The Twilight 20s: Navigating the Upside Down and Beyond

"The monsters we face are not born in the shadows—they are born in the mirrors we refuse to look into. The Twilight 20s demand we break the glass, confront our reflection, and rebuild with courage, curiosity, and collaboration."

Welcome to the Twilight 20s: Monsters, Mirrors, and Madness

Disclaimer:

1. If you haven’t seen the first season of Stranger Things, stop reading now. Watch it. No excuses. It’s not just entertainment; it’s a metaphor for the world we’re living in.
2. If you’re unaware of what’s happening in the world—wars, collapsing economies, the rise of populism, and the Wild West of social media—then this piece might sting. Hard truths ahead.
3. And finally, you should read my books: Managers The Day After Tomorrow, A Guide to the Ecosystem Economy, and my latest, The Net Curiosity Score. These aren’t just books; they’re survival guides for navigating this chaotic in-between zone we’ve stumbled into. The first is about the forces that create this upside down universe we’re in, the second is about the inevitable rise of the Ecosystem Economy and the third about the superpower that is going to decide who will thrive in this Twilight Zone.?

Since 2015, I’ve been saying it: the 2020s won’t be roaring. Forget the opulence of Gatsby parties and the glamour of champagne-soaked nights. Instead, we’ve stumbled headfirst into The Twilight 20s – a decade straight out of a sci-fi horror crossover. Imagine the surreal chaos of Alice in Wonderland colliding with the eerie dread of Stranger Things. A world where nothing is what it seems to be, where logic twists itself into unrecognizable shapes, and reality is turned upside down and inside out. What was once good may now be bad, and what was beautiful may reveal itself as grotesque.

In this horror version of Alice in Wonderland, the familiar heroes of sustainability have transformed into villains of exploitation. The poster boys of green energy and clean innovation have joined the "drill baby drill" gang, their halos tarnished as they double down on the very practices they once denounced. It’s a chilling inversion, a Wonderland where the Mad Hatters hold court and Doctor Evils rewrite the rules of the game.

The signs were always there. The creeping unease in our systems, the fragile threads holding our world together. And yet, we carried on, oblivious, clutching at outdated methods to solve problems born of a rapidly shifting reality. As Albert Einstein once said, “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” And yet, here we are, rewriting that same lesson into the chaotic script of this decade.

The Twilight 20s are a masterclass in doing just that—doubling down on the familiar, hoping for a return to the predictable. Instead, we’ve cracked open a portal to Hawkins 2.0. Welcome to a world where the past’s shadows grow monstrous, where the systems we built to connect us now divide us, and where the future looks like a kaleidoscope of uncertainty.

The Hawkins Parallel

If you’ve seen Stranger Things, you’ll recognize the sleepy town of Hawkins. A seemingly normal place where life hums along until everything cracks open. Beneath the surface is the Upside Down, a dark, chaotic, interconnected network created by human hubris—a lab experiment gone wrong.

Sound familiar? Replace Hawkins with our world. Replace the lab with the birth of the internet. What began as a grand experiment—the World Wide Web—promised to connect humanity in extraordinary ways. And it did. But like the lab in Hawkins, it created something far bigger, darker, and more unpredictable than anyone could have imagined.

The internet has become the Upside Down. An underground network that sprawls uncontrollably, amplifies chaos, and thrives on neglect. What was once seen as harmless—"just virtual," as politicians naively called it—has become the defining force of our era.

Consider the words of Neil Postman, who prophetically warned, “Technological change is not additive; it is ecological. A new technology does not merely add something; it changes everything.” The birth of the internet wasn’t just the opening of a door; it was the breaking of a dam, flooding every corner of life with unprecedented connectivity—and its unintended consequences.

The Upside Down is no longer confined to the digital. It has spilled into every aspect of society, shaping politics, economics, and culture. Social media platforms, once hailed as tools for global connection, have evolved into saloons of division where outrage reigns supreme. Algorithms, designed to enhance user experience, have become bounty hunters of attention, chasing clicks at the cost of reason and truth.

As Hannah Arendt observed, “The sad truth is that most evil is done by people who never make up their minds to be good or evil.” In the Upside Down of the internet, neutrality feeds the chaos. The silence of bystanders, the apathy of users, and the greed of corporations have allowed the web’s darker forces to metastasize.

What began as an experiment now demands accountability. The lab has lost control, and the monsters—disinformation, polarization, and extremism—are no longer lurking in the shadows. They are in plain sight, thriving in the very systems we depend on.

It’s as if we’ve collectively ignored the warnings, just like the citizens of Hawkins. But the signs were there, and the cracks have widened. The question now is: do we have the courage to face the monsters we’ve created, or will we continue to let them grow?

To borrow from Carl Sagan, “We’ve arranged a civilization in which most crucial elements profoundly depend on science and technology, and we have cleverly arranged things so that almost no one understands science and technology.” The Upside Down thrives on this ignorance, feeding on our collective lack of understanding and our unwillingness to confront what we’ve unleashed.

Hawkins 2.0 is not just a metaphor; it’s a mirror. The Twilight 20s have become our Upside Down—a chaotic reflection of our hubris and inaction. The question is no longer whether we can close the portal but whether we have the curiosity, courage, and collaboration to chart a path forward.

