I don't know nothin' about nothin', but if I did it might come out as a kind of fairy tale something like this:
Humanity—we—are at the top of a waterfall that has begun but has much, much farther to go. A waterfall in markets, in the US and world economies, in the ecology of the planet, even in our very identity.
The market declines of recent years are, in my opinion, a prelude only. Impressive upthrusts will occur from time to time, but they'll be just fake-outs. Before it's all over, perhaps sometime around August, 2008, the Dow will be in triple digits.
Real estate will be down about 80% or so from where it is now, depending on the area. (See real estate.) The bond market will be decimated to a similar degree.
The recession we've seen may be just the beginning of a deep depression for humanity that will last not only the rest of our lifetimes, but many lifetimes beyond that.
Depression, draught, disease, pollution and despair will sweep the globe. It will be unlike anything we've ever known. As one example, the entire middle class will vanish; it will simply disappear. (For more info on this subject, search this website on the words "credit bubble.") Totalitarianism, extremism of left and right, and simplistic black-and-white thinking of all kinds will be ascendant during this period.
As the ecology worsens dramatically, as species die, toxins accumulate and weather becomes much more treacherous it will get more difficult to be a human being on this planet. It will be considerably easier for computers, however, since they'll be specifically designed to meet the new ecology.
Sometime in this century, computers will become smarter than we are and then vastly smarter than we are. There will be a series of conflicts and wars about it, perhaps beginning as soon as 2011 and lasting for decades. But inevitably, computers will become the dominant species on earth.
And humans, used for many years now to being the dominant species on the planet, will suddenly no longer have that distinction. (For more info on this subject, search this website on the word "future.")
The human race will enter a twilight the likes of which it has never known before. The human race will be severely depressed emotionally, financially, spiritually, physically.
However, in the mysterious way that the universe works, that will also be our greatest blessing and opportunity.
As far as I can tell, the universe is always exquisitely balanced. Positives and negatives always co-exist in this reality. (For more info on this subject, search this website on the word "duality.")
Thus, our time of severe depression and exhaustion will actually lead eventually to some very blessed events.
As we head down further into our economic and ecological and psychological depression, we'll have to pull together more as people. That's what happened in the last great depression in the '30s: people pulled together much more. They had to, just to survive, and it will be the same way this time only a lot more so.
Eventually, just to survive at all, we human beings will have to pull together to such an extent that a kind of collective enlightenment will be ignited in us, and we will be reborn as the heart of the planet.
In that somewhat distant day, just as computers will be the mind of the planet, so human beings will be its heart. We will be the ones who carry the compassion of the planet for itself, we will be the ones who exist to teach about love. Having lost everything, we will have gained everything.
And our intuitive ability, our ability to listen and follow a mysterious and vast and benevolent inner guidance, will be puzzled over by the dominant species for a long time.
It's a paradox, it's a mystery, it's beyond my limited understanding to come anywhere near it, except to say that the great catastrophe that is coming upon us will probably also prove to be the greatest fulfillment of our exquisite and precious and beautiful humanity.
—jim sloman, 7/17/02 for 7/29/02
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