ars heroica

by Raven Pseudo

The world is starting to change constantly. At one time, people would look to the future, to the end of their lifetime, to the end of their children’s lifetimes, and know that the world would be the same as when they were born. That is no longer true. People who are turning eighteen this year were born before the World Wide Web existed. Almost no one had a cell phone at that time. The fastest computer you could get was a 486, and those eighteen year olds probably don’t even know what I’m talking about. You can now invent something and watch it change the world within five years, easily.

With this glorious technology, you can come up with an idea, spread it around the world in an instant, and watch others build from it, making it grander. If you need some information, it’s probably on the internet, and if it’s not, you can ask for it and it will be put on the internet. Everyone who has ever lived has been a god, but never have we wielded power like this before.

But, what will this power bring? Will these inventions improve the world? Come to think of it, has any invention, ever, improved the world? Are things better now than they were before the invention of the computer? …than before the automobile? …than before antibiotics? Has a longer life improved our lot in life? Has running water reduced our stress? Has the spread of information made possible by the printing press made us happier? Will life be easier or harder now that we can almost literally do anything? Is there any other way to change the world?

Looking back, I can see one other way of changing the world besides invention: committing a great evil. Unite people against something. Granted, that doesn’t improve the world either, just worsens it for a bit before status quo returns. There is no way to improve the world.

So, then, what’s the point of a school for heroes? If the world is only going to grow darker, why hold out false hope? What’s the point of doing anything besides looking out for number one?

Individuals.

Being a hero is about helping people, isn’t it? Making the world a better place starts with the individual, not the world. Understanding the world’s problems is probably impossible, and solving them is an exercise in stupidity, but the individual is someone that anyone can, and should, help.

The world is doomed, the individual can be saved. By accepting this, you can be both a hero and have happiness, for you will have success. Even if you refuse to accept this, the world is still doomed to decay, just as any other dying creature is. You can slow down the process, and possibly even stop it, but I’ve yet to see the stubborn idiot who can reverse it, and if there is no hope for that, you will be doomed to misery.