Another day of being mentally stable. Haven’t had any kind of breakdown in over three months. It helps that I avoid stressful people and conflict as much as possible. Do most of my socializing online these days. It’s just easier to type what I’m thinking than just verbalize it. My illness makes me pick up on subtle cues very easily. I often pick up conflicting cues. Makes it really tough to read people, especially in person.
Since many of my in-person experiences have been quite negative over the years, the default is that when someone goes out of their way to see me, I assume I’m in trouble. My family thinks it’s tragic that I always assume the worst when people come to see me in person. It’s even worse when I am summoned into an authority figure’s office on their terms. I’m keenly aware of power dynamics to the point it’s crippling.
Staying up late most nights the last several weeks. Get my best sleep in the late mornings. I sleep half of the time in my recliner and the other half in my bed. Seems to be easier on my back that way.
Pain
My joint pain is completely gone. Has been for a couple weeks now. My routine for joint pain involves Tylenol, Turmeric, Glucosamine Chondroitin, and Hemp Oil. My pains are in check enough that I am now working on strengthen my heart again. When I was in long term care this time a year ago, I was doing physical rehab three times a week at minimum. Sure, the knees hurt some, but once I convinced my doctor to put me on regular Tylenol every day, the pain cleared up enough for me to get through the rehab.
Physical Health
I always enjoyed lifting weights, so I often went into the rehab room to lift on days I wasn’t scheduled for rehab. I even lifted on weekends as the rehab staff was kind enough to leave one part of the rehab room unlocked on the weekends and holidays for those who were really dedicated to getting better. We even had a couple 90-year-old residents who were retired farmers in my facility who did rehab just to keep moving.
Blood Pressure
My blood pressure is still good. I check myself once a week. Still retaining water, mostly in my groin area. But with some extra water pills, the swelling has gone down considerably in the last few days. The water retention is due to congestive heart failure. Once I had water retention bad enough, I was able to lose like 30 pounds just off water loss in only two weeks. Wasn’t enjoyable having to urinate many times a day, but the mobility drastically improved at the end of those two weeks.
Housing Situation
Still on the waiting list for Oklahoma City Housing Authority for once a handicap accessible apartment becomes available. It’s best for me and my family I do move out on my own once a place becomes available.
Interpersonal Relations
My parents and I are definitely set on our ways and have different priorities and schedules. In many ways I’m the opposite of most of my family. We still support each other. They have owned up to past mistakes and are making amends. Life’s too short to be holding grudges forever. I’ve made my peace with my past.
It’s been almost two weeks since I had any pain while walking or standing. I don’t need a wheelchair or a walker to get anywhere in the house anymore. I still like to keep my hands free as much as possible in case I have to brace on a wall or sturdy piece of furniture. I don’t even have back pain after lying in bed for five hours. I’m now onto strengthen my heart. I can get in and out of cars easily. I need the wheelchair only if I have to go long distances in public. I still breathe kind of hard after standing for a few minutes. Even that is getting easier. I still get short of breath, but the recovery times are improving every few days.
Still working on getting rid of the excess water retention. Been taking an over-the-counter diuretic for a few days. The problem is mostly solved now. Should be completely cleared within a few more days. It’s so much easier to move and walk now that I’m not carrying excess water. I’ve also forced myself to limit my fluid intakes for several days.
Finally got over my cold. It had been hanging on since Thanksgiving. I usually get one bad cold every year in late November or early December. I don’t have any doctors’ appointments until after Christmas.
I had forgotten how good it feels to walk without knee or back pain. First time since 2019 I haven’t had to deal with either. Now I’m onto getting my heart healthy again. I think I’m also losing weight again. I usually go more by how my clothes fit and how easily I can accomplish things as opposed to checking numbers on a scale every few days.
I’ve been here in Oklahoma for ten months. The only thing I haven’t accomplished yet is getting my own apartment. I’m on the waiting lists for several places in the OKC metro area. I’ve already been approved for the program; they are just waiting for a handicap accessible apartment to come open. After living with family for ten months after being on my own for over 18 years, I’m ready to move onto the next chapter of my life. My recovery from heart failure has gone better and faster than I thought it would when I started this back in May 2022.
