The Last Civilisation.

Every great civilisation dwindles and falls. Rome, Greece, Persian, Ethiopian etc. all fall in the end. They start youthful, energetic. They move to maturity where the rulers become a law to themselves and the lower class become so occupied putting food on the table they become tired, disillusioned and unable to call their rulers to account. In old age the rulers become fearful and full of strange self-serving ideas. This demise viewed from today is seen as sad, pathetic even funny but with little empathic connection. When it happens, is happening, to our British civilisation we’re in it rather than seeing it through the pink haze of history. Covid plus Brexit are the last two nails in our coffin. Covid will leave us with a huge bill and Brexit will cripple our ability to pay it off. What I personally rose on the back of, free and supported further education, working social services and the NHS are all shadows of their former selves. The optimism of “We’ve never had it so good” has been replaced by the depression of seeing Johnson and co frittering away our chances on some hair-brained scheme to get the wealthy better returns. Our new allegiance to America will only abuse us further. But this is the way of civilisations. We each have our day in the sun and our days in the dark. And the brash British youth of the industrial revolution has left the world, like Covid, much depleted. Humans have in effect become the Covid to much of nature killing off more than Covid ever could. Where those who call for empathy and awareness are voices on the wind those who believe the future lies with AI etc are lorded as profits of a new age. I despair. The world is and we are nature, as much as a squirrel, a tree, a mountain and its streams, all built from the same DNA. To leave that fold for binary silicone, however much it tickles our fancy, is to envisage an alternative universe and our wish to travel there. We’re building the algorithms, 5G and Windows 666 rocket as we speak. But we’ve become confused, disillusioned, unable to call our rulers to account. It’s a shame, and I suspect shameful to be the Last Civilisation.