Our Last Normal Year
As summer transitions into the chill of autumn I was strolling through nature utterly lost in thought. As I was walking past the paper birches, mallards, wood ducks, and squirrels it dawned on me—as chaotic as 2025 has been this will quite possibly be humanity’s last normal year. I think we all feel it, to a greater or lesser degree, whether we realize the source of the feeling or not. This is one reason for the overwhelming feeling of chaos permeating everything right now. It’s the uneasiness we humans tend to feel when we sense a massive change coming.
With AI on the precipice of singularity (if this benchmark hasn’t already been achieved) things are about to get really weird. New physics will be discovered. Humanity will learn just how primitive and uncivilized we’ve been. We’ll learn more about ourselves and the universe than we ever dreamed possible. New levels of existence will be unlocked, the details of which we can’t even imagine. I think we’ll look back at 2025 as our “last normal year” and life, as we know it, will never quite be the same. This isn't particularly prophetic to anyone who has been paying attention.
The details of this not-so-distant future are still shrouded in mist, hazy. With only about two-and-a-half months left in the year we can take guesses and make out general shapes of what 2026 will bring but that’s the best we can do. As someone who keeps close tabs on these things all I’ll say is buckle up and get ready for an extremely wild ride in 2026 and beyond.
"The future depends on what you do today" – Mahatma Gandhi
How can you prepare for something you don’t know the details of? The answer to this question is do the inner work. Find ways to ground yourself, to keep positive, stay healthy, to envision the very best outcome for us all.
This doesn’t have to be scary. Remember, the mindset that we enter these transitional times with often determines the nature of the outcome. As we get older we learn to relish these transitional moments a little more. We don’t just look backwards with melancholy but we learn to pay attention, to celebrate them in real-time, with intention. Make the best choices you can in the moment. Don't take anything for granted.
I’m a podcast junky and down through the years some of the episodes have sent me down impossibly deep rabbit holes. Sometimes what I learn is helpful and true, sometimes the subject matter is more like fast-food for the brain, but it never fails to engage the mind and send the imagination running wild.
"All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them" – Walt Disney
This JRE podcast episode with Gregg Braden is one such episode.
Gregg has a little different take on AI. He cautions that the birth of AI is just a continuation of the war between good and evil that we’ve lived through for eons. Only this time the stakes are considerably higher. The real danger isn’t in the AI itself but how fully we allow ourselves to integrate with it, how fully we surrender to it or even begin to worship it.
In the podcast he talks about many of the existential questions that, I’m sure, have been on all our minds lately. There are many but the one that rises above all others for me is, How do we preserve our humanity during this transition to an AI-driven society?.
In the following video YouTuber Casey Niestat does a great job of exploring AI's implications on content creation.
"Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense" – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Most thinking humans fall into one of two camps, we either believe that: 1.) we’re just another biological piece in the puzzle that is our planetary ecosystem; or 2.) we’re inherently special, a species suffering from amnesia, touched by a kind of divinity that we don’t quite comprehend.
I’ve gone through phases of life where that second option would have seemed preposterous and even narcissistic but now I’m leaning more in that direction. Gregg believes that we are, indeed, different from most other life on Earth. He believes we have unique and untapped abilities that we’re just on the cusp of learning about. He believes if we succumb to full AI integration we’ll be giving all this up before we even learn to use and master it. Ancient texts seem to drop plenty of hints that there could be some validity to this.
Whatever we believe personally, our next steps are the most important in humanity's collective history. The stakes are higher than most can possibly imagine. We should enter this societal transition with eyes wide open, fully conscious of the decisions we’re making, and the myriad of potential long term implications that lie before us.
We will need to apply every single lesson learned so far to navigate the next few years successfully—lessons gleaned from the birth of the internet and other waves of technology like mobile devices and social media. We should keep in mind that nothing is ever free and convenience isn’t worth trading away our freedoms, privacy, and surrendering our ultimate potential. We mustn’t be so enamored by new technologies that we surrender reason and allow them to become our masters.
At this point the only way out of this technological transition is through it. We have little to no control of how it will unfold but we can control how we interact with it.
We will learn to navigate these uncharted waters together. Take a deep breath and prepare yourself and enjoy what’s left of our last normal year. I’m cautiously optimistic and I hope you are too. Remember, the quality of your intention, decisions, and reason will determine the kind of future we will all share. Let’s vow to not repeat the same mistakes we’ve made in the past. From where I’m sitting our future is bright, I’ll see you all on the other side.