My knee and back pains are completely gone. Have been for over a week now. I had forgotten what it was like to walk without pain. I’m now in the process of getting my heart stronger. Still have shortness of breath after standing for a few minutes. Can tell my walking distance is getting a little longer with each passing day. Don’t use a walker in my house, but usually still keep at least one of my hands free in case I need to brace on a wall. I don’t need my wheelchair anymore except for when I go out in public and have to travel long distances.
Getting in and out of cars and vans is easy now. I still haven’t tried the step up into a pickup truck yet. But I really don’t see why it would be much of a problem. My water retention has gone down drastically in the last few days. Have to take some over the counter diuretic but it’s doing the trick. I can walk a lot easier now.
Sleep Patterns and Mental Health
Most nights I’m up all night except for a couple hours sleep sessions twice a night. Get most of my best sleep in the late mornings now. I’ve found that my sleep patterns change with the seasons. I usually am the most anxious and depressed in the summers. I’m usually my happiest in the spring. Usually write my best material in the fall and winter. So there is a seasonal aspect to my mental health. Even as a student I did better academically in the spring than the autumn.
Haven’t had problems with mental health in several months. It helps that I go out of my way to avoid stressful people and situations. People in general and in person are far more stressful to me than most. Being alone for days at a time doesn’t bother me. Actually, prefer socializing over the phone or online as opposed to in person. I certainly don’t like being out in public with large numbers of people.
Won’t be going to any big Christmas celebrations this year. My parents are hosting one at our house where it will be just the three of us and my brother, his wife, and their four kids. I usually prefer to host guests for holiday gatherings anymore. I still avoid family gatherings. Have for several years now. The last several years of crisis after crisis has taught whom I can and can’t trust. Sadly, I’ve found I can trust complete strangers more than I can some family members I’ve known my entire life. That really sours a lot of things for me.
Thinking About Getting Back Out on My Own
After living in the guest wing of my parents’ house for ten months, I’m so ready to have my own place again. While I probably would be safer here in the suburbs, there is no way I can afford to live here on just a disability pension. I really don’t need the space of an entire house anyway. I could easily get away with a studio apartment if I didn’t have to navigate stairs and could avoid my neighbors all the time.
An ideal place would be exactly what I had back in Nebraska for 16 years but on ground floor and without nosy neighbors. I’m at the point in my life where I’ve come to the conclusion, I’m not going to please most people, so I just avoid them as much as possible. Out of sight, out of mind I suppose. I don’t care if I please anyone. I just don’t want to hear about anymore. Far too many people can’t be pleased no matter what. Being a people pleaser is a fool’s errand.
Diet and Weight Loss
I’m feel like I’ve been losing weight for the last several weeks. Originally lost 170 pounds between January 2020 and February 2023. Gained 20 pounds back in the first three months here in Oklahoma. Changed my diet after that. I gave up bread, most sugars, most carbs, cut back on portion size, stopped snacking between meals, etc.
While I buy my share of the family food, I have found it easier to do portion controls if I have either my mom or dad make my meals instead of myself. While I am perfectly capable of handling myself in the kitchen, even with a wheelchair, I found I eat less if I have someone else handing out the portions. Still order delivery pizza two to three times per month as my only splurge.
For the most part I keep to myself. I do chat with my parents usually a couple times per day. But I make it a point to not bother them much. I’ve found I do a lot better when I’m not expected to socialize all the time. Don’t watch for tv, so I usually retreat to my office and my writings when my parents want to watch a few westerns or binge watch a few shows on Netflix.
Conclusions
Overall things have been going very well since the end of summer. Once a handicap accessible apartment becomes available, everything I sought to accomplish since I started physical rehab and medical treatments for heart failure back in May 2022 will have been accomplished. I just didn’t think I would be as far along as I am now a year and a half ago.
Supporting someone with schizophrenia can be challenging, but also rewarding. You can help your loved one by being compassionate, understanding, and encouraging. Here are some tips on how to support someone with schizophrenia, based on the web search results:
Make a crisis plan with them, in case they have a relapse or a psychotic episode. Know the signs of worsening symptoms, and how to contact their doctor, therapist, or emergency services. Have a list of medications, dosages, and allergies handy12.
