Things CAN be Better

It's 2025, and I like to remember that things can always get better. Of course they can get worse, and they are, but it's almost impossible that even a small group of people, even one person can't make the things around them a little better. That's part of what makes a civilization.

Humans, and lot's of other animals, even single cell organisms and plants, can change their environment and make it better. This word has been ruined by the european empires but, a single cell, a group of cells, plants and animals do colonize their environment, they make it easier for others like them to thrive, and sometimes even intentionally makes live better or possible for other things, unlike european colonialism (unless you are a virus, a cockroach or a rat). Everywhere humans go, they "terraform" the environment, of course we can't make Terra more Terra-like, but we do make areas we settle more comfortable and easier to exist on for ourselves by building shelters, by destroying forests to open areas for farming, changing river courses for flood control and irrigation, building bridges, things people around the world have been doing for many thousands of years.

Of course there are limits, a single person can change the course of a river or history, but ofter it takes a long time to get big things to move. You can't individually solve a problem where you are battling the efforts of the overwhelming majority of people or the laws of thermodynamics, but you can influence a few other people, you can dig the foundation of house or plant the first seeds.

There's a beauty in this universe. We exist, we know we exist in it and we can have an effect in it. Our brains and our best methods of understanding the world around us (Science) have allowed us to come up with tricks and pass them down so they can be useful to others and improved upon, until we can use animals, plants, fungi, some weather prediction and food storage methods to avoid starving all year long or spending all the time worrying about it. We can plan and accomplish goals, like many other animals, but we can, like just a few others, build complex systems to help us in every step. One aspect of society is how to keep at least the people that particular society values enough from going hungry or being in need. Not only the people on the very top but the people that are considered necessary to keep the society from collapsing are usually guaranteed all the benefits that society can bring to its members. But the vast majority of people while contributing to the wealth of their society and of the people extracting rent from that society, are not all needed to make sure whoever is on the top never have to worry very much about anything. They are the people that can be wasted, a concept only few human societies can afford to have.

Am I saying that you and me are disposable? Definitely not for the people who can exploit us as they exploit us, but when an entire population must pay you for the benefit of existing and enjoying some of what society can provide, we become extremely disposable as an individue. But we have the numbers, we have very little power through the current system in most countries but we are many.

There was a time everyone knew life could only keep getting better, safer work, plentiful work, easier and healthier lives thanks to Science and the growing enlightenment of our great leaders. Soon everyone would be able to afford it, just work hard and you too will have access to automation, all home comforts powered by electricity and technology, and unending leisure time. Nobody really believes that anymore, life is what you get and you really lucky your next job might pay you enough to save some money to survive the next economic collapse. It doesn't have to be this way.

I believe my point is that despite of how things are right now and how we have to live right now to survive, that those promises still are there, most are feasible even on a quickly warming planet. We might even benefit from giving everyone a decent life by cutting all the uncounted waste and bureaucracy created by the current system. We even got some of those things now, even if the next step in their development is to be used against us one way or another.

The most powerful empire is collapsing as you read this, now is a time of uncertainty and fear of what its last desperate actions might be, but is also a time we could and should be dreaming of what is possible and how we might try to rebuild how we exist as a planetary species. Things can be better but we must create the means for that.