Democracy of Ants
Realizing we couldn't change the world even if we wanted to. It is a machine, a monstrosity with its own will. Or rather, its own momentum. A chain reaction fueled by choices made over thousands of years. A continuous avalanche.
We seem to have this naive idea that it can be changed. That politicians can make a difference. But then you realize that the politicians are not chosen consciously and rationally, but by the mob, by the chain reaction itself. It could not have been any other way.
Imagine an ant that suddenly became conscious. It could change nothing. Nothing it could say could change the constant march.
The sheer number of people you would need to convince to make but a small change? Staggering. The whole system? Incomprehensible.
I once heard a Danish socialist politician state that the only way to make change is through armed revolution. At the time I laughed at him. But now I think it might be true?
Democracy is not the monstrosity, but the slope that keeps the avalanche going. What happens when it ends?
I believe we have the resources and knowledge to fix the world. But how do we stop the machine for long enough that we can fix it?