All makes plenty of sense to me. I appreciate you not holding back. I think these things are rather plain to see, and I’m confident they will go down in history similarly.
I was worried I would read the entire thread without finding the only sound answer. Thanks for proving my worries unwarranted. UBI is a farce. Redistribution of basic commodities like housing and healthcare are the answer.
I also smoked when I was younger, because advertising gave me the information that it was “cool”, but hey, if it weren’t for the advertising I never would have known!
The industry org will hollow the others into facades. Proxies for public relations in service of the heads of industry. Happens every time. But kudos for going full anti-democracy from the start.
I am 32, I am great at making friends, have a wealth of friends all around the country, and have never been so devastatingly lonely, but the problem is economic, not cultural.
I worked in video production throughout my 20s. I am technically inclined and gravitated to post production. I was good at it and had a great reputation. The constant churn of new technology was fun for me. The problem was the industry turning to hiring feeelancers for every position except management. It is no longer a reliable way to make a living. I never had an interview without getting the job, but the rates I needed were no longer available, and it was increasingly rare that clients wanted quality work.
I tried changing careers before things got too bad, but my whole life and reputation were build around my existing career. I couldn’t pull it off in time. Rents in the west-coast city I lived in skyrocketed and the apartment building I lived in for 8 years was bought by some foreign investors. I tried to hang on but about 6 months was all I could do after that.
Still paying off my own student debt, and with so many other friends paying off useless degrees, I opted against going back to school so I am now living with my parents in a small midwest town studying web development while working a part-time minimum wage job. It feels completely unreal. I have been writing scripts for video post-production for years, so I had a head start at least.
Among my friends, I am hardly alone. Those who chose MBAs or a handful of other careers (like web development) are doing great and the rest of us are struggling with less and less control over our lives. This is still an anecdote but my point is this is much less about loneliness and more about precarity.