Look after your own needs and well-being. Caring for someone with schizophrenia can be stressful and exhausting, so make sure you have a support network of your own. Seek professional help if you feel overwhelmed or depressed. Take time to relax and do things you enjoy123.
You can find more information and advice on how to help someone with schizophrenia from these sources:
Saw my general practitioner a few days ago. My blood pressure is stable and good. Everything else seems to be going alright. School started here in Oklahoma City last week. My parents will probably be going to school activities again once the weather cools down. With as hot as it’s been the last several days, it’s hard to believe that autumn is only a few weeks away. First college football games start next week. I guess I’ve lost interest in most sports besides the Olympics and World Cup. My interests have changed as I aged.
Haven’t had much contact with most of my friends all summer. Seems like most of them are going through midlife crises and are very angry and upset all the time. I’m grateful I went through my worst trials in my twenties. I don’t think I could start over at this point in my life, certainly not while fighting schizophrenia and heart failure. I still get depressed and despondent a few times per week. I definitely don’t like socializing in person. Most people are too obnoxious, rude, and angry anymore. My parents went to visit my brother and his family a few days ago. I made the point of not going to see them. I just hate socializing with people who refuse to back down and try to make everything a battle. I have enough inner battles of my own.
My best friend is suffering really bad right now. She’s always depressed and irritated. Has been for a couple of years. But this is worse than normal. I reach out to her when she goes on about no one reaching out, but she goes almost silent when I do try to get her to open up. It’s depressing to watch my friend of 30 years on the downward spiral. I try to tell her family that this isn’t normal. Naturally, no one is listening. It has always angered me when people ignore obvious facts. I never understood the line of thinking that a problem will go away if it’s ignored long enough. I swear, no one learns from the mistakes of the past or even their own. It’s really aggravating. It’s like some people want to self-destruct.
I sleep a lot in the afternoons lately. Helps me to avoid the worst of this summer heat wave. We knew climate change was coming for decades. We didn’t do enough to prevent it, let alone adapt to it. I am encouraged that renewables and next generation nuclear is being rapidly adopted. It still angers me that my nation pulled out of the Paris Climate Accord.
It also angers me that many of my countrymen (including most of my family) actively fight against the rebuilding and reinforcing of our nation’s infrastructure. I get that maintaining water systems, power plants, and highways aren’t as sexy as spending taxpayer money on defense and advanced research, but seriously, who doesn’t need clean running water or highway bridges that won’t collapse. We in the US have known our roads, railways, power grids, etc. weren’t keeping up with demand for many years. Only now are we truly addressing it. We’re also starting to bring back much of our manufacturing (granted it’s primarily done by machines). Interest rates are finally going back up, which they were artificially low for at least 20 years. I heard people complain about low interest rates. And now those same people are complaining about rates going up. Make up your minds already.
This level of insanity and cognitive dissonance are two big reasons I refuse to attend social functions anymore. It’s absolutely painful to listen to people howl on about things they know nothing about. I know nothing about quantum physics or marathon running, but I won’t comment on either one. Neurotypical people are absolutely frustrating. They aren’t even worth the trouble anymore, at least not as far as I can tell.
It’s one of the reasons I’m actually kind of glad a new place hasn’t opened up for me. At least here in the suburbs I don’t have to socialize if I don’t want to. At least I have some privacy, even if I do live in my mom’s guest room. Yes, I am a 43-year-old schizophrenic man living with his mom and dad. Never mind that I lived on my own with this diagnosis for over 18 years. I should be ashamed to live with my parents because so many people tell me I should be. But I’m not. Most people have zero clue with mental illness means. It’s one of those things no one will understand until it affects them personally or someone they care about. But cases of mental health problems are increasing. And they will continue to increase until we stop shaming people for the so-called weakness. I am glad that mental illness is easier to talk about publicly now than 20 years ago. I just hope the younger people struggling with mental health problems don’t have to suffer alone like I did in my teens and twenties. It is not weak to talk about problems. Never has been.
