Space travel, ongoing wars, drought, pandemic, melting polar caps, prison torture, authorized surveillance programs, bans on abortion, lack of medical care, wealth inequality…
The year is not 2199. The scenarios above are not sci-fi.
Though for some “visionaries,” “we are most likely in a simulation because we exist,” the current date of the Real World is 2021.
We are not living in a Matrix. Our Earth problems are real.
Just like the novel coronavirus! While for some “big minds,” “the pandemic is dumb,” statistics show that over four million people have lost their lives during the pandemic (as of June 2021). Were they dummies?
Many more have lost their jobs, with people’s combined earnings having decreased by almost $4 trillion during the pandemic; whereas billionaire wealth increased… by the same amount… during the same period.
The virus is not the only thing wrecking us. Maybe Musk “the Wise” was right, maybe we are just “a notch above a chimp”… Only in the US — where citizens account for over 46% of the global firearm held by civilians — gunfire kills more than 54 people a day. Conservative debates cannot argue with numbers.
But who cares about lost lives, right? We’ve had it all: children separated from their parents at camps, refugees drowning in the cold seas of the Mediterranean Sea, trafficked girls, extracted corneas, dog attacks, raped women, incarcerated youth, acid attacks, stabbing of immigrants, premature deaths from treatable illnesses, high pharmaceutical costs, aggressive driving, corruption… These real-life scenarios are way too negative for our defense mechanisms.
We prefer to cope by withdrawing in our virtual reality, where things are rosy. At least on Instagram! Maybe that’s why we spend over two hours a day on social media, as per surveys, laughing at cats and sharing pictures of our home offices. Who cares that our data is exposed? (With Essagne already dethroned, Snowden’s fear that “nothing will change” has come true.)
Too many hot topics… Or is it because the world temperature is 0.80°C (1.44°F) above the 20th-century average, as per recent data?… But who cares?
Among these Nostradamus-like apocalyptic scenarios, there is one topic that divides people the most. Billionaires! You either love or hate them.
While financial stability is crucial and self-made millionaires can be, in fact, great examples, it’s obvious that for many people being rich is a twisted goal. Just turn on the TV and “indulge in” singers throwing money at nameless booties (Kardashian-style, of course).
Which makes us think… when you have a few homes, paid security, tickled libido, proforma charities (giving only 5% of donations away), numerous assets, consistent income flowing in, what is the rest of the hoarding for? (Interestingly, psychologists give us some insights claiming that hoarding provides emotionally deprived individuals what they are missing in their lives.)
And think… When this wealth is made via tax evasion, abuse, manipulation, and hypocrisy, what is the purpose of the many zeros one keeps accumulating in their account? Then maybe Musk is right: “One in a million of evil is so evil people cannot even conceive of it.”
Now, when a well-known fact has been finally revealed (that billionaires find loopholes to avoid tax and save billions, while the ordinary folk can face charges for a simple mistake), experts keep talking about inadequate tax policies and tax havens like Ireland. But then again, we’ll stop talking about that.
Justice is like Godot, we are waiting for something that will never arrive. And moreover, people who admire billionaires may say that these leaks are a conspiracy, and their idols have big visions.
Of course, they do. Nobody denies billionaires can be creative, intelligent, and adaptive. When you don’t have to think about putting food on the table for your children, providing pain relief for your sick parents, or, for example, avoiding being charged with fetus death when somebody shots your unborn baby, it’s easy to have big dreams. We need their big dreams to advance, we always have! (And yet… Do they really? As Steve Jobs said about entrepreneurs, “We have always been shameless about stealing great ideas.”)
It’s natural! Scientific progress is based on the accumulation of data, interoperability, and knowledge transfer. And we should be thankful that science is advancing! It’s understandable that Musk didn’t start his big companies from scratch; he had the money to buy and develop them. At the same time, it’s sad that many unsung heroes who have contributed to science and space exploration, in particular, will be left in the dark. Scientists, doctors, engineers, mechanics, people who instead of tweeting are actually doing science! (Like the unknown team of scientists exploring new strains of space bacteria to promote agriculture in stressful environments!)
But it’s not even about stealing ideas. We are living in a world flooded with lookalike sites, Photoshopped lookalike pictures, lookalike attire. We copy and paste, sometimes literally, sometimes ideologically.
It’s about hypocrisy and deteriorating morality. Take Musk, for example: accusing governments while getting billions in subsidies; firing people while trying to save humankind; talking about the environment while powering cars with lithium. Or Bezos: forcing workers to pee in bottles while preaching for success; setting bad examples for other executives to start treating their employees the same way. Or Zuckerberg: abusing data while promoting racial justice on paper; allowing disinformation to spread while preaching about people’s well-being. Naïve, true! But the year is 2021 — our ethics should have evolved parallel to our technology.
It’s not jealousy what we, who don’t admire certain billionaires, hold. Of course, we would love to vacation in space or “simply” sail the world. It’s not about the money. Nobody can force people to give away their money; it’s not right, and maybe it won’t solve our problems. It’s about following the principles of humanity while shooting for the stars; principles that should be valued even on Mars. It’s about showing some responsibility, dignity, and humanity here, on Mother Earth.
If not, who needs reusable launch systems? Wouldn’t it be better to stay in space! There, hypocrisy (and eccentric baby names) won’t seem extraterrestrial.
