Welcome to Dystopia — UK Gameshow Has ‘Pay Energy Bills’ as Prize

It’s so dark and about to get even darker

Image by Ishwar Artist from Pixabay

When sipping a few pilsners and contemplating the state of the world, I often wonder what it would be like to travel back in time and ask people what they think the world would be like in 2022. It depends on the era, but even for most of the 20th century, they couldn’t have imagined the technology we currently have but would probably have assumed that more pressing issues would have been solved by now.

Not that long ago, economists predicted technology would feed and house everyone while allowing us all 15-hour work weeks and plenty of leisure time to read, relax, try psychedelics, and bond with our fellow humans — a prediction that seems like nothing more than a cruel joke at this point.

Especially post-WWII, there was little reason not to extend that line of human progress continually upward until one hits the present.

Instead, we got the cool tech, but it’s all in service of capital accumulation at the top while the rest of us peasants are working harder than ever and struggling with the highest levels of stress, chronic illness, and now a cost of living crisis.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: that phrase is dystopian as f*ck.