We are the smartest idiots to ever walk the earth. While we marvel at the impending doom of artificial intelligence. I find myself leaning more towards it. But my leaning comes from an unbelievably low expectation of the human condition. And that expectation comes from centuries of both inexplicably poor and counterproductive decisions. Productive decisions, yes. Loads of production. But in many ways that are counter to actual humanity. And the condescending attitudes I see aimed at “developing countries”. ‘Developing’ by who’s standards? And why are they “struggling to develop”? Seems starkly obvious. That’s another blog. I notice many people in this psychopathic capitalist society consider themselves “better” than those who live simple, trivial lives. Tribal lives. Savages. Barbarians. Uncivilised, people say. Yeah, we sit within our central heating and paved roads. Slide and prod our fingers on pieces of glass to make people deliver our food for us. We consider the harmony of 90% of the population reasonable collateral while man babies fly to Mars. We ban psychedelic substances with centuries if not millennia worth of recorded healing properties but let people drink so much alcohol that they can’t remember where they’ve been. We don’t even pick our own music anymore. People talk about savagery then ask ‘Alexa’ to read their kids a bedtime story.
Thing is. If an asteroid hit the planet tomorrow. If, for whatever reason, it wiped out the internet. What do we do then? All of us really intelligent people who live in ‘civilised’ societies. How would we respond? The streets would be littered with directionless concern. People staring into their empty palms hoping for a blue arrow. People blankly staring at phone boxes. People inside phone boxes trying to spell names not dial numbers. Hospitals finished. Cars rattled. Chances are we’d descend rapidly. Thoughts lost in rubble. Searching for clean water in brick cities. And if we did, by chance, all meet a barbaric end. We can rest assured the “savages” would still be around to tell our story. Tribes holding onto ancient data. People of the bush and the forests. Intuitive believers in the land and sky. They’ll know how and where to eat. Survive. Sustain. A solid reminder that intelligence can be measured in a multitude of ways. And a lot of people aren’t smart - their phones are. Time to go outside.
Love your Substack’s Jordan - especially one everyday. I am reading with your voice in head also which helps. I resonate with this post so much as I’ve contemplated this for years. Having just sold all my stuff and moved across the globe with 20kg to my name. I see people everyday here in Asian culture, happy with their simple lives - although they are still obsessed with their phones. They don’t take it for granted and they are so much more peaceful and content with life. It’s a happy medium.
Hell yes.
The lens through which we see the world is so distorted.
Our view of “normal” is anything but.
Our mental health crisis is a totally understandable reaction to living in this environment where we’ve never been so disconnected from ourselves and each other.