We know the posse that rides in for the Apocalypse: Conquest, War, Famine, Death (worst boy band ever, zero stars). But who’s riding for the other team, I mean, at least until the other guys arrive, while we can still be decadent and not worry about them crashing the party?
Freedom, and not the fake American kind. The real stuff, the old-school Enlightenment definition of freedom. Where you can do what, love who you want, think what you want, go where you want and be the kind of person you want without worrying that some cranky killjoy is itching to stone you to death because they saw your sexy ankles.
Revelry, and everybody’s invited. A party the size of the world, with fireworks and endless buffets and full kegs and bounce houses and festive music and slip-n-slides. A real Dionysian level good-times in the Shire type deal. We all arrive as awkward strangers and leave as proud besties, full of food and hope and the knowledge that we’re all pretty cool people, deep down, and that grassroots diplomacy will take root and prove too invasive to ever kill. If anybody complains about the noise they will receive a huge plate of food, a comfy spot on a soft blanket, and some sympathy.
Games, the kind nerds play. How can we convert carbon into bricks real fast? What’s the Worldle? How can we re-write DNA to starve cancer cells? Where in Catan shall we settle and how can we get healthcare better distributed? There will be tons of neighborhood pick-up games and sack races and the Olympics, and many rounds of pin-the-hopes-on-the-children. There will be hackathons for artists and gardeners. We’ll solve all the riddles and get exercise and there will be cool trophies in the shape of good years to come. But no Monopoly. That game is designed to lead to violence.
Care, the kind that goes beyond medicine. There are therapy dogs, horses, cats, birds, mice and neighbors. There are group outings for hermits and non-hermits that involve tree planting, bird watching, mosquito net knitting, trash sorting, and general friendship. Lead pipes get popped out of cities and mines get yanked from fields. Using AI to build a complex and global buddy system, everyone gets granted access to mentors and helpers and bonus-familial structures and nobody ever gets scurvy or abandoned. Many damns are freely given—at least until the other four horsemen show up to ruin it all.