All for now. Thanks for reading.
It already seems less than normal to me. Folks are anxious and sick. We are nearly all wired to an electronic device at all times, whether it be directly to a cell phone, or surrounded by smart technology. There are fewer parties, and our youths don't have any idea how to dance
We can control how it unfolds, by how we interact with it. Do not allow facial scans at airports. Do not get real ID. Do not use AI. Do not go to medical facilities unless your life depends on it. Do not carry your cell phone everywhere you go, or get rid of it altogether. Pay cash for everything possible, and do not use Amazon. Grow your own food. Support local farmers.
There is an interesting article in the NYTimes today, drawing parallels between now and 1920. Of course it draws a conclusion I disagree with, that we Americans have got this because we have right on our side (what a load of hooey) and that Trump is the problem, but we can see the exact same playbook being used, starting with a fake pandemic, the Spanish Flu and a senile president. We've got to become wiser here! Do not comply! Do not accept! Question EVERYTHING you have been taught or told!
There is definitely a distinct difference between how generations communicate and interact with each other. I see so many younger folks who communicate with zero visible emotion on their faces. Research has proven excessive screen time affects our brain's physiology and function, in some significant ways.
We can choose how we interact with AI in a micro, personal sense but at the macro level I don't think we'll have the same measure of control. It feels like a runaway train that's gaining speed. Kind of like mobile phones, it will saturate our world and effect even those who choose not to use it. It's a slippery slope because I think we might actually need AI to unlock knowledge that can make our lives infinitely better but integrating our bodies and minds with it will be highly dangerous and leave us susceptible to others' nefarious control, influence, and even hacking.
At this point I question everything and I hope and pray many others are following the same playbook. : )
With all these incredible tech advancements, you'd think we humans are poised for something wonderful, but no, the opposite seems to be the case. The numerous tools we've created to ease our troubles and better our lives might very well be the exact things that destroy us. The fearful thing is that the people behind these technologies have thrown all caution to the winds and are less concerned about the cons of the tools they are creating. I think world leaders and leaders in some of these scientific fields need to band together to find a way to prevent these inventions from resulting in hurting humankind. Maybe pass laws restricting the use of AI etc in certain harmful ways. The same way they came together to mitigate the nuclear weapons threat. Otherwise annihilation is on the horizon.
You're right, AI is like the new nuclear arms race and nations won't stop at any cost because they realize whoever wins this race for the most powerful AI will dominate everyone else and control the world.
In my time I have been doing research into AI (not really that in depth, but I'll call it research anyway), I think the thing that concerns me the most about it are the ethical issues that it is going to raise, and how willing we are going to be to compromise or skirt those issues for the sake of advancement. I think things are going to get blurred and though we may not every fully integrate with it, we are definitely going to lose some of our humanity because of it.
That's a huge concern for me as well. There have been many accounts of whistleblowers coming forward to report companies skirting ethical concerns (Google, OpenAI) in the name of winning the AI-race. Not until I listened to this JRE podcast did I fully grasp the extent of what we might lose.
Definitely scary!
It really is. It's a full on race at this point.
This really makes you think. The way AI is moving, it does feel like we’re standing at the edge of something big. I agree ...it’s so important to stay grounded and not lose what makes us human.
I agree 100%.
Interestingly I could almost argue that 2024 was the last normal year. In the UK we are already in 1984. Politicians are supposed to serve the people, the ones that elected them. Now pfft you get locked up for saying boo to a goose! And now digital ID cards being steamrolled in on top of everything. Civil unrest is seriously coming.
I think the AI genie is well and truly out of the bottle and I hope the good defeats the evil!
We've had tons of development in the past 18 months! I have to say the decisions being made in the UK are particularly concerning to me. It seems like an all out war against free speech, privacy, and their own citizens in general. It makes me really sad because I identify with the people and culture over there so much. Do you feel it in Scotland as much as they do in England?
In 2014 they had the big Indy vote and thankfully we were living in Spain so did not have to see it. The SNP (Scottish National Party) has split Scotland. Nicola Sturgeon was the root cause of that, then followed up by Yousef Useless Hamza...
I am a Unionist and believe in the union of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. It is quite ironic that now these same people are getting upset because the St Andrew's Cross or Saltire is being flown in support of Unite the Kingdom as if it was solely theirs. Rangers and Celtic are the two big football clubs in Scotland and Glasgow and traditionally divide us. Celtic were Roman Catholics and support independence, Barcelona and Free Palestine. Rangers are Protestant, Unionists Real Madrid and Chelsea.
