Less Tech, only Doomsday.

“How do I maintain authority over my security force after the event?” The event. That was their euphemism for the environmental collapse, social unrest, nuclear explosion, solar storm, unstoppable virus, or malicious computer hack that takes everything down.

The way to get your guards to exhibit loyalty in the future was to treat them like friends right now, I explained. Don’t just invest in ammo and electric fences, invest in people and relationships. They rolled their eyes at what must have sounded to them like hippy philosophy.

These people once showered the world with madly optimistic business plans for how technology might benefit human society. Now they’ve reduced technological progress to a video game that one of them wins by finding the escape hatch.

These quotes have been taken from the Guardian in an article titled "The super-rich ‘preppers’ planning to save themselves from the apocalypse". It was from 2022, and made my radar then, but I was reminded when I saw Washington Post issued a similar article yesterday, (it's paywalled I haven't read it) Fearful of crime, the tech elite transform their homes into military bunkers.

This is the reality of the cave we find ourselves in today. The shadows casting on the walls do not reflect the true nature of reality. The games we play, the very numerous and uncountable games we play. They all come together and make up life, but what does it mean for one another when people want to remove themselves from society? Remove themselves with militias to protect their capital? If we all did that, then society would collapse immediately. We are a social species, and we need society to be our best. We need to work together because we can't make everything ourselves. In simpler times we could survive, and you could easily reject modern niceties if you wanted to. You could build a log cabin in the woods, and live off the land. It'd likely be illegal or you'd need a bunch of capital to begin with to do so today; but simpler lives can be had as experienced by our forefathers.

I personally know I'm standing on the shoulders of giants. I know if I were to try and live off the land it'd be a failed experiment. And sometimes being on the shoulders of giants gives one vertigo, we're up so high, higher than any of our ancestors could've imagined. Maybe even more than the average citizen realizes. I've mentioned I have privilege, and yes. I have running water, working roads, safe streets, access to foods, social safety nets, medical treatment, loving family, some cool friends, etc, etc. These things do not mean anything if I had to provide them all myself. I'd probably be twice my age before I have all these things, if I could even get them by myself.

But when you're born into life and if you know nothing but plenty, it's easy to disregard the amount of suffering that was needed for someone to say "let's not let our children or our children's children go hungry" so we created a social safety net. We're a web, a societal web of interconnected individuals that must work in our own best interest while understanding that others offer stuff we need as well. We need to understand that no one is "self-made", it's a fallacy. It's a lie we've been told, thinking if we work hard or long enough and throw enough people under the bus, we can rise above all others and be an elite. It's a game we can never win, and if you do win you likely had a million dollars in your corner before you started that journey.

So nothing updated today, just a thought for you to go about your day to ponder and share. This is just a glimmer into what I mean by I'm scared of us devolving into techno-feudalism. We'll all have to find our oligarch to rally around, and hope they can protect us and provide us food. Madmax might be a good idea what to expect, but I'm not a seer. It could be many of us go on with our lives, I'm thinking North American societies, but we're rather isolated from many neighbours looking to get into our countries. We will go to work, while pockets of the planet go thirsty and without. I really don't want this to be a reality for our species, and why I implore you to spread this messaging around. It might not be for you today, it might not be for your friend today. But if this information is useful, it's better to cultivate it when we're in a calm time. If we find ourselves in this Madmax position, it'll be too late to have the discussion and will be infinitely harder to get back to what we understand as modern society. That's why I'll say again, please share this messaging far and wide to help create a group of similar concerned citizens to help catch parts of society should we find ourselves in some sort of precarious situation.

Isaac