There are turning points in history in which the future is not predictable as a projection of past. The industrial revolution was one such turning point. Human civilisation has been agrarian nearly its entire existence. Most people were involved in agriculture. That changed only in the mid-19th century. Textile factories, the telegraph, and the railroads promised to bring great change. Industrialists were replacing the landed gentry as national leaders. Skilled craftsmen were being replaced by unskilled factory workers. The year it all came to a head was 1848.
For many reasons, there were attempts at revolution that year in France, the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Romania, and the Austrian Empire — but most attempts were aimed at creating the kind of social welfare state that the EU now harbours. France enacted legislation to provide for the right to work. Sweden enacted poverty relief legislation the year before.
Yet there was another choice that year: the neofeudalism that industrialists and landlords offered. This was the choice of long hours, low pay, high rent, no sanitation, and hazardous working conditions.
In the end, Charles Dickens’ London would indeed have its day. Precisely when Britain was at its industrial and colonial zenith — when it had the wealth and reach to do anything — it would make itself famous for mind-shattering poverty. This was a choice. It would not be before the 1920s that any serious attempt would be made to bridle industrial rule of civilisation.
There are points in history when things can go either way. One can see many trends, some even contradictory. At the end of the day, some trends become dominant and others become recessive. We are now at another such inflection point.
Recent college graduates are facing a job apocalypse because there are relatively few things they can do that ChatGPT cannot do better. It is not clear how they are to get middle-level jobs without entry-level experience. It looks like the end of a road.
The evolution of the financial system has made home ownership increasingly unlikely for a greater percentage of the population. Low interest or no interest money has fuelled price speculation. Hedge funds have taken huge amounts of residential housing off the market and have made it available as expensive rental property.
In fewer and fewer hands has come an unprecedented accumulation of money, real estate, copyright, and patents. In the US, democracy itself has collapsed under the weight.
These trends are beckoning the neofeudalism that dominated the last half of the 19th century. How ever, in 2025, there are no other trends. The political reponses seem to be:
- slow the process (the political left)
- accelerate the process (the political right).
We are looking at populations that are not educated enough to understand that neither of these approaches is in their long-term interests. In fact, both of these approaches is the same approach, with different harshness settings. Dickens’ London, with world-wide franchises, seem well on the way to a new dawn.
Remember, in Dickens’ London, people did not fight over potable water. They drank the water they were given, and died from cholera in droves. In Dickens’ London, there were no food riots. People starved to the point of succumbing to respiratory illnesses, and observers shrugged their shoulders. Humans are capable of accepting such conditions. The fact that Americans receive health care only through allegiance to corporations and the fact that other Americans die from lack of affordable health care, is evidence that Neo-feudalism has never become unthinkable.
What are we to do in these final twilight years?
First, there is no point in being the modern version of Luddites. Change has already happened and more is coming. There is no point in putting hope in democracies that billionaires own. There is no reason to make sacrifices to move up in economies that are owned by billionaires. There is no reason to post on their social media. There is no reason to believe their news, eat their processed food, watch their nightmarish movies.
Humanity can, and has, made better showings of itself.
Sometimes, history calls upon a generation, like the generation that saw WWII, to make heavy sacrifices. That generation lost homes, jobs, and family members to make possible the world order we grew up in. Similarly, the current generation must pay for the generations that follow.
Each person of courage must decide what kind of future humanity deserves. This is a personal decision. It is not a political party, and it is not a movement. There is nothing to argue about, no consensus to wait for. Once you have your vision worked out, your life is over. You commit it to that vision.
The primary method — the minimal action — must be to boycott everything that does not belong to your vision of a sustainable, worthwhile future. There is no way to get comfortable, so you might as well get even.
If your vision of the future is without hatred, then ditch social media platforms whose business model relies on hatred. Stop watching movies about killer cops. If your future is healthy, stop buying high-fructose bottled drinks. Stop eating highly processed food. Replace pharmaceuticals with dietary changes, where possible. If your future is free of fascism, do not travel to countries that are experimenting with it, and do not buy their products. If your future has equity, join a co-op. If your future has collective decision-making, join a group that makes decisions collectively. Live the future you want now.
None of these things is convenient. You must remind yourself that you are in the resistance now. It’s inconvenient. Thankfully, this time, that is all it is.
None of these things by itself is a revolution, but repeated among millions of other people, there is a cross-section that emerges — this is change.