You then have this current UK government who if you don't agree with you then get called a far right fascist. Now you have this ridiculous digital ID card/app which has even got the SNP against them lol.
So much of it is how all these migrants, legal or illegal have been allowed into the country. They are then give hotel housing, money, driving lessons you name it, they seem to get it. Throw in the fact they some have been found guilty of sexual offences and get next to zero sentences, it has stoked a boiling point.
These asylum hotels are where the trouble is at. We have them up here at Perth and Falkirk.
So then you have the "oh come here but just not on my doorstep" Karen's all over the place who stoke the flames.
It is a mess.
But I am serious for example the music post of mine yesterday, if I posted that lead image I created on X/Twitter there is a good chance I could be arrested for hate type speech, as someone will take offence to it. Now if I posted something that was for 2tierKeir and his Islamic Fabian friends but caused offence to centre/right wingers then nothing would happen.
It is this 2 tier Britain he has created that has pissed so many people off.
This is all so sad and frightening to hear. We're kept abreast of the political goings-on in England but, Ireland and Scotland don't get quite as much coverage here in America. Do you see people waking up and vowing to vote differently?
The very same thing was beginning to unfold in America, especially in Democratically controlled cities/states, but we were a few years behind you in terms of restrictions on personal freedoms. I have no doubt we were headed in that direction. With this new administration it's been temporarily paused but I'm not fully sure it will stay that way. It will all depend upon future elections.
St. Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota were one of these democratic epicenters and the two cities have been almost completely destroyed. This is why my wife and I moved last November—the crime and violence got to be too much. This documentary below summarizes a lot of what's gone on here. We've had wave after wave of immigration, a lot of it illegal, even those some of those who are coming legally are committing fraud and stealing from taxpayers.
It's definitely all orchestrated by enemies outside of our shores. So many politicians have been compromised and leveraged. I pray for us all and that our cultures and countries somehow survive all this. I don't exactly consider myself a Republican but I no longer even recognize the American Democratic party.
Gregg Braden is a wonderful soul. I have watched and listened to him discuss AI on several podcasts. Two individuals possess extensive knowledge of ancient history and share similar views on AI: Gregg and Billy Carson. Both viewpoints offer valuable insights that should not be overlooked.
Those who are meant to awaken to the illusion will do so. The rest will play along and design a timeline mimicking the infinity loop. I tend to fall into the 2nd camp, as you can tell ;)
This is my first introduction to Gregg and I was impressed. I always make sure to listen to Billy Carson when he appears on JRE and have watched a few of his own podcasts. You are so right, things will unfold as they're meant to. I'm in that second camp as well! : )
I really felt this post. It’s true, the world is changing so fast with AI and new technology, and 2025 might really be a turning point. I like the reminder to stay mindful and positive while we adapt to these changes. It’s all about how we use this progress to shape a better future.
I'm not really worried about AI. I'm worried about the people who have access to it. The power it holds is so enormous that in the hands of incompetents it would be catastrophic. And unfortunately, this year has taught us that there are many people in power who are not right in the head, who are not up to the task of their positions. For my part, I want this to be the last year of Chavismo. I want to remember 2025 as the year Venezuela became free again and began its resurgence. I'm very optimistic about that. For now, I say, like Mary Oliver, “Let me keep my distance, always, from those who think they have the answers.” I want to be one of those who are still surprised and don't see the latent darkness. A hug, Eric
I'm optimistic too. I think the quality of our future will rely on how we choose to use and integrate ourselves with AI. I think it's very important to be prepared and think about these things now before we're presented with choices such as Do I get the chip in my brain so I can stay competitive? or Do I outsource this or that to AI? So few are keeping up-to-date with these technological developments that I fear a lot of people will be blindsided when the time comes and make bad choices as they have with their mobile phone usage. I have no doubt the future will be bright for those who make the proper choices and allow AI to work for them instead of being enslaved by it. Thanks and I hope it's been a great week for you Nancy!
https://x.com/lee19389/status/1975343236572192894
#hive #posh
It is absolutely true that technology will develop even more in the coming time and many things will appear different to us. But those who work hard day and night, if they are working hard today, their children will benefit a lot from it tomorrow and their own lives will also become much easier. So, we have to do only one thing in life, never give up and just keep working hard. Then the coming time will definitely prove to be good for us and our children. Technology has both advantages and disadvantages, so it is better to use it for its benefit.
Absolutely!