In some ways I’m not really looking forward to moving out on my own again. It’s actually nice to have some help around the house now that my mobility is gone. Not having easy access to interpersonal assistance is the biggest regret I have about not getting married. Yet, the mental illness would probably have made me impossible to live with. That, and I think people give up on marriages, friendships, employees, jobs, etc. too easily anymore. I just didn’t trust anyone enough to believe they wouldn’t abandon me when things got bad. I never will trust anyone enough to believe they won’t abandon me when things get tough. Everything is conditional and negotiable as far as I’ve seen. That’s pretty much the story of civilization. Nothing lasts forever. Sadly, neither do friendships and marriages. And I certainly don’t trust my neighbors anymore. I’m really not looking forward to returning to public life.
If I had my way, I’d just stay in my parents’ house and take over after they die. I know social security disability will allow disabled people to own their own house. But I’m not sure I could afford the property taxes in the suburbs. There are lots of Uber drivers and public transit available even in the suburbs. My brother and his family probably aren’t moving, barring anything major. Electricity is quite cheap down here, probably be even more so if we got solar panels and backup batteries installed on the house. Some of my neighbors have those. Every time I go out on the town, I see at least one Tesla. It feels good to finally live somewhere that seems to actually want to be part of the 21st century. I’m loving it. Wished I would have moved here years ago.
Yesterday I got a notification from the city housing authority. They had me fill out an intake certification with a specific apartment complex. Looks like I’m one step closer to having my own place again. I received that notice yesterday morning and had it filled out shortly after. I feel like I’m getting my life back. If this pan out, it will be the first time in my life I will live in an urban area. Hopefully I can get involved in some interesting social activities. I’ve always enjoyed culture, art, literature, music, and history. Been a really long time since I got to socialize with people whom have similar interests, at least in person.
Updates are in order. I’m still on the waiting list for low-income housing in Oklahoma City. The housing authority is actively seeking a place that is wheelchair accessible. I should be moving up the list as the waiting lists were updated and many people who are no longer looking for places are being removed from the list. I have no idea how long this wait will be. My friend in Denver who works for a large landlord said that out there, she’s heard of horror stories about low income people waiting over five years to get into a place. In my case I am doing alright here in the suburbs. I can run a wheelchair well enough now that I can navigate my parents’ entire house except for doorways. I have to fold up the wheelchair and walk though for the doors. Haven’t been outside since the current heat wave started. We’ve had many days of 100-degree Fahrenheit heat since mid-July. Not exactly sure what that translates to in Celsius, I’m thinking 40 something degree Celsius.
Made some new friends since I moved to Oklahoma. Staying in contact with old friends from back in Nebraska. One friend was someone who lived in the same complex I did. We are both homebodies but share several similar interests. I regret not visiting her in person more when I still lived there. But the last two years I lived in Kearney were during the height of the pandemic. I didn’t visit many people in person those two years. Did a lot of reading and writing though. Moved out of Kearney in June 2022 and went to physical rehab for eight months. Moved in with my parent in February 2023. Lost over 180 pounds between February 2020 and February 2023. Sadly, gained about 20 pounds back in the last six months. Too much sugar and carbs. I was easily losing weight when I was eating mostly grilled, roasted, and baked meats (mostly chicken, turkey, and pork) and vegetables. I gave up most carbs, most sugars, most fast food, etc.
Saw my physicians’ assistant yesterday via teleconference. It was for my sleep apnea. I needed to renew my prescription so I can get replacement parts for my CPAP machine. As my machine is only three years old, it should last at least another three to four years. But it works so much better when I replace worn out parts regularly. Since I don’t use distilled water or oxygen, it’s easier to keep clean. And I just use the nasal units rather than the full-face mask. My doctor thinks if I get back to losing weight again, I could possibly be off the CPAP entirely. I think I should be able to get back to losing weight now that I’ve adopted my pandemic diet again.
My blood pressure is stable. Has been for weeks. I have to see my general practice doctor again by the end of August for general checkup. He wants to see his heart patients every three months. I see my new psych doctor this month too. Since my psychiatric health has been stable for the last few years, I should be doing just routine maintenance. I do have occasional psych flare ups, but they usually don’t last long. I have found if I limit stress the flare ups are fewer and further between.
