Of streams of consciousness
I am coming back to writing after a long time because I find that writing gives me a clarity of thought that at times eludes me otherwise. This post is going to be different because of this reason. I am sitting in a dark room to deprive my senses of distractions and focus them on this post because at times that is how difficult it is. After about an hour of this and false starts on a few different topics, I have bowed down to the inevitable and decided to just capture the buzz of my mind and hope it rests.
Writing for me has always been like this. I tend not to sit down to write and then develop a topic. Rather, I have the bones of a topic in my head and sit down to breathe it life. No luck today however, so I will try this instead. I will map my different streams of consciousness onto this post. Consider it a metaphor for our very distracted world and its short attention spans. Maybe its message will not limited to this metaphor.
One
What has been the effect of technology on us? To muddle our thinking? To enslave us to light on a screen? To starve us of focus? To make us function to the whims of algorithms far exceeding their purpose and the wildest hopes of their creators? Who is in control of this world? Maybe the dawn of artificial intelligence is already upon us. Proving far more insidious than terminator ever thought possible. With people everywhere spending hours doomscrolling and fighting on twitter as opposed to ruthless shape shifting robots colonising everyone.
One and a half
How does the sensationalising of everything factor into this? The latest example I see is Britain’s tabloids declaring war on cyclists. Explainer: there are changess being implemented to the highway code in Britain which brings it in line with many other neighbouring European nations. The changes favour pedestrians and cyclists in that order and hence inconvenience drivers. Cue outrage from the tabloids (and one or two broadsheets). Why?! BTW, kudos to the Government on handling this update to the highway code like absolute champs. Nicely done letting the tabloids define and frame everything for you and declaring war on everyone not driving. If any lives are lost because of this, that is on you.
Two
What is human nature if not the constant struggle for oneupmanship? Essentially boiling down the statement of I am better than you because -. A constant battle over who gets to say what, whose slightly different way of doing something has to be followed. We do this everywhere. At work, at home, on the streets, with our neighbours. What do we hope to achieve? Control? Maybe just the feeling of control. Do we need to be this way to function? Does it give us confidence and confidence enables us to function? Is it confidence that prevents us from being stuck in decision paralysis. Unable to make choices without ultra-analysing everything to within an inch of its death? How many different questions can I ask here wihout starting a new section?
Three
Why is the white man so afraid of colonising anyway? Why does this country lose its head when a few refugees cross the sea on rubber dinghys? What really is the issue other than these people do not look or sound like the majority here? Can we not find a way to help them integrate and give them the chance for a better life? What are we so scared of? That they will tell their friends and family and soon all refugees everywhere will move to Britain? Its a good thing Britons have never done anything like this ever before. Oh wait.
Four
What is important in life? Is it control? Love? Companionship? Dignity? Material wealth? The money to get material wealth? Food, water and air? Does it depend on personal preference? Is there some universal model like Maslow’s hierarchy of needs? Is Maslow still current? Maybe Maslow has been replaced and I am old.
Five
Who is looking at the big picture? While our democratic (for those of us privileged) leaders worry about the next election in a few years, who is looking at the bigger picture? Who is looking at how the world needs to be in 10 or 20 years? How good are our systems to tackling problems that do not lend themselves to neat 5 year cycles. Being a milennial I have grown up with climate change as the generational problem to solve. However, when I look through content from the 80s and 90s (and at times the 60s and 70s) they seem to mention climate change as a generational problem to solve! What have we been doing for the past 50 years? Have I and my peers grown up and started worrying more about where we will go out to eat tonight rather than how we will survive this as a species? Who is thinking about these event horizons when they are beyond the next electoral cycle? If someone is thinking about it, what happens when our leaders change and the new ones do not see eye to eye with the thinking put in place under the previous ones. What happens when we do this every five years (or four? or never!) and spend the intervening five years worrying about what we will say at the next election? Granted, progress is not a straight line. But is it quick enough to save us from disaster? Have you watched Netflix’s star-laden (seriously!) Don’t look up?
