I have a lot of thoughts, not bad ones. It has to do with a lot of things I’ve been noticing. 

So, the big thing that’s been on my mind is this cultural regression that seems to be becoming pandemic. I’ve written tons about how I have a complicated, mostly unhealthy relationship with nostalgia that I’m currently working on. But it’s gone beyond that to a point where people are literally regressing emotionally and mentally. I’ve been watching guys around my age playing the Yu-Gi-Oh trading card game and acting like the Lost Boys. You see Gen Z girls giving up on relationships entirely and acting like they’re back in middle school, going as far to watch the shows from back then and even taking back the styles they had back then. It’s cute for a short time, then it just gets disturbing. People just can’t move forward anymore, so they’re regressing hardcore.

I don’t think really anyone is in good shape these days. The wealth of the world keeps funneling towards older and older folks who mostly have no intent on sharing it with their own descendants. Soon as the boomers are gone, the entire financial system as we know it is likely going to collapse. Emily and I should be fine, as we’re no longer leveraged in the stock market. The line can’t keep going up, and deep down people know that so they’re all rushing to cash in before the big crash inevitably happens. It’s not doom-and-gloom; it’s just physics.

I keep thinking about the meaning of life, whatever that means. I’ve learned recently that meaning isn’t something you can actually search for, though, but something you must make for yourself. And as I was discussing with Emily, as much as I want to help people, most people don’t even know how to accept it and do anything constructive with it. We’ve both learned that the hard way in recent months. I have to refer to what Taylor Swift mentioned on New Heights about your time and energy being luxury goods. She was absolutely right about that. 

The whole podcast episode is worth a watch. Seriously.

Emily and I have wasted so much money on people who straight up lied to us or simply frittered away the help we tried to give them, and they just hang on hoping to get another handout. We now live in a society where so many people expect handouts. So you might think that my argument for UBI is counterintuitive, but if everyone is on a level playing field, you reset the rules of the game and everything gets a lot more fair. Replace welfare and food stamps and all that, massively regulate healthcare, and it’s paid for immediately. 

Problem is, we also have to tear down and restructure the whole education system, too, but I digress. Honestly, AI assistants are already at a point where compulsory schooling can be done from home. Then you just have school for the hands-on things and life skills. I think that’s a better arrangement than the nonsense classroom style that is so outdated for modern times and proven to be designed to serve the lowest common denominator and hold everyone else back.

I’m sure I’ve touched on all these things previously, but starting this month I’m trying to look forward with my writing, not backward. I’ve spent the past five years reiterating for the most part. It’s not like I’ve run out of things to say, but until this past summer I didn’t have the framework, and now I do. (That is, the CRAP framework)

As I commented on someone’s Substack: “… The world is a crazy chaotic place right now. Take your time and take care of yourself first :)”