There are a lot of things today that feel inevitable. Climate Change, the widespread integration of AI into our daily lives, the constant mining of our private data with or without our consent, the rich getting richer – it all feels like too much sometimes. It can feel like we’re moving inexorably toward disaster, so why bother? One of the favourite retorts to someone dreaming of or yearning for a better world is “The real world just doesn’t work that way.”
The problem is, we don’t live in the “real” world. We haven’t for a long time. Where once we lived in huts in the plains hunting for food and huddling together for safety and comfort, we now live in a world of buildings and roads and laws and corporations and governments. Our lives are more heavily influenced by the trends of the economy – an artificial system which we created – than they are by some tiger lurking around the corner. This isn’t the “real” world. This is a world that we made and which we continue to shape with our actions.
We get to decide what our world looks like to a great extend. Every day, we have a choice. Sure, my choice doesn’t matter that much. But if you can find some other people and convince them to make the same choice, then you’ve got a movement on your hands.
The argument that forming a movement is the best way to change the world isn’t a new one, and it’s not what I want to highlight here. I want to put a spotlight on all the people saying that change can’t happen or that something – AI, erosion of data privacy, the rich getting richer – is simply a fact of life. There are, in my opinion, three kinds of those people: People who want you to accept the status quo, people who want you to accept the specific way they are changing the status quo, and people who have given up. The first two categories contain people who stand to benefit, either from the way things are or the way they want them to be. By telling you that what they want is inevitable, they’re trying to take away your ability to choose. Don’t let them.
The last category, people who have given up, is full of people who don’t have any fight left. And I think there are a lot of those these days. This is an overwhelming moment in human history. There’s so much going on all the time, and we get to see and hear all of it. Our phones always have more notifications to deal with, there’s always more news, and there are always more e-mails. Our brains are constantly bombarded by things to sort through that calmness and stability feel unattainable. The moments of reflection that we need to be at peace are robbed from us, filled with things that behave as if they’re urgent.
It’s not just the demands of phantom notifications that keeps us busy though. The housing crisis, the job market, the loneliness epidemic – there’s a lot to deal with right now. How can I choose a different world when I can’t even choose where I live or how long I’ll live there? How can I work to affect change when layoffs are rampant and I’m already stretched financially? And where do we get the emotional energy to solve anything when the social structures that keep us alive have been eroding since the 60’s, made even worse by social media platforms that prioritize and encourage social division?
I don’t have a big, sweeping, revolutionary change for you. But we all make small choices every day. When we use social media for personal use, we’re agreeing to let these companies mine our data and use it however they like. This isn’t an implicit choice, it’s explicit: you agreed to the terms of service. When we don’t write and call our leaders to show them our pain and let them know that their performance will be judged come election time, that’s a choice to accept the status quo.
What things in your life do you accept as inevitable? How can you make different choices?
Peter Davoust 