Maybe it's time to play some cyberpunk-style games to get a more realistic look at yourself and your chances.

A study conducted at Harvard revealed how people perceive climate change. But don't think I'll be writing about the climate; this is just an example of something more intriguing.

Nearly 78+% are confident that yes, climate change and global warming will significantly impact the lives of their children and grandchildren, recognizing it as a problem. However, no more than 40% are aware that climate change is affecting lives now! This includes abnormal heat or cold, hurricanes, an increase in heart attacks...

Despite a plethora of obvious facts, the majority prefer to perceive the problem as Trump does. And what could be worse than natural disasters? Einstein answered this question long ago - something bigger than the Universe itself - human stupidity.

When I write about everyone over 45 facing significant job challenges within 5 years... about the pension system being doomed because it operated under the conditions of the 1930s... about your 8-10-year-old children being smarter, more advanced, and more ruthless than you, living in a reality inaccessible to you... about learning not for success, but to avoid dying in a ditch... and similar life-affirming things, many people prefer to respond with "Don't make waves."

I won't reply to these people because they're not factually grounded and react not from knowledge but from ignorance and a subconscious desire to avoid worry. Their reaction is to bury their heads in the sand and say that everything is fine. Okay, no problem. Those who don't look up from the ground, stubbornly continue to dig in the earth, and ignore changes are the first to die.

But for those with enough brains and courage, let me explain the joke for those who don't get it. Silicon Valley is not just a place where innovations are created, but also where they affect people's lives the fastest. In this sense, Silicon Valley is ahead of the rest of the world by an average of 10 years, and certain places by 50, and some by 100. Thus, we have a sort of time machine.

By studying life changes in Silicon Valley and the Bay Area in general, one can approximate this model with certain accuracy to all developed countries and centers of developing countries because the processes, factors, drivers, and mentalities are very similar and lie beyond national peculiarities. That is, the Bay Area is the world in 10 years in miniature.

Almost 10 million population agglomeration, one of the most dense, saturated, and diverse in the world in terms of terrains, natural zones from scorching heat to northern frosts. A mix of densely packed city with all its sores and the countryside. Extreme wealth and poverty, homeless people. High technology and stupidity of equally high flight. And most importantly, a huge concentration of technology companies that generates the surrounding service infrastructure, where the price of a haircut can be 7 times higher than in ordinary places.

In 10 years, there will be no technology companies left. And all this affects the job market, social services, education. A place of contrasts - on one hand, a concentration of elite and the wealthiest companies, and on the other, some of the most busted roads in the USA. Sometimes I drive through San Francisco, and it feels like Moscow in the 90s in terms of road quality.

But the problem is that the Bay Area model gradually, like an infection, spreads around the world, and if most of those far away only see the polished appeals of technology, few see that what lives underneath is super-greed as the quintessence of stupidity. The paradise for innovators, where passionate engineers used to rule, has long died and turned into a global Ponzi scheme, a pyramid run by the most cynical and greedy. And the old engineers after successful exits quietly indulge in the vineyards of Napa.

I don't want to be misunderstood. I like a lot here, I adore San Francisco, and can't imagine a better place to live than Santa Cruz. But I see not only the light. Darkness only becomes blacker in the presence of light. Therefore, observing what is happening here, one can roughly see what will be everywhere in 5-10-15 years. I don't know what will be here in 10 years. Obviously, something completely different. But in 5-7 years, the Valley will be at your place, with one exception. The innovations will stay here, but the sores will spread.

And you, my dear, won't escape from this because there are no political, economic, or other prerequisites, but most importantly... No one in the world is able to offer alternatives. The world is programmed not by religions, nor politicians who replace each other like shadows in a Thai theatre. The world is programmed by Hollywood and Silicon Valley, for which Hollywood visualizes dreams. And the whole world just consumes this content.

We all rely on the past in our perceptions of the future, and that's a fatal mistake. But here's a simple task for you. What will you do if you know for sure:

1. There will be no pensions. Never.

2. There will be no work for you. Ever.

3. Children will not take care of you.

Of course, I'm exaggerating, but my goal is not to say that it will be exactly like this. My goal is to give you a taste of this possible future with a flavor of rusty metal, plastic, and blood. Maybe it's time to play some cyberpunk-style games to get a more realistic look at yourself and your chances.