Dystopia: Preface

They warned us. Again and again and again. But here we are, living on a planet in distress. It’s like aging. I pass a mirror and wonder, when the hell did that happen? I met an old friend and wondered silently, wow; they have not aged well. It just happens, entropy; we see it, we rationalize “singular” events, and act surprised when they repeat.

Our future predetermined. Conceived long after the Milky Way formed, we will eventually return to stardust. But for now, we battle daily.

Today is but a tick on the eternal clock. “Joe” died yesterday, half my age. Still, here I stand upon a clod of elements we call earth, home, a little-bit hotter, a little-bit colder, a little drier, a little wetter.

Resources gone, irreplaceable, replaced by greed, tribalism, anger, war, tribulations. We are losing the battle against hubris. I was a teacher, then a tutor to the rich, a cook, a crook, now a survivor… tomorrow a fragment of “dust” floating in space. Tick, tick, tick…

I told my students that external forces would not conquer us. No, we would die a protracted death from within, eating bugs, as I recall. The Earth would max out, unable to support an unbridled population — uncurbed. And ultimately, too much technology, unmanageable. Technology would exceed our capacity to control... our worst propensity for immorality. Our forefathers were sure we would, over time, falter, as humanity’s virtue dwindled. And a lack of education, a foible.

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and shrewd in their own sight! Woe to those who are heroes in drinking wine and valiant in mixing drink, who acquit the guilty for a bribe and deprive the innocent of their rights!

Nightly on screens, talking-heads. Evil declared by men lacking character, changing moment by moment. Politicians and influencers babble on in the background.

Everyone claiming to know, and if we didn’t, surely AI would?

Looking back, I see myself standing before my students, lecturing. “Historically, the global population has fallen only once. The Black Plague.” We read about it, graphed it, and predicted if and why it might happen again.

Many people today have made it through a pandemic. Coronavirus. Stay home, avoid the crowds, let the rich flee to their country estates. Wash your hands. Same prescription, different century. It worked eventually—though “eventually” cost somewhere about 3,000,000 lives. We called that a victory.

Many teachers who showed up died. Nurses were heroes. First responders praised. Scientists will save us—until we can no longer trust any of them. Me… I hide at home.

They warned us. Fake news, maybe, but not today. Look around. We all have our stories to tell. What is missing, writers, recorders of time, readers slipping away, thinkers self-absorbed, entombed in suspicion?

Truth evaporates, and communities form around a singular aspiration to survive. This is our truth.

Step back, look around, and be honest. This is a dark moment in time. We are alone. Look around.

Are we standing on the edge of the sixth extinction?

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