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@ rare
2025-05-01 11:29:57Collapse.
It's a slow burn.
The LA Fires started decades ago.
Hemingway said, when asked how he went broke:
"Slowly, then all at once."
That’s how collapse happens. Slowly, then suddenly.
Campfire
Ever build one?
You gather wood. Stack the foundation. Set the fuel. Light it up.
If it catches, keep going. Got to stoke it. Feed it. Watch it. In time, the fire's good.
Process It takes time.
Time to gather, build and ignite.
People come at the end. When the flame's dancing.
Like Sunday dinner.
People gather when food's ready. But, only the cook was in the kitchen.
Slow
Societal collapse's similar.
It takes years.
Decades.
Centuries.
A slow cook.
When people notice, the meal’s made. By the time they smell the fire, the forest’s already burning.
People see collapse, but it fell long time ago.
LA
Water, ran dry. Power went out. Fuel stations, empty. Help wasn't on the way.
Politicians politicking.
Making feel-good promises. People believed them. All bad decisions. One after another. They voted for it.
In time, it adds up.
Then, it falls down.
Shift
Analog to digital I work in animation.
Started analog, paper and pencil. It went digital. Scanners, tablets and all.
Veterans, didn't see it coming. Die-hards, refused to acknowledge. They went out of work. Those who adapted—they run the shows now.
Lockdowns
2008, I started a studio.
100% remote. A virtual company.
Some laughed. Others got angry. Said it wouldn't work. They couldn't see.
2020 comes with lockdowns.
Everyone scrambles. Those already digital, thrived.
The rest, shutdown.
History
The Wheel We carried goods. Then came the wheel.
Movement exploded. Trade thrived. Cities rose.
Hunter-gatherers? Left behind.
Collapse wasn't sudden. It was quiet. A shift.
The new formed. The old faded.
Change was inevitable.
Gunpowder
War changed.
Castles crumbled. Swords became relics. Power shifted.
Empires that adapted, thrived. Those that didn't, vanished.
Adapt or die.
The Internet
Borders blurred. Knowledge spread. Walls fell.
Old industries resisted. New empires emerged.
Collapse? No. A new frontier.
Borderless commerce. Shrinking government.
Info and influence, moving fast.
Bitcoin
Money, redefined.
No banks. No middlemen. Just code.
Governments dismiss it. Institutions fear it. But change ignores permission.
A ledger, transparent. A system, unstoppable. Like the internet rewrote communication, Bitcoin rewrites money.
Each invention displaced the old world.
Each collapse brought new opportunity.
Repeats
Mayans Built pyramids. Charted the stars. Cities thrived.
Then, slow decline.
Deforestation. Drought. Conflict.
People scattered.
Cities abandoned.
By the time the Spanish arrived, the fall was old news.
Romans
Not a fall. A fade.
Corruption. Inflation. Invasions. Cracks formed.
The West crumbled. The East endured.
Rome never vanished. Its laws, language, culture? Still here.
Japan
Collapse? No. Reinvention.
Shoguns fell. Meiji rose. Feudal to industrial. War crushed it. Post-war rebuilt it.
The '90s?
A peak. Tech giant. Economic force.
Then, stagnation. Aging population. Debt. Decline.
Still here. Still strong. But no longer rising.
Rhyme
US
Once a colony. Then an empire.
England ruled. America rose. Industry boomed. The 20th century belonged to the U.S.
A superpower. Factories roared. Gold backed the dollar.
A nation built on sound money.
Then, fiat. Paper promises. The gold standard abandoned.
Inflation crept in. Prices rose. Debt piled up. Each decade, the dollar bought less. Wages stagnated. Savings eroded.
Easy money, easy people.
Debt fueled bubbles. Each crash, deeper. The system, fragile.
Wealth concentrated. Time and energy, lost meaning.
A quiet nihilism grew.
People worked more. Gained less. Purpose eroded. Culture followed.
A nation distracted, chasing illusions of prosperity.
Today
The debt's bigger. The politics, fractured. The system strains. The foundation shifts.
The old fades into new.
What's next?
Every collapse starts slow. Then, all at once.
Change
Collapse is change.
It's natural. We see it throughout history.
Like a campfire—fire consumes, but it also brings warmth. Like dinner—before the meal, there’s preparation, transformation. Like LA fires—destructive, painful, but from the ashes, renewal. Possibly.
"To decompose is to be recomposed. That's what nature does. Nature, through whom all things happen as they should, and have happened forever in just the same way, and will continue one way or another endlessly."—Marcus Aurelius
Collapse isn’t the end.
It’s transition.
Preparing
"The Romans were reluctant to acknowledge change, and so are we." —The Sovereign Individual
Florida has hurricanes.
Happens every year. The news reports. Satellites confirm paths. Some, listen and prepare. Others, don't.
The storm comes.
Those prepared, benefit. The rest, suffer.
Like the old animators. They resisted. Now, they’re gone.
Collapse has warnings. How to prepare:
Mindset
Stay calm. See the patterns. Change is constant. Opportunity hides in disruption. Zoom out. Fear distorts judgment.
Skill Development
Learn adaptability. Master digital tools. Understand money. Grow networks. Invest in knowledge, not just assets.
Philosophy
Think long-term. Collapse spans generations. Pass down wisdom. Build resilience. Grow beyond survival—thrive.
Action
Own less, know more. Create. Don’t just consume.
Be part of what’s next.
Conclusion
The fire’s already burning. You can tend it—or watch it burn everything down.
There's a saying:
"There are three types of people in this world: those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who wonder what happened."—Pat Riley
Be the former.
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