Ugly as it is also impractical, in the long term, this kind of mentality additionally serves to illustrate the difference between those who would covet only the making of more meaningless counters; as opposed to those who want to make something meaningful that they can be proud of; something not only truly useful, but truly safe to use as well; throughout its entire operational lifespan.

As Capitalism has clearly shown us, however, one of these modes of operation has a future, and the other does not.

For Capitalism, of course, the choice has always been to cut corners, for the sake of bigger profits. And we have seen what that results in.

Now that the planet, and life in general, are making it clear that the unpaid debt, for this lack of wisdom, is no longer renegotiable. There will be no further refinancing rounds to carry the burden forward a few more decades as there is simply no more habitat capital, or life process carrying capacity, left to fiddle away with any longer. We've used it up and now it is time to change radically, or reap the whirlwind.

And do keep in mind that it is not just the poisons put, or the heat blocking molecules, or simple indifference to other people's safety, that is output here, and for which many suffer. It is also the very nature of our change in sensibilities; the way we perceive, and conceive of the world about us, and thus also of how we need to fit within that changing world. A fact brought about by the very nature of our changing, new forms of instrumentality; the new extensions of our faculties that demand new ways of engaging with the world (as Marshall McLuhan, and Harold Innis amply demonstrated in their books).

The upshot of this is that we now need meaningful involvement in depth, as opposed to the old notion of segmented, isolated, and unbelievably abstracted, kinds of machine work; work that is the hallmark of assembly line manufacturing, for the needs of mass production. So instead of being made to feel like we matter, and that we are needed, to keep our redefined, working communities going, we continue with the kind of production that mass consumption demands; with its terrible burden of economic marginalizations, to keep both the power status quo, and weaponized messaging, going to keep the hard sell going, to keep the consumption able to provide the ever more jobs for ever more people going. And so nobody trusts much of anything anybody else says anymore, and common ground becomes ever more difficult to find.

Yes, things are quite literally "Booming" these days. They are doing so,
however, as an impossibly old engine that's not only suddenly operating on a new, super fuel, but also operating with a transmission system that puts power, to old wheels, in the control of too few, and all operating with only one dictum: "More pedal to the metal, and damn the pieces flying off," just as long as we keep on doing more, faster. More profits, more money, more power to press the pedal down harder. For surely there will always be enough money to buy our way out of whatever. Right? Even if things fly to pieces all together?

So the question is, which type of person are you going to be now that our biggest choice as a species is staring us right between the eyes, and the clock is ticking.