Making most of my own meals now. While my parents are thrilled with my ever-increasing independence, I think my mom is kind of sad that she doesn’t cook for me very often anymore. I think my dad is kind of sad that I don’t watch Westerns with him much, certainly not like what I did in the first few weeks I moved here. I buy most of my own groceries, pay some in utilities, and order my own home supplies via Amazon. As there is a huge Amazon facility in our metroplex, almost everything is next day delivery. I’m still not washing my own laundry just yet. Our washing machine is in a tight closet that is impossible to navigate with a wheelchair. My knees are chronically hurting due to bad arthritis. If I take Tylenol every day, it seems to negate it some but not enough to restore my ability to walk without serious knee pain.
Even though I don’t eat most of my meals with my parents anymore, I still talk to them in person some every day. During the pandemic I made a point to call them at least once a day. In some ways I am not in a real rush to get my own place. The big reason I need my own place it that I can’t afford their house on my social security disability pension. Sure, the house is paid off entirely, but I still couldn’t afford property taxes and maintenance.
Shortly after I moved to Oklahoma, my new social security case worker told me that since I was diagnosed with schizophrenia at age 20, I should have been able to qualify for social security payouts based on my parents’ income and not mine. Since both of my parents were medical professionals, that alone would significantly increase my benefits. So we applied for benefits increases. Naturally we were denied. But denials are standard in disability cases, at least here in the USA. I plan on hiring a lawyer to appeal this case. I had to lawyer up when I first applied for social security in the mid 2000s. Even with a lawyer my case took over two years to resolve. Since I no longer was covered by my parents’ insurance, I needed a high-risk emergency health insurance. It was a rugged two years waiting for that verdict.
I’m hanging in there overall. I’m just ready for some fall again.
Independence Day was rather uneventful for me. I did a little something different to celebrate today. Didn’t watch war movies or go to a fireworks display (my city banned private ownership of fireworks). What I did do was binge watch the old History Channel mini series ‘The Men Who Built America.’ It was about the industrial revolution that really took off after the Civil War in my country. Series paid close attention to industries like railroads, oil, steel, electrical appliances, electricity generation, early automobiles, financials, etc. The individuals they paid close attention too, the Vanderbilts, Rockefellers, Carnegies, Morgans, Teslas, Edisons, Westinghouses, Fords, etc. I think the dude they had playing JP Morgan kinda looked like Robert Downey Jr. from the Iron Man movies. Even Robert Downey playing industrialist Tony Stark said he modeled his character on a less dorky Elon Musk.
Still haven’t heard from low income housing on my place. I’ve been on the waitlist for months now. I’m believing the horror stories about how sometimes it takes years for a place to open up. We obviously have an affordable housing shortage in my country. There is a HUGE demand for affordable housing. Why won’t be build it? We already have the tech to 3D print and pre fabricate millions of housing units. Seriously, who benefits from housing being unaffordable to working class and poor people? I sure don’t. What’s the point of developing all this science and technology in my country if we as a people refuse to use it. I would find it absolutely ironic if China and India became the new world superpowers using technology originally developed here in USA. But then, Europe became the world powers of the last 500 years using technology like gunpower, deep sea navigation, compasses, printing presses, paper, and even paper money pioneered by, guess who, China. History truly has an ironic sense of humor. I wonder how you say ‘Payback is a bitch’ in Mandarin Chinese.
Enough of my ranting. Been reading audiobooks A LOT lately. I just love listening to audiobooks while playing computer games. I’ve literally finished 10-hour audiobooks over a long weekend while playing Civilization, Total War, or Railroad Tycoon. Currently working on The Demon Haunted Universe by Carl Saga, Money: Master the Game by Anthony Robbins, and The 50th Law by Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson and Robert Greene. Yes I like to have multiple books going at the same time. Sure I sometimes never finish said books. But I don’t read to accomplish anything deeper than my own learning. Most of the books I own are nonfiction. Sure, a lot of great real life science was inspired by science fiction. But, growing up in the 1980s and 1990s, I was introduced to the genre of science fiction by The Terminator, The Matrix, Alien, Predator, Judge Dredd, etc. All of which present lousy futures that no one wants. I am convinced these shows are why most people are so fearful of technology and hate scientists and intellect so much. Being bombarded with these dystopian visions of the future REALLY soured me on science fiction but not science fact.
