During times of climate stability, we can get used to the environment working a certain way. Winter is cold, summer is hot, and there are infinite variations in between — we know these and rely on them to set our annual clocks. But if some of that balance is thrown off — sometimes natural forces like volcanic activity or manmade forces like burning of fuel for energy, these things we know get less reliable, and they can get more varied. Areas that typically would have been cold all winter get 60º days in December, January, or February and then dive headfirst into a Polar Vortex. What can also happen is that ocean currents that we rely on, for example, to keep Europe warm and temperate, can stop circulating, leading to a wildly different climate for an entire continent.
In the grand scheme of the cosmos, this is not “good” or “bad.” Weather changes on planets all the time, and according to the last estimate, there are 700 quintillion planets in the observable universe. Written differently, that is 700,000,000,000,000,000,000 planets. That means there are estimated to be more planets than all the grains of sand on every beach on planet Earth. Imagine holding a handful of sand and really taking in how many thousands of grains of sand are just in your hand. Now imagine just a hole you could dig and how many grains. Now imagine one beach. Now imagine ALL the beaches. It’s nearly impossible to fathom this scale, but it’s the best we can do.
All this to say that the weather changing on one continent, on one planet, in the outer rings of a single galaxy (out of about 250 billion galaxies) wouldn’t even make it to the last page of news in the newspaper of the universe. To us, this is huge, but to the cosmos, change is inevitable. We need to stop imagining that this planet was made for us and learn to cohabitate with it and keep it balanced. The planet will survive, but our comfort on it… is not guaranteed.
But just like when a climate event changes the ocean currents' patterns, things can change in people, too — big things.
I have spent my entire life acting as the “Lookout” on the ship — my eyes always sharply pinned to the horizon to help everyone avoid hardship. It’s a job I have done with distinction and with pride.
Unfortunately, there is a wildly afflicted human ill that makes this job daunting. Humans are extremely attached to being right and changing one’s mind seems to be difficult for most people. This manifests itself most strongly with me because I am the one often bringing the new data — sometimes about new and exciting technologies that people choose to be “afraid of” almost like it’s a game and they have to pick the opposite of my excitement about it, or sometimes it’s bad news about an old cause that was previously good and had good effects on the world. Tesla is a great example.
Tesla was a game-changer and totally responsible for the EV revolution we’re going through on a global scale. Globally, EV sales are reaching nearly 20% of new car sales in most international 1st world markets — some, like Norway, are at 80%+ all car sales are electric. There’s no stopping it at this point, and we’ll all breathe cleaner air (and hopefully avoid changing ocean currents) because of their work. Unfortunately, their CEO is now the #1 reason why people don’t want to buy their cars. He shares antisemitic conspiracy theories on Twitter and frequently makes decisions like cutting 50% of their quality control team that are damaging at best. They are no longer a company or group I can contribute to (so long as Elon is CEO).
If you, like me, became a Tesla fanboy and this is something that brought you joy, I can tell you first that I understand the disappointment of losing that source of joy and disappointment. But to ignore what IS in present time, is to willfully put yourself, your investments, and your credibility on the line for someone or something that doesn’t at all deserve it.
Humane (Humane.com) is another great example. A company I truly believed was ushering in the age of the AI-first device shipped an incomplete device that overheats regularly and can’t even set a timer or reminder. Not only that, but it doesn’t even have the ability to interact with your phone at all and requires a totally new phone number that can’t sync with your phone. The launch even prompted this review from best-of-the-best YouTube tech guru MKBHD: “The Worst Product I’ve Ever Reviewed… For Now”. So Humane, too, is a company I can no longer support — and as someone who spent the last few months studying every single piece of their long-term mission and goals and what the product was aiming to be, my disappointment is deeply felt.
Now, if I am the one bringing you this news, and you already felt strongly about either one — you may misidentify me with the breakdown in reality & affinity you are now feeling about the thing I have informed you about.
Furthermore… your upset, disappointment, and your bad feelings will now have me wrapped up in them. So, for my efforts to protect your time, your money, your peace — I have now paid a price of lowering the affinity and reality between you and I.
Should I really have to carry this burden? Am I a sacrificial lamb for the well-being of everyone around me?
For my entire life, I have been — and more than one fight has been fought, friendship ended, and upset caused due to someone not being able to easily accept that the information I’m bringing them was not my doing. I share more good news than bad, but I have not shied away from sharing the informational bad news when I felt it protected my people from loss or embarrassment.
But, like once-strong ocean currents that eventually wear down in a new and changed climate, I, too, have changed. I am no longer looking to fight for and be the sacrificial lamb.
On a personal note, I have been recently returning to advice and wisdom from my personal hero and lifelong inspiration, Steve Jobs, and have again been studying Zen Buddhism. I am finding a sense of peace with myself that allows me to move mountains within and for myself.
In a world so full of technology, A.I., rampant consumerism, climate change, and the decreasing value of human lives and human workers — how could one not seek to find a way to STOP… breathe… and connect with nature and with other people? How could one not want to seek to help turn the tide toward connection and quality time instead of flowing more power to the ever-growing machinery of global capitalism? I choose to do this with ancient Buddhist Traditions and mindful breathing. You choose what’s best for you.
If deep connection is what I seek, then I can not waste that connection and that quality time being the informant, the messenger, for people who can not easily accept the information I want to protect them with. I will need to find another way to be valuable to them and worth their friendship. I’m not exactly funny, so humor won’t do it — but kindness, support, and a steady presence… these things I can offer.
The old steady ocean current once known and relied on, like the North Atlantic Current may do in our lifetime, has transformed. A Sea Change in more ways than one. It is not good or bad; it’s simply a change, and it just may be more good or more bad to specific people—but we will come to understand this new reality and its new effects. This, too, will come to bring benefits we did not previously know possible in its previous form.
