Thousands lost their careers and found other employment because their's was one of the first industries to feel the effects and thus the system could cope. I prepared for it for some time and retired at 53 some 10 years back. There was a great watershed in the banking industry as well at that time and it stands to reason that redundancies via technology will eventually reach a critical mass that will not and can not be absorbed into the system.

The couple of precent on the top of the pile will no doubt have unimaginable wealth and provide employment for guards in their gated communities. If we look back on most ancient societies we see they lived in heavily fortified communities and took extraordinary lengths to protect themselves from marauding bands. Just see what happened on Easter Island. It is a very sobering insight into just how rapid a steep social decline can be.

One feels that there is an inevitable cataclysm in our collective stars. Be it via degradation of the natural world or social disintegration because of situations outlined in that essay. Our disenfranchised masses make it just about impossible to save our forests, or rivers, wildlife and drinking water even with the best intentions.

Eventually the social security system will fail and the tax system will be utterly inadequate. A system not dissimilar to that envisaged in the book 1984 is very possible. The teaming masses will be left to fend as best they can and gated communities will cater for the fortunate, if that's the right word.

As for the need of a new religion and the emergence of pseudo-religions, well, if the one true religion was with us today then the generality of humankind would not be able to recognise it if they saw it. People are so distracted by puerile entertainment, reality TV, drugs and alcohol, themselves and the fantasy lives of nobodies like the Kardashians, etc.

There's a lot of very good people in the world but there's just not enough collective good will to slow the juggernaut. Our political systems are also an old world anachronism. They are so out of touch with the needs of this age. In this upcoming state election I heard one of the protagonists talking about being ready for the fight. Really, it's a fight is it? They might be better served finding ways to coexist and consult on common ground rather than preparing for a sporting contest.