An Unorthodox Hope

Has it ever occurred to you, Winston, that by the year 2050, at the very latest, not a single human being will be alive who could understand such a conversation as we are having now?

Orthodoxy means not thinking - not needing to think.  Orthodoxy is unconsciousness.

There's lots to be worried about in Canadian democracy these days.  We keep being told what to believe by  a government that ignores and even attacks the evidence.  Meanwhile, Canadians are tuning out a lot of unpleasantness we should really be concerned about.

Is a variant on 1984 underway?  Are we low-hanging-fruit and simple-messaging ourselves back to the stone age?  Has instinct won out over rational thought and query?

I tell you no, and I'll tell you why.

The story of history is replete with failed empires and lost civilizations.  Easter Island's slow acceptance of less than they had is a common tale.

When you look at the big picture, though, we have always, always kept moving forward.  We face new challenges, like epidemics or transit, and find new solutions.  You simply cannot have a growth-oriented economy or population that lives within its means.  These concepts are antithetical to each other.

Intransigence and decline never win - progress continues, because that's what evolution does.

Something worth being conscious of.