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State of the Planet: 2023 Edition
2 years ago
Here we are once again. Hours to go until the new year is upon us. Even though when you read this you may very well be in the future, it's time once again to use the few hours we have left in 2023 to take a look at the state of the planet.
And...what a state it is. I said last year that 2022 may have very well been the inflection point for this decade, the moment that the 2020's truly began to come into their own. I think that's held true for this year, even though it still feels like folks are trying to find their feet in some aspects. But even in all this confusion and uncertainty, there is still progress to be had.
So let's take a look back at some of the good things that happened this year:
*The European Parliment commited to ending the sale of petrol and diesel fueled vehicles in the EU by 2035 in an effort to push the adoption of electric vehicles.
*The High Seas Treaty was signed by the member states of the UN, this treaty commits to the conservation of 30% of the world's oceans by 2030.
*The ozone hole continues to shrink, projections have it on track to recover to 1980's levels by 2050.
*Finland became the 31st member of NATO.
*The World Health Organization declared that COVID-19 and Monkeypox are no longer a global health emergencies.
*The first synthetic human embryo was created from the use of stem cells.
*The African Union became the 21st permanent member of the G20 (wouldn't it be G21 now?).
*Katalin Karikó & Drew Weissman won the Nobel Prize in medicine for their contributions towards the development of mRNA vaccines against COVID-19.
*The FDA approved of a treatment for sickle cell disease involving the use of the gene-editing technique Crispr.
*Scientists announced the ability to use AI to decode people's thoughts from brain scans.
*King Charles III ascended to the throne in the UK.
*Pope Francis decreed that Roman Catholic priests would be allowed to bless same-sex marraiges.
*Mexico decriminalized abortion at the federal level.
*Despite projections of a recession, the United States economy experienced it's biggest growth since before the pandemic, adding 2.5 million jobs and inflation decreasing to 3.1%.
*Spain won the Women's World Cup for the first time in a 1-0 victory over England.
*SpaceX's fully stacked Starship flew twice this year, the largest rocket to ever fly (now if only they can get it to stop exploding).
*The Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) was launched by the European Space Agency, it's expected to arrive at Jupiter in 2031.
*The European Ariane 5 rocket flew its 117th and final mission.
*India's Chandrayaan-3 landed at the Moon's south pole, the first spacecraft to do so.
*Oppenheimer and Barbie released the same day in theaters and the internet had a lot of fun with that.
*Michigan went 13-0 agian and won their third straight Big Ten championship (BEAT BAMA!)
*The Pistons actually won a game before the end of the year.
Remember all that? It's okay if you didn't. But once again, this is where I'm at right now.
You are in the future. Every single word on this post is already confined to the history books. How you remember this year is ultimately up to you, but keep in mind that the reason I make these posts is a counterpoint to the many forces out there who have a lot to gain if everyone is under the impression that everything is always terrible all the time.
And that leads me to my word of the year. It's a bit unusual but I think it fits:
The word of the year is: Perception.
At our core, all of us are truth seekers. Whether it's objective truth or personal truth, we all want to find it. One of the benefits of the internet age that, in my opinion, gets taken for granted is that we now have more information available to us than at any time in human history. Our ancestors had to deal with incomplete and contradictory information, but now we can find out pretty much anything in a matter of seconds.
But with that information comes a host of issues. We unfortunately live in an age where a commitment to objective truth is being overshadowed by a desire for personal truth. We're putting less emphasis on what is true and more on what we want to be true. Unfortunately, as Carl Sagan once said, our preferences do not determine what is true.
And there are those who seek to exploit this. There are people in this world that are willing to alter your own perception on how things are. But not to benefit you, but to benefit them. They wish to take advantage of your desire for your own beliefs to be validated for time evermore and turn that against you, so that they can create a better world for themselves even at your own expense.
But you can stop them. All you have to do is be aware that perception doesn't always equal reality.
2024 will be a consequential year. For one thing, it's an election year in the United States which means the stakes are high enough as is. There will be a lot of consequential events over the next 366 days (yay for leap years!), and a lot of people that you've never met will be trying to tell you how to think and what to believe.
Remember that at the end of the day, the most important values are the ones you hold dear. Just because something gets a lot of engagement on your socials doesn't mean it's the best way to contextualize something. Don't allow your beliefs and values to be compromised for the sake of fitting in with trends or trying to cash in on some vague notion of importance; especially when there's people trying to exploit that at your expense.
The first step to healthy civic engagement is a body politic that is informed and questioning. It will do you no harm to read up on whatever topic is trending on the socials. It will only make you informed and then you will be able to decide if a position or a policy is truly the right one for you, based on what you hold to be important.
Knowledge can be scary at times. It may cause us to reevaluate our position, as well as come to realize that something we felt or believed or even wished to be true now has to be totally re-examined in a new light. But all that is what helps us grow, that's what helps us evolve and become stronger.
They used to tell us that "knowledge is power." I can tell you that knowledge only makes you better.
Remember these words as you head into the new year. Rather than wishing for your perception to be reality, base your perception on reality.
And then those who thrive on the exploitation of ignorance will have no power over you.
Have a great New Year's Eve, friends. And I'll see you all in 2024.
Helios.
And...what a state it is. I said last year that 2022 may have very well been the inflection point for this decade, the moment that the 2020's truly began to come into their own. I think that's held true for this year, even though it still feels like folks are trying to find their feet in some aspects. But even in all this confusion and uncertainty, there is still progress to be had.
