Generations will no longer be divisible by 15 as indicated by Ortega y Gasset. Currently, the gap between one generation and another is no longer 15 years.
Three examples demonstrate it.
The appearance of the CEO of TikTok in the United States Congress will have to be remembered, as Kenneth Rogoff assures, as a turning point in the history of globalization. On March 23, Shou Zi Chew (born in Singapore) went to the Capitol to respond to a group of congressmen about the role of TikTok in the United States. The American hypothesis is: the Chinese social network has 150 million tiktoker profiles from their country, and therefore could represent a national security threat.
The TikTok CEO responded lucidly to what seemed to be a confrontation of two eras because what the congressmen demonstrated was a lack of understanding of the technological world.
The session lasted 5 hours, but it could have lasted an hour if the congressmen had started from a solid premise: the United States mistrusts China. It is obvious that the Democrats would shoot themselves in the foot if they decided to ban TikTok: each user in the United States spends an average of 56 minutes a day on the application; two-thirds of those under 30 oppose the ban.
The second example is Lula. A group of video game companies sent him a letter asking him to rectify his comments made last week: “There are no video games talking about love. There are no video games talking about education. There are only games teaching children to kill,” Lula said on the 18th. April during a meeting with ministers at the Planalto Palace to announce protection measures for schools (the AFP agency published yesterday).
“I doubt there is a child of 8, 9, 10 years who is not used to spending a lot of time playing that crap. Today the kids play with people from another country, they spend the whole night playing, and all of that results in that violence among the children,” Lula added.
Undoubtedly, Lula, at 77 years old, no longer understands the new generations, but he governs them.
The third case is Joe Biden. This Tuesday he will announce his intention to seek re-election. He is 80 years old and in front of him is a war in the Ukraine. 70% of Americans think he should no longer seek re-election. Reducing the segment to that of the Democrats, 51% think so. The numbers are not rosy for Biden.
What would the CEO of TikTok think when he saw the incomprehension faces of the congressmen? Does Lula really think that video games should talk about love? Will Joe Biden think about winning the 2024 elections?
The current times are incomprehensible for Lula and Biden.
