The Inner Monologue

Ah, the future. That glittering, far-off land where flying cars zip through the sky, AI has either enslaved or uplifted humanity (depending on which tech bro you ask), and society has finally evolved beyond the petty squabbles of today.

Except—wait. Look around. Does anything actually feel different than yesterday? Or the day before? Or the day before that?

Of course not. Because despite our collective obsession with disruption, revolution, and overnight paradigm shifts, the truth is far more boring: Most things don’t change. At least, not quickly.

The Myth of the Overnight Revolution

We love a good revolution story. The Arab Spring! The fall of the Berlin Wall! The invention of the iPhone! (Okay, that last one was more of a marketing revolution, but still.) These events feel like lightning strikes—sudden, world-altering, irreversible.

But here’s the dirty secret: Most of them were years (or decades) in the making. The iPhone didn’t spring fully formed from Steve Jobs’ forehead—it was the product of incremental tech advances, failed Palm Pilots, and a society slowly getting addicted to tiny screens. Political revolutions? Usually preceded by years of quiet unrest, economic decay, and simmering resentment.

And yet, we keep expecting tomorrow to be radically different from today.

The Slow Creep of Gradualism (Or: Why You Won’t Notice the Apocalypse Until It’s Too Late)

Real change is like watching paint dry—if the paint were also gaslighting you into thinking it was drying faster than it actually was.

• Technology? Sure, AI is technically advancing, but your Zoom meetings are still just as awkward as they were in 2020.
• Politics? The same circus, just with slightly different clowns.
• Culture? The same arguments, just repackaged in new jargon. (See: Every “new” generational debate that’s just a rehash of the last one.)

Even catastrophic change is often slow. Climate disaster? A steady march of slightly worse weather, slightly higher prices, and slightly more depressing headlines—until one day you realize Miami is underwater and your grandkids will never know what a “ski trip” was.

But What About [Insert Big Change Here]?

Yes, fine, sometimes things do shift dramatically. Pandemics happen. Wars start. Occasionally, a TikTok trend actually does alter society (RIP attention spans). But these are exceptions, not the rule.

Most of the time, we’re stuck in The Great Plateau of Meh, where progress is measured in micro-improvements and backslides so small you’d need a spreadsheet to notice them.

So What’s the Point?

Stop waiting for the future to arrive like some kind of cosmic Amazon delivery. It’s not coming tomorrow. Or next week. Or probably even next year.

Instead, brace yourself for the far more likely scenario: Tomorrow will be just like today, but with a few more ads, a few more emails, and maybe one extra existential crisis before lunch.

Revolution may come eventually. But until then? Enjoy the stagnation.

—Your Friendly Neighborhood Cynic