#newrenaissance

It's very easy to become swept up in a misery vortex - we've all been there. But let's try and look at the flip side of a 2020 which has seen the media rain down shit storm after shit storm on an ill prepared and pinned down public.

Beneath the unfolding cyberpunk dystopia a new type of renaissance is emerging - an era of DIY media, crypto investing and freedom of expression which focuses on the value of creation and not the result of commercial gain which so often hijacks emerging tech (See: VR being subverted out the gate and cheapened by hacks in the advertising and marketing cottage industries - it was wrapped up and sold to big business as "The New Cool" distracting the talent from actually finding meaningful uses for VR in exchange for the fairy favours of a marketing project pay-day right from the get go).

It's too easy to say "that's it, we're in dystopia" throw in the towel and live the rest of your life under house arrest existing only for your next Amazon delivery and the hope you may retire while you remember who you are and with mostly operational bodily functions.

I've said it before, the one thing this dystopia is missing from the cyberpunk novels of the 90s is resistance. So why don't you consider that it is entirely possible for you to resist without taking up arms and getting gunned down by the man; that's the extreme they want you to fear, but I am here to tell you this is a fallacy. No one need go that far, the system has enough cracks and tech forces more open every single day. The avenues are presenting themselves; you can adopt an antifragile approach to this media funded apocalypse - every shit storm presents a new opportunity, a route to ride out stronger than you were before. What I am saying? Simply this; for heaven's sake fight back. If you're bright enough to be reading this, you're bright enough to adopt a healthy dose of self-determination not handed to you by anyone but you. Stop asking permission and decide what you really want.

Mischief - is one way to fight back. When the German people were told Jazz and other "American music" was banned, what did the clubs and singers do? They just sang the songs in German to the same tune - circumventing the totalitarian rules with a little bit of a nod and a wink. It was brave. It was full of mischief. It said "fuck you" with a minor act of rebellion which resounds through the ages.

Art - expressions of descent can shine through from the media and means of media production that we the people of the Internet now control and or operate. That's what has the powers that be riled, that's why they flood it with misinformation - and that misinformation -can- be countered with integrity and credibility on an individual level; you yourself can counter it by being an authentic human-being displaying compassion and empathy, will and soul, heart and steel. You can create for the right reasons, become known for it and the joy and value you bring, spread your signal far and wide and touch the lives of tens of thousands of other like minded people before anyone bent on stopping you even notices that you exist. To be clear this isn't "the future" I am talking about. It's now. You just have to resist the easy path. Resist the folly of celebrity worship, comfortable entertainment, and the lure of capital gains. There is more to life and deep down you fucking know it.

This is the new renaissance where anyone can send their message in any form they wish into the world and be recognised for the merit of it. Hell, you -can- even earn your keep this way if you have the will and something of real value to anyone's long-tail - and their are millions and millions of people out there just waiting for you, literally aching for someone to say something real and thrust it into their lives.

Will this period of opportunity last forever? History says, no... so strike while the iron is hot - seize the motherfucking day... and know this; those who bolt ahead during such rapid periods of change tend to not only stay ahead but -define what "being ahead" means- in the future.

So continue to rot in front of your misery porn box-set, or make a move, the choice though, is yours. Can you afford to regret doing nothing at zero hour? Could you live with that? Our society has a bad relationship with death so you'll have to - your life dragged out into your 90s milked for those "assets" you slaved yourself for by a system construct set up to ensure you've nothing to leave behind to anyone worth leaving it to. That's not how I want to go out.

It's always been just a matter of when, why and how - and this scenario is rock bottom for all three of those criteria.