In the year 3523, historians will undoubtedly look back 1500 years and reflect on the current time period as “The Age of Enfrightenment”. This period in history will be a turning point for mankind. It will witness the birth of a new species of homonid, Homo informatica, its meteoric rise, and abrupt extinction. Homo sapiens will not, however, escape the period unscathed. They too will suffer mass extinction. But not from dramatic climate change, global pandemics, a giant meteorite, or being sucked into a black hole. Rather, humankind will quite literally scare itself to death.
If there’s anything I’ve learned from Neanderthal economics, it is that hominids, in general, are quite predictable. Investigative anthropology shows, time and time again, that the preeminent species have a propensity for self destruction. Especially following periods of extended prosperity and stability. In the Information Age of today, our species is undergoing rapid genetic changes. Primarily, the overabundance of information is changing brain structure and mental processing. The new species of Homo informatica has lost the ability to process data and derive information from it. Rather they depend on favored sources to process data and present them with information. This not only absolves them of the burden of interpretation, it frees them from the consequences of misinterpretation.
An unexpected vision
Franklin D. Roosevelt had no idea how prophetic his words would become when he proclaimed, “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” 90 years later, governments, media, and rabble rousers across the globe would use fear to intimidate and oppress all of humanity. The fearmongering was so effective that Millennials refused to save for their futures because they knew they would be wiped out within 20 years. Children were coerced into thinking they were better off sterilizing themselves through ‘gender affirming care’, without which they were destined for suicide. Fear of climate disaster convinced entire cultures to abandon reliable energy. The “information” told only of the impending disaster, never accounting for the enhancements reliable energy brought such as clean water, reliable heating and cooling, advanced mobility, peace and prosperity.
The results of the age of enfrightenment were disastrous to mankind. Those who lived in fear ultimately died out and the fearmongering faded away due to lack of audience. Only fringes of humanity survived. And it would be hundreds of years before they would even attempt to build societies again.