The Youth Are Fallen Victims of a Time They Never Knew, Experienced, or Can Rewind

Times pass us by as we look on, the sun beaming down on the cars passing me by. The time is coming now as we begin to see what we once believed. Was it not meant to be a time of joy? We used to meet in the park. We ran through the forest, played hide and seek as the sun went down and before we knew it, it was time for bed. What did it turn into, and what happened to that youthful spirit of community?

Now we have forgotten something. Something soulful. The key to creativity, is that childlike curiosity. Losing it too early is like a bird without the knowledge how to build its nest. We don’t need children growing up who forgot the knowledge of their own souls replaced by codes telling them what they are.

When we look at one another, it isn’t in our eyes anymore. Something has developed into a game — a game of jealousy, snare, hostile intentions, and cruelty. Yet community is still out there. It lives when we gather around a campfire, when we build a treehouse together, when we smile with each other. The youth now develop their agility and presence within the machine.

We were given opportunities through technology. I remember seeing it so vividly, sitting in the back of my parents’ car outside the mall at some point in the mid 90s. We drove through the heat of a summer month, and whatever realization I had, I didn’t fully understand it, but something told me: it will be big. It will be huge. The age of information and computers.

And now, as we enter the age of AI, I think back to what was briefly mentioned back then, something about the impact of computers. That they would live through us, manage what we do, talk to us, and dictate what we are made of. That they would change everything we know about ourselves, or what we thought we knew about ourselves. It can seem obvious, but to many it isn’t. Yet. I find it interesting how different events of my life, returns to me in somewhat of cycles or spirals. Considering where I was and where we are now. As I’ve seen things before, then it returning much later. As with other, more interesting things. It’s interesting. I don’t know what to call them, visions — they circle back to me. Learning to actually follow them could not be more true.

The magic of life feels thinner now, in a society that teaches us to measure ourselves through code — through what we click, like, and display. My recommendation is to keep that magic alive, and live along with it, and let that be the guide towards who and what you are. Because right now, children are being programmed to validate what it means to be human through a screen that tells them what to see, what to like, how to behave. Essentially, what to believe.

But the idea of life is to be connected, with life itself. To sense the vibrations of your own essence in combination with nature and other people. I believe life is a guide on its own, a guidance toward who you are, and toward becoming the best version of whoever you are. The connection to this guide can give you just that.

We are not solely the influences dictated by code. That is the least of what we are. The closer we get to our roots, the purer the water becomes. That is another topic on its own. But the true source is close by, yet invisible. We just have to look carefully through time and into the light. Because it is right inside of what we do and what we are. Community cannot be lost simply because of digital presence and biotechnological eruption shaping the future. And yet, we know by now, although many don’t see it, that youth are losing out on what it means to be young.

It isn’t only the young. All segments of society are becoming techno-socially and culturally manufactured — driven by strange impulses that, in return, rewire us away from our true selves. Into something more angry, more stressed, more ill, and more ignorant. Beings that fight each other, build and construct strange values away from the empathic nature the life-force gave us. Just look at animals. The pure innocence. They drink water too, and they withhold presence as any human being. We only follow dogmatic principles we are ready to kill and die for. Whether it’d be democracy or religion.

With the evolution of techno-socialism, we are giving birth to another god. As we live today, that of tomorrow is not far away. Though many claim it is, it is closer than we believe — because everyone is constantly feeding into it. By “it,” I mean the machine, optimizing its capacity through all inputs combined, and not only your personal AI. It feeds on everything simultaneously, drawing connections at scale, fine-tuned by layered intentions and agendas held by its puppet masters.

There is something dark in that. Growing up in a world both with and without this shift puts things into perspective. Think about what a few generations called their world during World War II. Placing events in perspective can give a sense of the magnitude of what is happening now. I always felt the 60s or 70s were so far away, even though I never lived in them. They were distant from when I was born. And perhaps that is how generations once thought about the world wars as well.

So fast-forward — what world will we be looking back on a few decades from now?Will it be remembered as the last generation of freedom of expression? Of independent thought? Of children playing outside? I know my past, and I am blessed to have it. Bicycling home on summer nights, with the smell of jasmine from gardens drifting across the streets. There was no thought of what was happening elsewhere — no updates, no constant communication. No one knew where I was from the moment I left my friends until the moment I returned home to my mother and father.

And I wonder, as time moves forward, if the next generations will remember what this felt like. Or if it will become just another story of a time they cannot rewind,
something they forgot to truly live and experience.

See you around,
Tom