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Hi people !

This is my second time posting on the off-topic forum, so I'm kinda new to discussing something else than W40k here. Forgive my English, it's late and I'm not a native English speaker.

A little context.

I'm 28 years old. Up till recently, I was a teacher. And I lost my job because of budget cuts and I seriously doubt I'll ever teach again.

Big deal you must think.

But here's the thing. One of my friend, an engineer working on contract didn't got another one for next year. So he's out of job for now. And his wife is giving birth to their daughter as I am speaking.

My brother in law is an electrician but can only find part-time jobs.

My father (62 years old), who was an inhalation therapist just got transferred to a less paying sector.

I could go on and on, but I think you get the idea.

When I was a kid, adults kept saying me that working hard, studying and getting a degree would give me a full-proof access to an easy life.

Yet I keep looking around me. All I can see is mediocrity.

The economy rarely seems to go well, and when it does, it doesn't really affect my life or the life of the people around me.

Whenever I watch tv, look at journals, or use FB to get my news, the world always seems to be on the verge of collapse.

Social media shows us the worst the human mind has to offer.

Every politician promise us salvation, but in the end, it's always a bitter disappointment.

When young people ask me for advice on what to do about their future, I can't give them an answer, for nothing seems secure.

Everything seems to be a gamble, with high risk, low rewards.

When I look at history books covering the post WW2 period, everything that happened after seems so bright and easy. Most of my former senior colleagues (when I was a teacher) tell me that it was easier back in their days.

Are our societies, in the Western World, seeing the end of a Golden Age ? If yes, what is there left for us ? Wherever I look, all I can see is disease, stupidity, ugliness, mediocrity and no chance for a better future. Is this it ? Is this the life we will live ? In mediocrity ? If yes, what is the point ?

 Peregrine wrote:
Not necessarily. It's certainly a rough time, and the end of the myth of Hard Work and Making Your Own Success and all that. Wealth inequality is a huge problem that needs to be addressed, and may even become a fatal one if we don't do anything about it. But it is possible for these problems to be overcome. It will take a willingness to accept that modern capitalism is not sustainable and replace it with a socialist/communist system that incorporates a guaranteed standard of living for all people, but that is a thing that can be done.

To be honest, my biggest fear is that this rough time equals the duration of my lifetime.

It's selfish, of course, but if it's true that happiness has an intrisic value that each individual should be free to pursue, then I feel kinda cheated.

 Xenomancers wrote:
You can't look at the futures economics in the same way as you look at them now. In this century we will see a rise of automation and computerized intelligence that is going to increase humanities abilities beyond anything we can imagine.

Humanity or humanities ?