People think I’m insane for preferring non fiction to science fiction. Same people think I’m insane for liking economics, finance, and investing even though my math skills are average at best and awful in advanced math like calculus and statistics. Math and foreign languages have always been my blind spot as far as my academic pursuits go. Everything else I loved. My favorite subjects as a child were history and literature. I also liked biology and chemistry, but not as much as history and literature. Didn’t find out I loved economics, finance, investing, writing, etc. until I was in college. Even though college education prices are out of control, I found huge value in getting a bachelor’s degree. I got kicked out of the Masters in Business program because I couldn’t hack the advanced math. But I never wanted to be an accountant or a data analyst. Such subjects never interested me. Besides, AI can do most of that better than most humans already. AIs are getting really creepy good at stock picking too. I think that almost anything that has to do with massive amounts of math and information will probably get automated within the next ten to twenty years. I could even see medical diagnosing and researching being aided greatly by AI, thus reducing the need for doctors and researchers. I wouldn’t be surprised that the jobs that involve the human touch and individuality will be much larger in demand than they are now. I see the trades are already getting big again. I see lots of manufacturing is starting to move back to the USA, but even a good chunk of this will be automated. Even China is having problems finding work for their younger generations.
As far as my audiobooks go, I absolutely love the book Money: Master The Game. That is one finance book I would recommend to anyone just starting out in their career or anyone who wants to get their finances back under control. It’s also one of the first financial books I ever read that devotes an entire section to science, medicine, and tech advances. I guess the point of including a section on near future tech advances in a finance book is unique. It also combines my love of both economics and technology. Economics, technology, science, futurism, philosophy, history, and a little theology are all subjects I love to study. I know I don’t get paid any money from my studies, but it certainly satisfies my love of knowledge and wisdom. Being cured of schizophrenia and being able to use my variety of knowledge to benefit others and make myself and my family wealthy in the process, would be beyond my wildest dreams come true. Even if it doesn’t happen, I guess I have my knowledge and my blogs.
This going to be a long post, but please bear with me. I have a series of questions as a bit of a thought exercise and discussion that doesn’t often get discussed in public, not even by futurists: How soon do you think it will be before we see mass technological unemployment and the 21st century version of The Luddites?
Only in the last few months has the mainstream media started even talking about AI replacing and augmenting human workers even though I first read about in on futuretimeline.net back in 2013. Read Ray Kurzweil’s Singularity Is Near and all the works of Peter Diamandis shortly after. Neither of these guys, nor any other techies I’ve read in the last ten years, have discussed in detail how we as a civilization manage this transition.
Every mainstream economist seems to think automation will create more jobs than it eliminates because that’s the way it’s always been. High rollers like Warren Buffet and Charlie Munger previously said AI will amount to nothing, at least publicly. But these are the same guys who missed out on the computer and internet revolutions years ago. Their investors missed out on a lot of profits by these two not putting even a few percent of their holdings into Silcon Valley firms like Facebook, Twitter, Tesla, and Google when they first went public. I was telling everyone I knew to buy a few shares of these companies back then. I would have but forums like robin hood didn’t yet exist. God forbid peasants like me make a few bucks through the stock market.
Been trying to tell everyone I know about this ever since 2013. Most people outside my facebook techie groups, until recently, thought I was a hopeless dreamer at best and a liar at worst. It’s only a matter of time before the mainstream media starts discussing technological unemployment as a daily lead story. And I am convinced the public at large will panic in unexpected ways, like people hording toilet paper during covid. But far worse.
Been recently reading about The Luddites in early 19th century England burning down textile plants and killing factory managers. These skilled craftsmen were suddenly without means to support themselves even though they spent years working on their craft. Imagine if college educated white collar workers with tens of thousands in student loans and hundreds of thousands in mortgage debts find themselves unemployed by the millions over the course of several years?
Half of Americans already have less than 500 dollars of emergency savings. Almost half of current retirees have zero saved up besides social security in my country. Social security is a “pay as you go” system. Has been ever since it was instituted in the 1930s. And it’s funding comes from taxing current workers to pay for the retirees and disabled like myself. There are US government projections that the social security fund could run dry by 2035 if massive changes to the tax system and funding aren’t implemented. Since congress seems determined to fight among itself and do nothing, this could become a reality.
