okay. what is the middle class? how much longer does it exist for? which of the new emerging classes will qualify as equivalent or better to you? what if shit goes full on ‘parable of the sower’; one of the more chillingly plausible apocalpses in fiction?

what horrors must you wreak on the world to do that? what if all classes but the very peak have fewer rights and privileges, and you’re a part of that happening? what if you achieve middle classedness by maintaining the same amount of resources as you do at present, but devastating the total available resources, making your shit position the new middle?

what is an acceptable cost? what can you cut out of your life to have that? what about raping and pillaging and living in fear but having a really nice house and most/all of the treats you want? how many degrees out from rape and pillage, where you still make the world measurably worse to get a disproportionate slice of it and have to live with moral compromises that give others a legitimate interest in your downfall, is acceptable to you? would you be a software engineer at palantir? monsanto attack lawyer? corporate raider? the asshole whose job it is to think of ways to deniably advertise tobacco to children?

what about building a world where that distinction is meaningless, and you have other better things? is that a part of success? can it be measured against ‘success’? does justice matter? love? harmony with other intelligent life? personal growth and development? doing something that will outlive you, or maybe even the relevance of this quarter’s earnings report, if you’re really ambitious?