At some point, the gentle equilibrium of everyday life came undone. And it wasn't the pandemic that tipped it. Things change gradually and then suddenly. The first domino falls, and the slow roll down the shit covered hill, culminating in a shit filled pit, begins. Small changes accumulate, none disappear. Today's as good as it'll ever be. Even if today you're standing knee-deep in a shit pit.
Climate, pandemic, war, inflation, layoffs / record profits, and finally (as of yet) - AI. And there's still plenty of things that can, and possibly will, happen. Shitty people doing shitty things for shit's sake. Or money. Probably money.
But even without all the "macro" developments, the micro scale is tipping too. Work-life has never felt more meaningless than now. All those meetings, and sprints, and features, and deployments, and configurations, and ugly-ass interfaces, doomed to be rewritten, none needed. Working for work's sake, afraid to stop and conclude - "yep, that's shit; we're shit". Nothing works, but everyone does. Nine to five, remote and at the office. Eye-fucking the office clock, just to get home and watch some poorly written serials.
Not being dead is the new life, having a job is the new raise. This is the final stop, the peak, for everyone and everything. All downhill from this point. The only question is - how steep is the hill, how rocky the road?
Future's fucked.