Are you a pessimist, realist, or conspiracy theorist?

If you hear anyone prattling on about illuminati, global banking cartels, or ‘the powers that be’ (TPTB), don’t immediately dismiss them as loons; see them for what they are… unabashed, doey-eyed, naïve, optimists.

You see, they’ve recognized the historical trends, seen the flaws in human society, and recoiled at the horrors of man’s inhumanity to man, and what they’ve done is put on their rose coloured glasses and attributed all the ills of the world to a faceless evil entity. Those with supernatural leanings will blame the devil, or malignant gods. But our friends who populate the internet's more interesting forums are way too practical for that.

So replace demons with a more flesh and blood cabal of sociopathic puppeteers, and in this way, they can go on seeing their friends, neighbours, and really anyone they encounter in real life, as good natured, altruistic examples of human goodness. Real life people who do wrong must have been mutated or corrupted by the evil system slash plan that TPTB have put into place.

Dig into a conversation with any conspiracy theorist or doomer, and you’ll find that they are really a utopian. They’re just waiting for the global catastrophe to wipe out the evil puppet masters, so the survivors (always including themselves) can start over in a lovely commune of sharing, environmentally sustainable, perfection. At least, it will be after they shoot anyone who doesn't agree.

The idea that both corporations and governments are made up of millions of moving parts (that's my polite euphemism for nasty, fallible, selfish humans), and billions of small decisions, which have a cumulitive effect over a long period of time., ...well, it's all too complex for some people to grasp.

150,000 years later

I wonder how the first homo sapiens to develop language said 'fuck it'. I'm sure they had a word or gesture.

After a long day of running from carnivors, tracking game, digging up edible roots, or maybe sharpening  sticks on a rock... did they sit around complaining about the lack of opportunity or that the cheiftan gets all the best chicks? I'm sure some of them just wished they could climb back up a tree and stay there.

A mere 6000 generations later, a lot of us still want to climb a tree and not come down. Or maybe just pitch a tent in a park.

After centuries of improvement, the gap between rich and poor is now getting worse. The complexities of our consumer driven economy and technology riddled society are enough to drive many around the bend from the intersection of progress and efficiency to the corner of despair and desperation. Financial crisis, overwhelming private and public debt, broken political systems, shifting power, resource depletion, climate change, ...where's my tree!

But actually, from where I sit, high atop mount Olympus, nothing has really changed. Not since Kronos ripped the nads of Uranus and set the worlds spinning. The only difference is in the concept with which mortals struggle mightily... context.

Words and worries may change, but over the 150,000 years of human history, the future has always been frought with danger... whether it's being eaten by a tiger, falling to a rampaging horde, plague, or economic destitution, the constant is uncertainty. The past has been overcome, the present is fleeting, and the future is a chaos of possibilities. Fuck it... or embrace the adventure.