Not to be a downer, but it’s not great so far.

Hot take: The arc of history is bending in the right direction when you look at the world on the whole, but we are nearing the peak of the stress curve and it’s going to be very ugly when it snaps, particularly in the imperial core. There is a big conflict on the horizon between democracy and the forces of reaction which could erupt before the decade is out.

The biggest wildcard of course is what can and will be done about climate change. Climate change notwithstanding I think the future is bright for the global south as us influence collapses

The response (or lack thereof) to COVID in the west has served as a great example of what will happen with climate change on a shorter timeline. If there are some immediate one-off events that can’t be ignored (raging forest fires, flooding, hurricanes, etc) they will be responded to, but viewed as unavoidable. General reduced QoL will be accepted due to propaganda. No meaningful action will be taken by the powers that be, which will drive people to the political extremes. Due to the multi-billion dollar fascist propaganda complex and general background radiation of a century+ of the Red Scare, the majority of these people will become fascists.

Also the economy being increasingly built on obvious scams seems bad.

the parallels to the 1920s are making me a little nervous, ngl. pandemic, rising fascism, aftermath of a newly imposed world order breaking down into open conflict, looming catastrophic economic crisis, etc etc. all in all, very but i’m sure things will straighten out by the 30s and all will be fine

Hmmm

The golden age of the Internet and social media of the 2010s is long past. There was a special moment when people across the world could share hobbies and interests instantly. Most of us were on Reddit at one point for similar reasons. Twitter became the world’s open air forum.

Corporate media has created a walled garden out of the social media/Internet era. If it’s not on Facebook, Twitter, Google/YT, or tiktok, 99.99% of people aren’t going to see it. And if it is on those, and it’s any way controversial, it will be censored or shadowbanned.

While there have been many labor struggles to organize, overall, labor organization is floundering (see: media censorship) and is not any closer to presenting itself as a unified force (see: Occupy)

I think 2026 will be an important year because it will be the test of whether the activists from 2020 learned anything from that year’s unrest. Our enemy has no conscience and cannot be reasoned with. The opposition party doesn’t meet even the most barebones definition of the term. In 2020, we watched thousands of well-meaning protestors be brutalized by local, state, and federal forces. Some fought back and burned or occupied police stations, but what is there to show for that now? Tactics will need to be changed. The surveillance state makes action feel impossible. Many, many people will be victimized if they fight back.

Edit: didn’t mean to hit enter

The Democrats won’t save the West, neither will China. Truthfully, we probably won’t either.

The 2020s will be looked back on like the American 1850s: the road to unavoidable conflict

The focus on personality, celebrity, and media are seemingly more important to everyone more than strict, achievable goals. It’s a great time to be an opportunist. Everyone is chasing unreality. The attention economy has become incredibly real and is dominating politics. No movement exists to counter it, only those that want to dominate or capitalize on it.

I don’t know what’s next, but lazy historians will view the last few years as the obvious precursors to it.