Good afternoon,
Another week gone by, and the world is no less crazy than it was last week.
I attended a workshop luncheon last week where the speaker essentially said what I wrote in the last WMR about how there is always something going on. She asked us to imagine that we had been born in 1900. Then she reminded us of the various events that happened during our life. Wars (multiple, hot and cold), pandemic & diseases, cars invented, air travel invented, rockets invented, stock market crashes, radio, television, talking movies, depressions, recessions, dust bowls, missile crisis, assassinations, moon landing and so forth. And our life expectancy at that time would not have let us see most of the other stuff that happened in the last 1/3 or so of the century, which was also a lot. As much as we think that we are living in, wait for it, “unprecedented times,” we’re really not. It feels like it and we have 24/7 access to news (if we can even call it that anymore) and information, which just confirms that thing called recency bias. We feel like everything happening to us now is the most important thing that has ever happened and that’s just not always the case. Sure, we have challenges, but so has every other person and generation that has come before us as well as those who will follow us. Everything is different but nothing has changed.
Scientists at MIT predicted in the 1970’s that society would collapse by 2040. Here is an update to that report.
Um, no. Just like every other doomsday report that has ever been produced, this one too will be wrong. Remember the ones about global cooling and the new ice age? Or the ones about population explosion and billions of people dying from starvation because we wouldn’t be able to produce enough food? Or the ones about running out of oil? Or that one about the end of civilization in 2012 or whatever it was? Or all the rest? None of them, not one, have even been close to coming true. Nor will any of the new predictions. The planet has been here 5 billion years, it’s not going away anytime soon. Earth will end someday, and it will be due to our Sun running out of gas and imploding. Until then, “Remember the past, plan for the future, but live for today.” – Luke the Evangelist.
Want another example of how big tech is manipulating our world? For some reason, or maybe no reason, the other day I heard the term “experts say” multiple times in succession for various reports that happened to grab my attention. Not sure if it was coincidence or what, but it made me think. Why do we use that phrase? Does it make the story more important or impressive or believable? Who are these experts to whom they are referring? How do we know they’re experts? How do we know if we should, or shouldn’t, hold their opinion in higher regard than someone not labeled an expert?
My curiosity got the better of me, so I Googled “experts say.” Just that phrase. Just those 2 words, nothing else. And every result on the first 3 pages of the search referred to covid. Every result. Hmmm. I didn’t bother to look past the first 3 pages. But also notice that I did NOT include anything about covid in my query. Why didn’t I get “experts say that dogs are better than cats?” Or maybe “experts say that sugar is bad for you.” Or some other non-covid thing. Intrigued, I followed up with “what do the experts say,” as my question. Just that phrase, no other words. My result? Exactly the same, 3 pages of covid related links. Hmmm. Wonder if any of that auto direction stuff was going on when people searched “election 2020” or “Russia collusion,” or “mask mandates.” Just curious. Of course, that’s just my opinion, your results may vary.
On a lighter note,
I met a guy last week named Brandon. So naturally, I had to hit him with the chant. He didn’t appreciate it.
“Oh, I suppose you preferred the other guy??” He asked, more than slightly irritated.
I just like stuff that’s funny, and I think Let’s Go Brandon is funny. You didn’t seem to mind when they called the last guy Orange Man.
“I guess our senses of humor are different.”
I guess so.
Hahahahahahahahahaha! ??
To be fair, whenever I meet anyone new named Aaron, I also hit them with the A-A-Ron reference. They usually just roll their eyes and say something like “that was funny the first 700 times I heard it….”
There is a new Netflix movie entitled “The Adam Project.” Here is the IMDB description, “After accidentally crash-landing in 2022, time traveling fighter pilot Adam Reed teams up with his 12-year-old self for a mission to save the future.” Sounds like a cool premise, right? It started off pretty interesting then kind of faded into a slightly confusing mess. Not terrible, but not in a hurry to watch it again. Here is the trailer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IE8HIsIrq4o
But it did get me thinking, if I met my 12 y/o self, what would I tell him? First of all, if I was my age now, I would probably remember if I had met my older self when I was 12. That seems like something that would make an impression. But let that go for a minute. I would probably tell my younger self not to worry so much about what others think. Maybe I’d tell him not to worry so much about school and focus on learning as much as he can. I’d tell him to be himself. I’d tell him to avoid processed carbs and sugar and focus on high quality protein. Finally, I’d tell him that when he’s 18 there will be this new company called Apple Computer and that maybe he should buy some shares. I’d advise him on other things as well. But knowing my 12 y/o self, I wouldn’t have listened. What would you tell your 12 y/o self?
