01-27-19

Over the last few months, I feel like there’s been an upswing in the number of environmental reports heralding an ever-increasing transition into a slowly degrading world. The water’s a rising faster than predicted, sea life is dying off at an exponential rate, more gas lines have burst in sacred lands, (many of which unreported, or generally ignored,) and humans will be sending more rockets into space this year than ever before, creating tremendous amounts of pollution and eventual debris.

I thought by this point we’d be nearly on our way to replicators (3d printers are a cool start, but hardly the same thing,) or flying cars that took us around our gleaming metropolises. On the contrary, our cities are decaying, our cars aren’t anywhere close to flying and our general thirst for creating a bright future has instead turned into doing our best to stave off the damage for as long as possible.

I thought the future would be cooler, and the reality is disgusting, it’s hard to know how to respond, or what actions to take, when every action seems as senseless as screaming into a void. I suppose action for the sake of action is better than inaction if nothing else we’re creating a sense of contribution for ourselves. I’m thrilled there are so many people in the world dedicating their lives to trying to preserve as much as possible, and I’m saddened at imagining the phenomenal things they could have dedicated their lives to instead if their energies could have been placed elsewhere.

Collectively we have such vast potential…individually we have such vast potential…so how the hell did we muck everything up so thoroughly? Hubris and greed explain only so much. As I’ve said before, through these writings, and to myself on a perpetual basis, in regards to such a monumental feat, we do what we can because that’s all there is to do, and action for the sake of action is better than inaction, it’s through inaction that complacency will take the best of us.

Lyrics:

[Verse 1: Claire L. Evans]
Crowdsourced cults, all lit up on LED:
Next thing you know, you’re sipping on a battery
Infinitely scroll through a SWAT team on the sidewalk
Serving death by remote control and unrestricted sidearms

[Chorus 1: Claire L. Evans]
I thought the future would be cooler
I thought the future would be cooler
I thought the brave world would be newer
I thought the future would be cooler

[Verse 2: Claire L. Evans]
Loving comes easy (nothing new)
But liking it ain’t free (underneath the sun)
We save our face in public (I can’t save you)
While we erase each other privately (you’re already gone)

Got my broken heart—
I got it sold right back to me—
By an algorithmic social entity!

[Chorus 2: Claire L. Evans]
I thought the future would be cooler
I thought the brave world would be newer

[Bridge: Claire L. Evans]
Looking for the edge of our unrendered world
I don’t know what we’ll find; Oh, here comes tomorrow!

[Chorus 3: Claire L. Evans]
I thought the future would be cooler (nothing new)
I thought the future would be cooler (underneath the sun)
I thought the brave world would be newer (I can’t save you)
I thought the future would be cooler (you’re already gone)

I thought the future would be cooler (nothing new)
I thought the future would be cooler (underneath the sun)
I thought the brave world would be newer (I can’t save you)
I thought the future would be cooler (it’s already gone)