If this industrial revolution we are currently living through destroys more jobs than it creates, like some in my techie groups on facebook have been predicting for several years, how do we get the displaced workers and fear driven public on board? In my country, debt to gross domestic product (think annual wages if nations were individual workers) is already over 120 percent. Granted this isn’t as bad as many places, but my congress already wants to massively cut programs. That’s why it’s very possible the US could default on its loans eventually.
Over half of this money is owed to US citizens. Only 2 percent is owed China anymore. They, along with dozens of other nations, have been slowly getting out over the last several years. So even foreigners know something is fishy about US money. Discussions on raising taxes haven’t gone anywhere for decades. We’ve actually been lowering taxes for years. My countrymen still complain about taxes even though are tax rates are lower than most developed countries. In theory, we can print money as long as people are willing to us it. Granted that’s how hyperinflation happens (meaning money becomes worthless). It happened even in the very advanced nation of Germany in the 1920s. Currently happening in Argentina, Turkey, among others. That economic collapse ultimately resulted in the Nazi Party taking power. Don’t think it can’t happen again in other rich and advanced nations. I’ve been scared of something like this happening in my own country ever since I read ‘1984’ and ‘Fahrenheit 451’ twenty five years ago. I’m more scared of it than ever now.
How do we handle the displaced hundreds of millions of workers who simply don’t have the skills to level up or self-educate? Do we try to institute a UBI system with our current economics and politics? Knowing my countrymen like I do, this will probably not be popular even if 50 percent of the workforce loses their jobs to automation. We can’t even get Universal Healthcare or High-Speed Rail even though most developed countries have had these for decades.
Do we drop the prices on everything so even people living on part time gig work and welfare can afford the basics? Do private foundations pick up where government can’t go? Do we just put 3D printers in every home, vertical farms in every town, and make money as unnecessary as possible?
The ‘Not In My Backyard’ attitude is strong in my nation. We’ve known we have a shortage in affordable housing for years and we still won’t build cheap housing in most places. Personally, I’d rather live next door to a nuclear power plant than a cattle yard or oil refinery. Can we solve homelessness with rapid 3D printed homes and just sell these homes for cheap or even outright just give them away? Knowing my countrymen’s attitudes towards the homeless and poor, this doesn’t look like that will fly either even though we already have the tech to make this work. Most people in my society simply have no empathy towards the struggle of others until tragedy effects them directly. It’s why we had over one million people die from covid even though we were among the first to rapidly produce vaccines and effective treatments. A significant chunk of the populace, including most people I personally know, still feel lockdowns and mask mandates were a violation of personal freedoms. This is the case even though most people in my social circle know at least one person who died from covid. Some people are epically heartless and soulless. And most people in my social circles are regular church attenders.
I don’t know the answers to any of these. I haven’t seen any of this discussed by the public at large. This isn’t even on most politicians’ radar. Andrew Yang discussed this in 2020 only to get one percent of the primaries votes and dismissed as a communist. I still remember the press and his political rivals dismissing him as Comrade Yang.
This isn’t the first time a fringe candidate was dismissed but years later proven right. In 1992, Ross Perot warned that globalization and free trade would destroy the middle class in America and most developed nations. He was dismissed as a crank by everyone from CNN to Saturday Night Live. Sadly, he was proven right years after the fact. We can’t count on most governments as they are decades behind the curve. It wasn’t until recently that the Biden administration appointed an “AI czar.” Remains to be seen if the incoming Trump administration will do likewise.
They are about ten years too late. I’m interested in hearing how other nations are planning on dealing with this. I truly believe we can have a great future as a species where even the poorest of poor people live well. But we seem to have no plans to manage the transition. Any thoughts? I always enjoy hearing from my readers.
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Hi there, thank you for checking out my blog page where I write about Bipolar, adhd,bpd and ptsd which I struggle with daily. This blog is to both educate and give others hope. I also write about my drug addiction in hopes of giving other people encouragment and hope for a brighter, annd better future.Thank you. sincerly, Emily Thorn.
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