Georgy Bovt An unimaginable future On whether our children will live better or worse than us 31/10/2022, 08:02

What do you personally think: will your children live better or worse than you? Well, not the children, but you yourself, but only after 20 years Probably not everyone thought about it because they are used to living one day at a time. And here life is constantly making corrections for us, confirming the fact that if you want to make God laugh, then tell him about your plans. It’s either covid or you know what it is. On the other hand, against the backdrop of “you know”, the distant future can look very rosy. Because it’s much more “anti-rainbow”. Seems like…

Recently, an interesting survey was conducted in America on exactly this subject. And the number of people who believe that children will live better (in American terms everything is simple here: better means more prosperous) has turned out to be very small in the last 20 years. Only 42% of Americans believe that their children will live better than them. It seems that this result is not bad. But at the turn of the century there were about 70% of optimists-futurists. Who would have believed that children would get a better education, have more comfortable flats, and be lower on the list for what it takes to be happy in life? Basically, the decline in social optimism has come at the expense of the Republicans: they believe the country is “going in the wrong direction.” Representatives of the poor and very poor segments of the population are somewhat more optimistic.

These results are in good agreement with the results of a survey conducted in 21 countries jointly by UNICEF and Gallup last year.

It has been revealed that those living in poor countries are much more optimistic about the future of their children, while in rich and developed countries the picture is almost the same as described above regarding the USA. Moreover, among the elderly (understandable due to age-related changes), the picture of the future is bleaker than among the young, but the young often live with the notion that it will be worse.

So for the rich countries the “golden age of humanity” is apparently in the past (these are the last decades of the last century), but for the poor countries it is still ahead, somewhere behind a new historical turn. But it’s definitely ahead. Simply put, for rich countries everything that exists today – education, medicine, lifestyle – will not “get better” in the opinion of the majority of citizens. While residents of poorer countries seem to call it: look, there will be new technologies, new opportunities, the Internet will work wonders, it will be possible to do everything remotely, it’s a classroom.

In principle, here it can be summarized simply: the representatives of the “gold billion” just got drunk and, as the song says, “they have nothing to want anymore” (confused, this was a foreign agent until they sing or get involved there).

What about the law of increasing needs? Why are those at the forefront of development now at a stalemate without seeing a glimpse of a future even greater than they have now? What are the causes of historical pessimism? I don’t have a clear answer. However, this is unhealthy. If “everything is going to be bad” in the future, then why go there, maybe it’s time to turn off the light? And this is worrying.

As for our country, surveys until this year generally showed roughly the same picture as in poor and moderately prosperous countries. So the majority started from the fact that tomorrow will be better than today. Perhaps largely because “today” sometimes seems “so-so” to our compatriots, to say the least. It couldn’t be any worse.

Of course, a lot has changed this year. A prominent sociologist (and respected person) recently wrote that the initial anxiety that gripped the country after February 24 had already subsided and a sense of normalcy was slowly returning. I would probably argue with him: addiction does not imply normality. Also, in principle, I do not believe in any sociological surveys, even in part, on current events during the mobilization. However, when the sociology agency VTsIOM, which is quite loyal to the authorities in the summer, revealed that more than half (54%) of Russians want their children and grandchildren to grow up like them (about a third, on the contrary, not to be similar), I generally believe these numbers. Perhaps behind this lies the expectation that if children and grandchildren are the same, they will “succeed” and live better than we do. Soon, such feelings also emerged: 53% believe that there are more opportunities in Russia to raise children and protect them from the evil influence (of course from the West), with every second safer living conditions and the highest quality noted the presence. products in Russia. More than half agree that “living the way you want is the easiest way” in Russia. On such questions (where there is no “naked politics” that frightens residents), I am willing to agree that the answers also adequately reflect the mood of the mass public.

We are not going to discuss how and by what information processing methods such moods are confirmed in the minds, we are not talking about that now.

The question, however, is whether this is a manifestation of the historical optimism lacking in “well-fed countries” or whether it reflects certain public illusions based, among other things, on an unwillingness to delve into head-on. The topic of “how to live” seems to me that the question remains open. We have now entered a region of such historical turbulence when the answer could come quite quickly by historical standards. Or not coming forever.

… And now, when I have almost completed this text, VTsIOM again pleased me: the majority of Russians surveyed – about 80% – believe that in 8-10 years the situation in Russia will only improve. Who would doubt that! The only regret is that there is no detailed “road map” available for the next one or two, three years at the most.

But we have always been like this: every new generation has been promised to “live under communism”, we have always had a wonderful future and a glorious past. And only the present failed. Sometimes.

Well, I’ll end with a quote: “Russia’s past was magnificent, its present is more than magnificent, and the future is higher than anything even the wildest imagination can imagine.” Almost two hundred years have passed and you can’t say it any better. Surely you know the author: Alexander Khristoforovich Benkendorf, head of the main body of the political investigation of Nicholas I, the Third Department of His Imperial Majesty’s Own Office. Simultaneously – the head of separate gendarmerie units.

The author expresses his personal opinion, which may not coincide with the editors’ position.