This is fine. We are drinking fancy coffee in the middle of The Fire that Consumes All before It. Welcome to Iliam.
We are ok. And we are not ok. Some of us will never be ok again, and some of us don’t know what ok means anymore.
None of this is new. This condition has always existed on the planet, in ways large and small. Tragedy happens. War breaks out. Disease burns through towns. Violence catches us unawares. People are not ok. And then they are ok. But not like before-ok. Like now-ok. Like new-ok.
Is anything actually different? Maybe just that the whole globe is suddenly trying to extinguish the same fire. We are all talking about the same ok-not-ok conundrum. We are in a literal world war.
I keep saying that anyone who can’t figure out how we move forward in the face of a global pandemic is someone who hasn’t read enough genre fiction. No global pandemic, no world-wide catastrophic event = no science fiction.
Anyway, some things I’ve been pondering lately:
The Obsidian Virtual Concept House.
Educational videos on social topics. How to judge facts!
The brilliant Charlie Jane Anders on story and survival.