From time to time, we all resent & covet the luxuries of the ultra rich.
They are paraded in front of us in an endless feed of FOMO and envy-scrolling, in a bid to capture our attention and monetize our emotional currency.
But it makes me sad to think that the luxuries of my son’s generation will not be…
The the new “unaffordable luxuries” will be:
When you start thinking of these things as the “ultra luxuries” how would you rank your wealth now?
In a world of convenience, and virtual living,
money and success are the only goals deemed to be important.
We are kept in an endless ratrace for more money,
and we sacrifice ever more time in the pursuit of success.
But there’s a sense of control that can be found
in possessing the ability to fix your own problems
Pick up the practical skills we’ve lost,
that let you survive in the world were the cost of living is crushing us.
Self sufficiency is a free source of wealth and power
Everyday we are teased on social with FOMO for the lives we could have led.
Our culture would have us believe we can have it all.
We are permanently dissatisfied with where we are and what we have.
This paradox of choice didn’t exist just a generation ago.
You picked a career for life,
rewarded if your worked hard.
People had fewer options.
Options are good.
But only when you can take action.
Too many options leads to
paralysis and dissatisfaction.
Which = anxiety.
The answer is to learn to be happy with the life you already have.
yes, you could pivot into a new life.
But it doesn’t mean you should.
If the grass always looks greener on the other side…
tend your own grass before you jump the fence.
Add your own in the comments,
if you please…
What if all these companies laying off tens of thousands of employees replace them with AI bots?
What if the government is woefully unprepared to retrain or provide jobs for these people?
What if this leads to depression of wages?
What if the rising cost of living means it no longer pays off to have a fulltime job anymore?
What if this means we no longer have the disposable income to buy consumer goods and all the crap that we don’t need that keeps the economy afloat?
What if we shifted from consumerism to value long lasting products, community, quality and essentialism?
What if people are forced to combat the cost of living with supplementary self-sufficiency and community projects like self-growing, car sharing, offgrid living, self builds?
What if this means that instead of working for huge megacompanies, people start small micro or local businesses for a diversified multi stream “off grid” income?
What if AI bots leads to dead internet theory coming true, a collapse of trust on social media?
What if this meant a shift in digital marketing to focus on serving a small local or digital communities?
What of these businesses served and provided value in a much smaller community?
What if this value was exchanged through trade or cash?
What if this collapse of the consumer goods sector force government to rethink their tax and spending strategies to prioritize citizens instead of corporations?
What if we could use ai to relearn how to mend our own things, make our own things, create our things again?
What if it takes an ai revolution to make us realise that the truly important things happen offline?
The world is objectively the same for everyone, we all live in the same reality.
But we all experience it differently:
You only remember the things that you experience
and you can only know what you remember.
So your life is what you pay attention to.
If you spend your time scrolling alarmist news feeds and toxic social posts
You will find the world alarming and toxic.
If you spend your time building things, making meaningful connections, making time for fun,
you will find the world positive and joyful.
Which means it’s more important than ever to have positive discussions.
Is tribalism winning?
sometimes it feels like we’re heading for another dark age,
or like today’s society is one big echo chamber.
There are fewer fact-based opinions left to be found on anything much, political or otherwise.
Everyone seems afraid to voice their opinion,
for fear of being attacked
With both left and right-wing culture trending towards extreme viewpoints.
There’s no room for balanced, or refined viewpoints in the centre,
Only simple narratives with a clear story,
Hero and villain.
I’ve been trying to dive into why….
There’s no room for balanced, or refined viewpoints in the centre,
Only simple narratives with a clear story,
Hero and villain.
Extreme personalities like Trump are just artefacts of culture and extreme tribalism fueled by social media creating a biased reality.
The endgame is opposing viewpoints on any matter.
We are in a world of red Vs blue, worse, us Vs them.
But the real world is complex with complex opinions.
The loss of the “middle”, of the ability to reason, question and debate is the slow demise of free speech, which leads to restriction of thought through societal pressure.
In short, people should stop jumping to opinions because they read a 5s clickbait article, and practice saying
“don’t know” or even “don’t care”
My policy is to try not have an opinion unless it’s something I know about.
There’s so much fake news and clickbait out there, it’s easy to form an opinion based on nothing but bias and speculation, then dig yourself in by believing in something you you only see one side of through the prism of a social feed.
For me “I don’t know / care” applies to about 95% of most info I see during the day.
I think it’s because negative news has anymore emotional impact than positive because humans are biased to fear loss more than enjoy gains.
