As I mentioned, I've also known it for years. But it hadn't stopped me from hoping that things could improve.

I had always just assumed that even if we weren't able to achieve that level of job market success, people would still try because that's what the government's job was. And even if there were some people undermining those efforts, that didn't make success impossible. But what this election has cemented for me is that the government (and a chunk of the country) doesn't consider 'bringing back that job market' to even be their goal.

I've realized that there is a large contingent of people who don't correlate "success" with that type of world. The efforts are going toward moving us away from that past rather than moving toward it. I wouldn't have any complaints if it was simply a matter of that we were trying to succeed, but falling short. That's part of the ups and downs of life. But instead, people are intentionally trying to implement a system that is the opposite of what I considered "success" to be. And now I'm the obsolete boomer who needs to get with the program of reality. A world where average Joe blue collars workers raise a middle class family on a single income is basically a Star Trekkian fantasy at this point. And there aren't any smart, powerful people working to move us towards that utopia.

This post was edited by Kayeto on Nov 6 2020 07:37am

1- I'm not disappointed by the fact that Wall-E is our future. That sunk in years ago.

2- I'm only mildly disappointed that there is a collective effort to intentionally move toward it, rather than to resist it.

3- What I'm mainly disappointed at is that my mild disappointment at #2 puts me in the minority now. That is what was crystallized for me this election.

This post was edited by Kayeto on Nov 6 2020 07:35am

Anderson Cooper's comment was gold just sayin' lol.

resistance of the automated future is beyond futile. those against it should work to bolster their own skills to become self reliant. vegetable/fruit farming, animal husbandry and processing, food storage, mechanical knowhow, etc. You must simply work to be free in the future, freedom wont be a right.

absolute gold!

He's a sinking ship for sure.

I agree, and I'm even saying that that I am against it. There's no sense in being "for or against" the inevitable.

But there is a difference between accepting the inevitable future vs. actively working towards it in 2020. The idea of saying, in 2020, "freedom isn't sustainable in the longterm, might as well start putting our efforts into ending it sooner" is like saying "I can't live forever so I might as well kill myself right now". There is some logic to it. But they are a tough pill to swallow.

It's like the trolley problem and the fallacious feeling that a harm is less significant if we weren't the one that caused it. If the world went to shit around us, that's just the inevitable direction of things. But to use our efforts to cause it just makes it feel worse.

This post was edited by Kayeto on Nov 6 2020 07:46am

no one is putting effort into this except a select group of billionaires. politicians are just taking money for campaigns, most are likely ignorant of the future landscape their enabling.

i mean i literally am working towards it, i design automation machines in the conveyor industry. but if i didnt do it 10 others would step up to do it.

so ill take the money, retire early, and pass off a successful chicken driven farmer market selling business to my kids if they want it. or ill eat the birds and plant grass on my garden if they dont, i didnt listen to my parents afterall. let them be drones if they want to be drones, at least they'll know how to drive a stick and write in cursive.

This election makes me feel like there is a big chunk of the country supporting the work towards it. Like, right now I am watching the torch be passed from "the jobs generation" to a new generation. I'm not sure what to call them. But the reaction to covid seems to be one of the most resounding aspects of it.

This post was edited by Kayeto on Nov 6 2020 07:50am

Fox News primetime and many prominent Republicans like Ted Cruz and Lindsey Graham are going full conspiracy nutter with Trump. And they'll get away with it after Trump's gone because the right-wing in America is filled with reality-denying lunatics.