Why we’re as crazy and confused as we’ve ever been
- Martyn Foster
- 24 hours ago
- 4 min read
“We’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.” – Cheshire Cat.
I have hope things will get better for us human beings, but I can’t help but feel that things will get worse before getting better. Is it a matter of history repeating itself? Yes, in some sense, as we’ve been plenty crazy and confused before across our time on this earth, but no in the case that I think we’re witnessing an accelerated change (warping?) in our species the like of which…the world has never seen the like of which.
Oh yes, I’m back, baby! Bringing you that same insightful pessimistic melancholy that you love me for haha (insert sarcasm here). It’s very easy to have a tragic and dire view of the world…just read the news, but I’m still, believe it or not, optimistic. Cautiously optimistic. Shaken and stirred. And even if you don’t have a catastrophic outlook of the past, present and future, you’ll quickly be found be someone who does and will be relentless in getting you to have one as well. This is why so many visit the liquor store because they always tell you, “great choice!”, with an upbeat attitude.
“We’re increasingly shown more mad and delusional things, is there no surprise why we’re struggling to determine up from down?”
Men and women seem at each other’s throats more than complementing one another as originally intended. Adam blames Eve, Eve blames Adam, but it’s really the Serpent putting a poisoned apple amongst the fruit platter. Relationships, and even marriages, are being view akin to consumable products rather than meaningful pursuits. This self-serving behaviour has furthered the notion of human disposability. It feels a growing number of people just want the wedding and not the marriage – with some even finding the wedding an inconvenience.
“No one wants to listen and understand one another. No one wants to care for one another. A lack of empathy, responsibility, humility and gratitude at the core of the disharmony.”
Allies have become hostile; enemies have become viewed more favourably. Wars continue to take their toll on humanity; economic, political, and those fought with actual weapons. The marginal keeps marching towards the centre; the more from the fringe, the more unstable the unity becomes. We need to do a better job of pulling people back from the margins rather than sending them there.
The fantasy to escape to a hut in the middle of nature somewhere and be free of civilisation is indulged by the masses, but carried out by the few. Primarily, because more people enjoy the fantasy (or idea) to the reality, and we can see this play out in numerous avenues of life.
With the relentless pursuit of optimisation, and placing efficiency and productivity above all else, we’re burned out and running on fumes…and then burned out again. The constant overstimulation has the human body screaming for stillness and rest, but the modern mind can’t handle the boredom and quiet. We can’t just sit out the back and get some sun by itself, we have to read something as well and listen to a podcast at the same time. We can’t just go to bed and sleep; we have to scroll our phones for an hour (or more) first and then have the TV on low while we fall asleep – stimulating your eyes and ears to the point that it’s counter to what you aim to do.
Artificial intelligence is furthering this efficiency and productivity mindset as we seek to do more and more with our time and resources. It’s almost like people want to shortcut the shortcuts now – how much are we truly understanding? How much of the essence which makes us human are we losing? There’s plenty of stories about man marvelling at the creation of his tools and technology turning out for the worse. A lot of this is evolving at a faster rate than we can comprehend what to do with it and, perhaps more importantly, the consequences. I hesitate to proclaim, “Skynet is coming!”, but many will be put out a job and left behind which will need to be factored in and not laid waste.
Social media and the internet more broadly have grown beyond the wildest dreams since their respective inceptions. As I mentioned earlier, we’re increasingly shown more mad and delusional things, which is turning us more senseless, irrational and chaotic. Although, most people will continue down the same road because they see so much other traffic heading the same way and it’s too difficult and too much effort to admit they’ve made a wrong turn and course correct. Thankfully, there are some people trying to do good work is this area, namely social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, with his research and international bestselling book, “The Anxious Generation”, doing its best to combat the myriad of mental (and associated physical) health problems as a result.
The ongoing erosion of trust and integrity in our media exacerbates the outrageous and obscure. This teamed together with political instability, inaction or wrong action further brings out the parasites that are sickening society. Failings of the both the private and public sectors have seen the ever-worsening housing and cost of living crises place an even higher pressure on the average person/family.
I don’t believe I’m making mountains out of molehills nor am I looking or inventing problems where there aren’t any. I think we’re struggling a lot with sense making and competing ideas of a truth-based world against a merely preferential one. Life isn’t as relative as the Sophists made it out to be. I’m pursuing truth and to be of service, and if my 250 or so articles on here aren’t evidence of that I don’t know what is.
It's good to be back.
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Martyn, it's interesting that Haidt seems hell bent on this crusade to eradicate social media from adolescence, and to some degree modern technology also, and while I see valid concerns for it I'm sceptical as to how he offers no criticism of the socioeconomic system that made a life online the cost effective option for the vast majority. It's ironic that he sold a book called "The Anxious Generation" to a generation anxious about their kids. Not saying there's no value there, but the only side who wins in a war are the salesman...