The Year of the New Dark Age
Nihilists quit caring about facts, science, and wellbeing of workers/citizens
The year comes to a close in about 3 weeks and people still die in greater numbers than before (I do keep abreast of ONS mortality figures; they're disconcerting). I've managed to keep my health close to perfect; so has my wife. I also sleep better this year (compared to the past two decades) and am generally productive. But that's the exception.
In the latest week on record (Week 46) ONS reports 11,480 deaths in England and Wales. In the prior week (Week 45): 11,297. Compare this to 2019 with 10,650 and 10,697, respectively. We're still losing about 10% more people despite the population size only rising 1-2%. Yes, I've carefully checked those figures for years; I also verified those aren't suicides, which are only a small fraction of the whole.
Something isn't right; either the NHS is failing (it had struggled since well before 2019) or there are other factors, including work-related stress, sometimes trauma. Some people I know (in person, in "real life") don't sleep enough and don't get rest, neither physical nor mental. For instance, they receive calls from work during their "time off" and some cannot fall asleep due to worries (anxiety) related to work. A lack of rest results in bad diet, which in turn weakens the immune system and leads to confrontation.
I've heard from people who work for the NHS that there's a blood pressure crisis (tied to critical manifestations such as strokes) - to the point where pharmacies try to recruit visitors for spontaneous blood pressure tests. I'm not going to bring up the "V" word here; it's divisive and misses the main point here.
Of course our governments are fully aware of these factors. But are they doing enough? Barely, if ever.
Another aspect that became apparent in recent years is anxiety associated with job security, both short- and long-term (the latter considerably impacts people with mortgages). I mentioned this in passing yesterday. On top of this, it leads to anxiety associated with parenting; many young people no longer pursue parenting/parenthood and those who already have kids gravitate towards depression because of the rising cost of living (magnified as a function of dependants).
In the area of technology, the media tells us the levels of layoffs hit an all-time high or highest since "COVID" (depending on when and what they measure, also where). This isn't going to change next year. Nobody says things will improve, as there's no basis upon which to assert that.
In East Asia there are several escalations this month (Taiwan is one of many now), in Europe there is hybrid warfare (e.g. sabotage of systems) thousands of miles away from Ukraine's trench battleground (Russia wages a war without borders), and the US commits acts of murder (not a war crime; for a war crime you need to actually declare a war, but the US regime leaps past Congress). Who needs Nobel when you have a notoriously corrupt FIFA deciding what "peace" is...
Those irrational optimists who look forward to 2026 as a "turnaround" year aren't paying close attention. The lion's share of capital goes towards weapons/weapon manufacturers and young people are routed towards military training instead of universities. As Mike Brock put it 2 days ago: "People think the cultural forces that led us here, will simply go away once Donald Trump is gone? Are you mad?"
The public does not get to elect who runs GAFAM or controls online hubs such as Twitter (X), TikTok, and so on.
The direction of technology is now dictated by Big Oil. █