I'm terrified

I'm non-specifically terrified about the world we live in and the future that our children will be running headlong into with that brave naivety that only little ones can maintain.

The 'Godfather of AI' has just quit Google, saying he fears what is to come and that he regrets his contribution to the work.

I'm scared that children in American schools are being shot at while mothers are being threatened with the death penalty in some states if they get an abortion.

I'm terrified that children in schools are being actively encouraged to consider gender reassignment therapy without their parents even knowing about it.

I'm scared that the world is distracting itself into oblivion, choosing to anaesthetise themselves with social media and virtue signalling rather than face the real world around them and working together to deal with actual problems that face our species.

Like the fact that AI is already vastly smarter than us.

I imagine all parents feel like this when raising their kids; apprehensive about what is to come, wondering if they'll be able to keep up or be left behind in the wake of an indifferent and relentlessly accelerating world of technology.

People are miserable, they've lost sight of the important things in life:

• Family
• Community
• Pursuing a genuine, creative passion
• Enjoying the little things

Everyone's trying to be so god-damned productive with their 'biohacks' and '10x tips' when in reality they're constantly chasing an impossible pipe-dream of never-ending affluence and social one-upmanship.

Everyone is so busy and stressed and preoccupied - myself included - much more than I'd like to admit.

It's exhausting, I hate it and I'm scared.

Remember those long summer evenings that didn't seem to end?

That smell of the long grass that was ever so slightly itchy as you rolled down the hill, your parents repeatedly saying it was bed time while you begged for just five more minutes, even though you were getting cold and struggled to see in the dimming light.

No watch, no phone, no money, no worries - just pure living.

I just want to run away with my little troop of family and close friends to some distant farm and live quietly with leather bound books and chickens pecking around a dusty yard at sunset.

I just got rid of all social media on my phone. I have a work phone for the websites I run, which sits silently in the office until I'm ready to sit down and focus on work - but starting today:

No more distractions.

I'm ready to start living again.