I’m Not Rich, but I have Time to Think; for Good or Bad

I was thinking. These thoughts are a bit random, I admit, and in no way has led to a comprehensive thesis, but it has raised questions in my mind.

We are being manipulated — our thoughts, our actions, our hopes and dreams. I know. Already it begins to sound like a conspiracy theory. The thing with conspiracy theories, however, is that it is a wonderful place to hide the truth in plain sight. No reasonable person wants to go there, for it is the domain of crackpots and social media. But, I digress.

We continuously complain that we don’t have enough time. Yet what do we do with our time? We spend most of it at work. Not just at work, but working for somebody else. This is the pathway we have inherited from our parents. We all know that when we contract out our services, the return is not equal. We do not receive the actual value of our efforts in return; otherwise, a profit margin would not exist for the employer. To compensate we work more for we also believe that this endeavour gives us self-worth. No one has bothered to clarify this. It is not work in itself put a purpose in life that provides us with self-esteem. To support a family these days it usually takes the salaries of both adults. In order for women to gain the respect of a male-dominated world, it has become essential for them to enter the corporate world and to fight twice as hard to not only gain admittance but to acquire recognition. So what is the end result? We have surrendered yet even more to the corporate. Less time for the reason we exist as a species. To watch your children grow, teach them and keep them safe, to share quality time with spouse, family and friends. Now we are forced to formulate a counterbalance. How? We use the hard-earned paycheque to buy back on our guilt. We race around shopping for more readymade foods which are conveniently provided at an inflated cost filled with processed ingredients and ready promises. We enrol our children in costly activities which used to be once available free through family enterprise and bonding. We purchase distractions, the latest electronic discoveries and devices, to keep them occupied and pacified. We instil in them a fear of what was once natural, sweeping it under the blanket of safety. Why? Because we no longer have the time for them. With every step we take to gain more, we end up losing what we once had. But to whom?

Are we being manipulated? The iron rules that once guided our actions and governed our aspirations are breaking down. Mostly due to the rapid evolution of technology. It is moving exponentially. So much so that the old corporations are finding themselves at times out of step and a pace behind. Unable to keep control of the economics of the situation. New corporations driven by the timeless ideals of gratification and greed are rising like tarnished phoenixes out of their ashes. The concept of work is changing. Still, there is not yet a clear vision of how to exploit this brave new world — some attempt to delay the inevitable until they can renew their grips around the throats of society and humanity. Others try to hasten it forward but do not have a plan, trusting in economic evolution. The survival of both is integral to the survival of consumerism. This is where we come in. We need to be manipulated into position to keep wealth channelled into one direction. A wolf is not a wolf without sheep to prey on.

Self-employment is rising. Alternative methods of making a living are increasing. This is a good thing, for, in a way, it is paving the road for more people to pursue what they feel passionate about rather than bleeding their life’s essences for someone else’s enrichment and laudification. It signifies a change, a window of opportunity to free ourselves from the chains that once held us fast in blinded servitude. Politicians still loudly advocate investment in corporations for the benefit of people and full employment. They know that this is a thing of the past but cannot yet conceive of a new model to replace the old platitudes. The industry knows the truth of it and cannot wait to replace these unpredictable and unmanageable liabilities (in other words, us) with robotic assets. However, the revolution is not yet right to happen. If they removed the ability of the consumer to consume, then how will they, the masters of ownership, continue to get richer? A Basic Payment, whereby every citizen receives a state stipend so to spend as they so wish, is a possibility. In this way, the welfare state could be done away with, and people would be free to create their own enterprises without being burdened by the fear of failure. They would also have the wherewithal to continue buying — an essential duty, of course. For many, however, this smacks of money for nothing heresy which is too hard a chain to break in our dog eat dog mentality. Damned if we do, damned if we don’t.

So what’s next? The frightening or maybe optimistic thing is, nobody knows for sure. Que sera sera. We are continuously looking backwards, trying to recycle old formulas, but the world is now changing in a way that it has never done before, and the speed of it is unbelievable. We pray, to whatever god, that the imagination of man can create a Star Trek world rather than one of a Blade Runner dystopia.