You will own nothing and be happy

Is that just a dystopian daydream?

There is a joke that regularly makes the rounds on the Internet that goes something like this:

“If anybody wants to know why Gen X is always mad, it's because we had to replace our record collections with a tape collection that we had to replace with a CD collection that we had to replace with an MP3 collection, and now we need a subscription to listen to music.”

There is certainly a kernel of truth to this (I can attest to it - I am Gen X), and while admittedly humorous, it reveals a disturbing trend, one I noticed some time ago, which aligns with the World Economic Forum’s stated goal that we peasants will “own nothing and be happy.”

Let’s first consider our homes. How many still rent? And of those who don’t rent, how many are paying a mortgage? Who “owns” those homes? For the renter, the landlord owns the home. In the case of the mortgagee, the home belongs to the bank. What about those who have paid off their mortgage or paid cash for a house? Funny that. I used to say the home owns you because of the maintenance and upkeep required. I came later to realize though (and I’ve said this before politicians started using it as a campaign talking-point) that, in light of property taxes and the threat of losing your home for non-payment, the purchaser is still ostensibly a lessee from the state.

When you think about it, in most locales, you can’t even legally modify your home without getting permission from local government and paying an inspection fee. How is that “ownership?” If you can’t do what you please with your property, but instead need to ask (and pay for) approval from government, is your property truly yours?

Then what about cars? Many in big cities don’t even own cars, and when necessary, will use Lyft, Uber, or taxis to get around. While there are still some (like myself) who will either purchase a car cash or pay it off quickly and drive and maintain it until it is no longer feasible, many choose to invest in a new car every few years. Such people will either lease their cars (which is truly never owning), or they will finance cars, but then upgrade to a new vehicle at the term of the contract or even before, remaining in a perpetual payment and never truly having full ownership of their vehicles.

Add to that today all of the tracking and controlling electronic features in newer cars (especially battery-operated electric vehicles), and you end up with a situation similar to that of cell phones. Software updates are at the whim of the manufacturer. Any attempt to modify or disable any features will likely void your warranty. And heaven forbid there is paucity of power, those devilish deities may from a distance deprive you of the ability to charge. Of course, with such remote access capabilities as have vehicles equipped with OnStar and other such features and services, stopping your car is within their power as much as control of a nest thermostat is available to electric providers. If someone else can control your vehicle or your ability to use it, is that truly ownership?

And since I mentioned phones… Does anyone really own one? Sure, you can claim to own the device, as you could back when they were simple and required physical coupling to wires in the walls, but even then, the device was useless without a service that required a monthly fee. Now with the powerful processors in our pockets, even the operating system and apps therein aren’t “ours.” Yes, we are licensed to use them, but that is only conditional, can be revoked, and app and device makers can easily exercise control, even without the “owner’s” knowledge.

The idea of everything-as-a-service really began to take hold in the early 2000s and has consumed almost every commercial product. Tangible copies of music and movies have gone the way of the dinosaur and most people now access these via subscription streaming services.

Software on your computer has moved from “ownership” to subscription (think Office 365, Google Docs, et al). You may own (do you really?) your data that you create with these apps, but the apps are not yours and are accessible only by subscription (even if that subscription is free without direct financial cost).

Even big pharma wants you to outsource your health to their prescription subscription services. They don’t want to cure your ills; they want you monthly popping their pills. “Have a medical problem? No worries. We have a once daily pill just for you! And if you suffer any complications from our capsules, well, we have a daily dose you can take for that as well.”

So the question isn’t, “will you succumb to the WEF’s dystopian utopian desire for you to ‘own nothing and be happy’?” What you should ask is, “do you actually own anything now, and are you happy?”

Life doesn’t consist of our possessions (Luke 12:15); there are far more important aspects of life (Mark 8:36), and possessions, while they may bring fleeting emotional highs, do not bring true happiness. But if we have possessions, should they not be ours?