Project Vision 21

Although all the evidence indicates that the future is no longer a continuity of the past and that we are not prepared for this new future, even so, there is an insistence on returning to a "normality" that was never normal because, if it had been, it would have allowed us to build a future, instead of languishing and dying amid the whims of a few.

We live, without a doubt, in that time of which Lao Tzu warned us millennia ago, the time in which the wicked destroy the world to satisfy their desire to reign, even if it means reigning over the ashes.

But how did we get to this moment? How is it possible that the unproductive people of society (manipulators and accumulators who sell themselves to the highest bidder, as Erich Fromm said) are the most recognized and best rewarded in society?

How is it possible that we confuse reality with fantasy, opinion with truth, perception with reality, the map with the territory, the part with the whole, the tree with the forest, the superfluous with the necessary, believing with thinking, and knowledge with wisdom?

A recent article by the Spanish philosopher Carlos Javier González Serrano offers a clue: we lack our own criteria. Or, in other words, we don't think for ourselves.

For example (my example, not González Serrano's), just two hours after the recent Oscars ceremony ended, stores ran out of dresses and hats that were very similar to those worn by the most famous actresses during that event.

The question then arises: Why do we no longer think for ourselves or have our own criteria? Because, as González Serrano rightly says, hyperstimulation, that is, the "noise" that constantly surrounds us, prevents us from developing the autonomy, independence, and judgment proper of a mature person.

I remember reading a report a few years ago about how the loud noise generated by large machines in remote places (mines, oil wells) affects the health of birds, because it prevents them from detecting the presence of predators and, therefore, the birds don't even leave. to look for food nor can they take care of their young.

Another “noise”, that of social networks, has a similar effect on us. González Serrano explains that the “noise” of a conflictive attitude, aggression towards others, divisive politics, and the excessive use of technology “has us cornered” and prevents us from “having intellectual arguments”.

In short, yes to memes, no to thinking.

Another Spanish philosopher, Daniel Innerarity, in a recent article, describes our time as the age of "harmful ignorance", that is, we have elevated the ignorant to high political positions from where they cause incredible damage for not seeking proper advice. There are plenty of examples of that kind of “superficiality”, “naivete” and “gullity” among people in government. 

As a result, knowledge is no longer appreciated, says Innerarity. That’s something so old that the prophet Isaiah already complained 2800 years ago about those who intentionally call good evil and light darkness.