So let's take a look back at some of the good things that happened this year:
*The European Parliment commited to ending the sale of petrol and diesel fueled vehicles in the EU by 2035 in an effort to push the adoption of electric vehicles.
*The High Seas Treaty was signed by the member states of the UN, this treaty commits to the conservation of 30% of the world's oceans by 2030.
*The ozone hole continues to shrink, projections have it on track to recover to 1980's levels by 2050.
*Finland became the 31st member of NATO.
*The World Health Organization declared that COVID-19 and Monkeypox are no longer a global health emergencies.
*The first synthetic human embryo was created from the use of stem cells.
*The African Union became the 21st permanent member of the G20 (wouldn't it be G21 now?).
*Katalin Karikó & Drew Weissman won the Nobel Prize in medicine for their contributions towards the development of mRNA vaccines against COVID-19.
*The FDA approved of a treatment for sickle cell disease involving the use of the gene-editing technique Crispr.
*Scientists announced the ability to use AI to decode people's thoughts from brain scans.
*King Charles III ascended to the throne in the UK.
*Pope Francis decreed that Roman Catholic priests would be allowed to bless same-sex marraiges.
*Mexico decriminalized abortion at the federal level.
*Despite projections of a recession, the United States economy experienced it's biggest growth since before the pandemic, adding 2.5 million jobs and inflation decreasing to 3.1%.
*Spain won the Women's World Cup for the first time in a 1-0 victory over England.
*SpaceX's fully stacked Starship flew twice this year, the largest rocket to ever fly (now if only they can get it to stop exploding).
*The Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) was launched by the European Space Agency, it's expected to arrive at Jupiter in 2031.
*The European Ariane 5 rocket flew its 117th and final mission.
*India's Chandrayaan-3 landed at the Moon's south pole, the first spacecraft to do so.
*Oppenheimer and Barbie released the same day in theaters and the internet had a lot of fun with that.
*Michigan went 13-0 agian and won their third straight Big Ten championship (BEAT BAMA!)
*The Pistons actually won a game before the end of the year.
Remember all that? It's okay if you didn't. But once again, this is where I'm at right now.
You are in the future. Every single word on this post is already confined to the history books. How you remember this year is ultimately up to you, but keep in mind that the reason I make these posts is a counterpoint to the many forces out there who have a lot to gain if everyone is under the impression that everything is always terrible all the time.
And that leads me to my word of the year. It's a bit unusual but I think it fits:
The word of the year is: Perception.
At our core, all of us are truth seekers. Whether it's objective truth or personal truth, we all want to find it. One of the benefits of the internet age that, in my opinion, gets taken for granted is that we now have more information available to us than at any time in human history. Our ancestors had to deal with incomplete and contradictory information, but now we can find out pretty much anything in a matter of seconds.
But with that information comes a host of issues. We unfortunately live in an age where a commitment to objective truth is being overshadowed by a desire for personal truth. We're putting less emphasis on what is true and more on what we want to be true. Unfortunately, as Carl Sagan once said, our preferences do not determine what is true.
And there are those who seek to exploit this. There are people in this world that are willing to alter your own perception on how things are. But not to benefit you, but to benefit them. They wish to take advantage of your desire for your own beliefs to be validated for time evermore and turn that against you, so that they can create a better world for themselves even at your own expense.
But you can stop them. All you have to do is be aware that perception doesn't always equal reality.
2024 will be a consequential year. For one thing, it's an election year in the United States which means the stakes are high enough as is. There will be a lot of consequential events over the next 366 days (yay for leap years!), and a lot of people that you've never met will be trying to tell you how to think and what to believe.
Remember that at the end of the day, the most important values are the ones you hold dear. Just because something gets a lot of engagement on your socials doesn't mean it's the best way to contextualize something. Don't allow your beliefs and values to be compromised for the sake of fitting in with trends or trying to cash in on some vague notion of importance; especially when there's people trying to exploit that at your expense.
The first step to healthy civic engagement is a body politic that is informed and questioning. It will do you no harm to read up on whatever topic is trending on the socials. It will only make you informed and then you will be able to decide if a position or a policy is truly the right one for you, based on what you hold to be important.
Knowledge can be scary at times. It may cause us to reevaluate our position, as well as come to realize that something we felt or believed or even wished to be true now has to be totally re-examined in a new light. But all that is what helps us grow, that's what helps us evolve and become stronger.
They used to tell us that "knowledge is power." I can tell you that knowledge only makes you better.
Remember these words as you head into the new year. Rather than wishing for your perception to be reality, base your perception on reality.
And then those who thrive on the exploitation of ignorance will have no power over you.
Have a great New Year's Eve, friends. And I'll see you all in 2024.
Helios.
We may be truth seekers, we are also lazy and cowardly. That is to say, we need to work on ourselves. Look for information instead of waiting for it to be delivered to us on a silver plater. Because the cook will have seasoned it to its own appreciation. Finally, we may fiercely defend our values when they are threatened in a debate with someone else, it's much more convoluted to look within ourselves and face our already-established truths. We don't want to admit we were wrong nor disturb our own personal comfort. I saw how many hold so dear their values that even an honest criticism on them is confused as an attack on their person. "My values are wrong so I'm wrong". There is some detachment that is required on that aspect in order to grow as a person.
Thank you for bringing a reasonable amount of hope (that is to say highlighting the positive throughout this year without trying to cradle us with illusions) for the upcoming events of 2024.
Cheers mate Wishing you the best for 2024.