"This is the way the world ends, not with a whimper, but with a bang."

I think about this quote from the movie Southland Tales quite a bit. Since I was a young boy, we were raised to believe that the world would end in our lifetime. In 2nd grade, I, along with all of my class mates giggled as we prepared to get under our desks and kiss our asses goodbye. I grew up around doomsday cults and militias in the State of Montana. Growing up you always had that mindset of be prepared, have a plan, because you never know when an emergency may strike.

So instead of the anxiety that has been beaten into our caveman brains since time immemorial, we had a new anxiety to consume. Prepare for the end. And it was suppose to come many times. Under my desk in 1983, Y2K in 2000, The Maya Calendar ending in 2012, etc., I saw people, even friends believe that the end was neigh. And looking into the past, it seems humans have imagined that the world would end, that tragedy must befall them like the great civilization of Atlantis.

And for some people and civilizations, the world as ended many times. So I guess in the past we could say our demise was relative. But still anxiety inducing. Funny things about Brains is they were conditioned over millions of years to keep us alive and help us survive. Our brains have a tough time being happy, and let go of that anxiety.

So now it is 2026, and what has changed? Will WW3 start? Has it already? Will we be able to reverse, or at the very least, adapt to global climate change? Will AI make most labor useless, creating a power dynamic that could cause mass unemployment and civil unrest? I know these questions and more are on everyone's mind. And maybe the world doesn't end with a bang, but with a whimper, as we slowly give up the 3 things most important to us, our Minds, our Bodies and our Souls, to a system built on inequality and injustice. A system that only looks at you as a consumer, a data point, a number. All the while powerful men are playing powerful games, and have no idea of the outcome.

The powers that be double down on AI, thinking that only the robots can save us now. That we are so far gone with Global warming, that the only answer is to feed the robot our water and power, as drought sets in across the United States. Massive power outages, Storms, and other disruptions already effect millions, and instead of reversing our ways, we slowly poison ourselves further. So it is with a whimper, we descend into chaos and madness, albeit maybe only for awhile. Because all things come to an end, even the end of the world.