So social algos push negative threads, negative politics etc.
I’m hoping the next generation are more guarded and adjust & learn to modulate online behaviour to counteract the algo.
Otherwise I guess democratic society is doomed to a weird kind of hypercharged tribalism
For me, hearing opposing viewpoints is not about protection,
exposing myself to other opinions is the only way to stay open and aware.
If we view opposing opinions only as an opportunity to defend our own viewpoints then we’re already approaching someone with a closed mind, and lumping them into a “us Vs them” scenario where everything is polarised.
In that scenario attacking instead of discussing is it’s own form of pushing people into silence.
The internet seems to breed this form of “shout each other down” one sided arguments, instead of people actually soaking up new viewpoints or perspectives,
Which may have been possible in a face to face conversation
But we’re not morally obligated to voice those opinions.
I often come under attack for saying I don’t watch the news
I was once labelled as “privileged”
To the right,
your branded “a sympathizer”.
and to left “you’re privileged”.
That’s an easier narrative than considering that maybe,
just maybe,
it’s complicated.
Free speech must be allowed, even the speech we disagree with.
If I came across a racist I would simultaneously argue with them about racism,
Whilst simultaneously supporting their right to voice their distasteful opinions
These two viewpoints are not contradictory.
The issue I have with social fundamentalism (and this happens in both left and right ) is attempts to prevent or shut down open discussion.
Not all discussion about racism is racism
Not all those who disagree on fine points around transgender issues are transphobic
These are complex issues across spectrums of opinion on ethics, morality, politics etc.
But increasingly, to even ask questions around a “hot topic” is is taken as a sign of disagreement, and perceived as a declaration that you are vehemently against that viewpoint,
even if your overall stance is actually in agreement.
It’s the death of free speech.
“the rise of the right is the fault of the left” – Stephen Fry
You can watch the full video here
It very much feels like there’s a lot of topics where your just not allowed to have an opinion.
It’s never outwardly stated but there is an orthodox view which must not be challenged in any way.
Not just disagreement, but even discussion will bring a hellfire down on your head.
Do you feel safe to discuss things openly online?
I see a terrifying trend of speech control,
Masquerading as liberalism.
“Safe” means prevention of physical harm
Becomes
“Safe” means I don’t want to hear opinions that offend me
“Aggression” acting violent or threateningly
Becomes
“Aggression” things that offend me
“Privileged” has more than a fair share of advantages
Becomes
“Privileged” doesn’t support views I support
The only route to true liberalism or free speech is to
If we can’t discuss the nuances, without being attacked,
Then how can we define what is a reasonable viewpoint, and what is an extreme viewpoint?
Very quickly the more balanced viewpoints stop being heard entirely, because it’s just not worth it to argue with lower rung or extreme opinions.
And pretty soon all you hear are the extreme opinions shouting
So how can we have an adult conversation about it?
I think it’s important to have free and open speech as speech dictates thought.
but when even the most benign topics can lead to a polarised and heated debate in this “us Vs them” culture, It can be exhausting.
The world is objectively the same for everyone, we all live in the same reality.
But we all experience it differently:
You only remember the things that you experience
and you can only know what you remember.
So your life is what you pay attention to.
If you spend your time scrolling alarmist news feeds and toxic social posts
You will find the world alarming and toxic.
If you spend your time building things, making meaningful connections, making time for fun,
you will find the world positive and joyful.
Which means it’s more important than ever to have positive discussions.
I try to share honest opinions,
to be genuine
and to contribute to open debate whenever I can.
But often entering a conversation with a reasoned, nuanced or “middle” opinion
Will only earn you attack from both sides.
So sometimes it’s better just to keep my opinions to myself.
I ventured out from my mancave today to do a skip run.
Everywhere you see potholes in the road, houses are unkempt, projects started and abandoned.
It’s not just my neighbourhood.
I see the same thing every day online.
People are too numb from life admin.
Too worn down for persistence, resistance or insight.
Glued to Netflix and doom scrolling,
Too tired to resist the lure of addictive dopamine hits.
Blasted by endless onslaught of unhealthy options.
Who can fight that?
No-one has the will or ability to fight for life anymore.
The life is being sucked out of us by weapons of the addictive & seductive attention economy.
Resistance to this is futile.
The best minds in behavioural science are paid obscene amounts to manipulate our attention.
Our only weapon is control your attention.
Throw away your phone. At least for a few hours a day.
Your contact details will be private. The answer to your Question will be public so other solopreneurs learn from it.