The Cavalry Isn’t Coming

You’re on your own. The cavalry isn’t coming. No one is going to save you. Instead, you are going to have to save yourself.

Humans have lived on this planet for about three and a half million years, give or take. From the very beginning of our time here we’ve been responsible for taking care of ourselves. If you wanted to eat, you had to hunt and gather. If you wanted shelter, you had to carve it out of the earth with your bare hands. If you were going to survive–and thrive–it was up to you.

But we’ve lost our memory as to our responsibilities. Why did we lose our memories?

For a very short period starting some time in the middle 20th Century, a bargain was struck. You become an employee of the the Big Industrial Age Corporation, and in exchange for 47 years of your labor, you’d receive a decent wage, guaranteed health care, and a retirement. If you were in management, you might even get a nice plaque, a gold watch, and a retirement lunch.

But the world, as it is wont to do, changed. And those changes started to take a toll on the Big Industrial Age Corporations. Many of them had every intention of keeping the old bargain. They preferred the status quo. But at some point the bargain became too difficult to keep. Maybe it was 1980. Maybe it was the 1990’s. Some are still trying desperately to hold on.

A lot of people want to see that bargain transferred to the Federal Government. But a lot of smart people in smart countries have tried to make and keep those bargains and failed. More are failing still. That’s not a bet you can safely make either.

We are returning to the way things were for all of three and half million years, minus a short detour that we took towards the end of the Industrial Age. We’re now firmly at the jumping off point of the Disruptive Age. Industrial Age beliefs and behaviors no longer serve you. The beliefs and behaviors that allow you to succeed now look more like the beliefs and behaviors that worked before the Industrial Age bargain was struck.

The cavalry isn’t coming. Accept it and start saving yourself.