The Monsters in the Upside Down

Let’s not sugarcoat it. The internet is now the Wild West, a lawless frontier with no sheriff in sight. Social media platforms are the saloons where the loudest, angriest voices drown out reason. Algorithms are the bounty hunters, chasing clicks and outrage, regardless of the cost.

And the monsters? They’re not lurking in the shadows. They’re right in front of us.

• Disinformation: Lies travel faster than truth, weaponizing ignorance and sowing chaos. Entire narratives—from conspiracy theories to fake news—thrive in the cracks of our attention spans, exploiting our biases and fears.
• Extremism: The dark corners of the internet have expanded into sprawling neighborhoods, where ideologies once considered fringe now flourish in plain sight. As Plato observed, “Ignorance is the root and stem of every evil.” These digital enclaves magnify ignorance, fostering tribalism and conflict.
• Polarization: Algorithms, in their relentless pursuit of engagement, amplify division. They reward outrage, ensuring that consensus becomes a relic of the past. What began as a promise of connectivity has morphed into a battleground, where every post is a provocation.

What’s worse is that the monsters didn’t just escape—they were invited. Politicians, eager to manipulate and divide, seized upon the power of social media to conquer. Corporations, seeing an unregulated goldmine, prioritized profit over ethics. And the rest of us? We logged on, oblivious to the fact that our clicks and shares were feeding the beast.

George Orwell’s warning looms large: “The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those who speak it.” The monsters thrive on this principle, spinning narratives that defy logic but resonate with fear. And fear is a powerful currency in the Upside Down.

These aren’t faceless beasts. They’re human-made constructs—the result of ambition, apathy, and greed. Like Frankenstein’s creature, they reflect our own flaws, our unwillingness to confront uncomfortable truths. As Mary Shelley’s tale reminds us, “Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change.” And yet, change is precisely what we need.

The question remains: Can we reign in the monsters, or will they consume us entirely? The Twilight 20s hang in the balance, and the clock is ticking.

The Twilight 20s: The In-Between Zone

I’ve said it before: the Twilight 20s is the in-between zone. A liminal space where the old systems—democracy, shareholder capitalism, international order—are crumbling, and the new ones haven’t yet formed. It’s messy, unpredictable, and filled with monsters.

Let’s break it down:

• Hawkins’ Lab = The Birth of the Internet Just like the lab in Stranger Things opened the portal to the Upside Down, the unregulated growth of the internet created a digital shadow world. What started as an experiment has grown into an uncontrollable force.
• The Upside Down = Social Media The digital world isn’t bound by the rules of the physical world. It’s vast, interconnected, and chaotic. And just like the Upside Down, it thrives in the dark—unregulated, unaccountable, and unpredictable.
• The Monsters = Us The monsters of the Upside Down aren’t alien—they’re human-made. Just like the chaos of the internet reflects our own failings: greed, ignorance, division.

The Good, the Bad, and the Very Ugly

We’re standing at a crossroads. The choices we make in this decade will shape the next century. Will we tame the monsters? Or will we let them consume us?

• The Good We could regulate the digital Wild West. Hold corporations accountable. Build a digital world that empowers rather than exploits. Democracy could adapt, becoming more resilient and inclusive. Transparency and accountability could become the new currency of the digital age. Imagine a future where algorithms are designed to promote understanding rather than division, where technology amplifies our humanity rather than preys on it.
• The Bad We muddle through. Make half-hearted attempts to fix the cracks but leave the foundations shaky. The Upside Down remains a lurking threat, ready to re-emerge at any moment. In this scenario, the monsters are not defeated; they’re simply subdued, waiting for the next opportunity to break free.
• The Very Ugly The monsters win. The digital overlords—whether politicians, corporations, or algorithms—consolidate power. Democracy fades. Inequality explodes. And the planet burns, consumed by our neglect and greed. This is a world where the Queen of Hearts tweets edicts and the Mad Hatter controls the narrative. Chaos is no longer the exception; it’s the rule.

What Comes Next?

This isn’t just about the internet. It’s about how we handle transitions. The Twilight 20s is a test—a trial by fire. Can we let go of outdated systems and build something better? Or will we cling to the old, dragging it into the new and creating a Frankenstein’s monster of chaos?

Here’s what we need:

• Curiosity: The willingness to ask uncomfortable questions. To explore what lies beyond the familiar, even when it’s unsettling. As Oscar Wilde once said, “To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.” Let’s live, let’s question, and let’s innovate.
• Courage: The guts to confront the monsters. To face disinformation, polarization, and greed with steadfast resolve. Courage, as Maya Angelou reminds us, is “the most important of all the virtues, because without courage you can't practice any other virtue consistently.”
• Collaboration: The ability to build something new, together. To bridge divides and find common ground, even when it feels impossible. As Margaret Mead famously said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”

The Twilight 20s isn’t just a decade. It’s a defining moment. The monsters are here. The Upside Down is real. The question is: are we ready to face it?

I don’t want to believe in a dystopian future. However difficult it is, I choose to believe in the spark of hope that lives within us. That we can find the courage to tame the chaos and the curiosity to chart a new course. That collaboration can lead us out of the shadows of the Upside Down and into the light.

As Lewis Carroll wrote in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland:“If you don’t know where you are going, any road can take you there.”But this road? It’s one hell of a ride. Buckle up.