When I was doing my prewriting for this story, two other topics caught my attention. The first was to explore Late-Stage Capitalism, and the second is the looming issue of Climate Change. Let me start by saying I am not an economist; however, I have published and co-published scientific literature on the subject of climate change. The following are my limited ideas about where we might be headed regarding these two issues.

To explore this, let us start by defining what capitalism is. As I understand it, capitalism is an economic system in which individuals and private parties control the means of production, and profits are the key drivers of economic activity. Some key characteristics of this system include competition, private property ownership, self-interest, freedom of choice, and markets that control the pricing of goods and services.

In 1996, the American Stock Market listed roughly 8,000 companies. Since then, the American economy has grown to nearly 25 trillion dollars, and now, in 2025, the Stock Market has only about 4,000 companies listed. What is happening? How can we increase the value with fewer companies? The answer is that about 25% of American businesses are now owned by private equity firms. Competition and market control over prices are being eroded by these private equity entities, which gobble up corporations at an alarming rate. These facts were the inspiration behind the six mega corporations that took over in Prey On.

Additionally, why does it feel as if everything is increasingly becoming a subscription-based model? It is becoming ridiculous how many subscription services there are now. I need Netflix, Microsoft Office, Xbox Game Pass, YouTube Premium, Spotify, and the list keeps growing, seemingly indefinitely. Furthermore, homeownership has been declining, especially among Millennials, with nearly 2 out of 3 people under 40 renting. Meanwhile, the cost-to-income ratio has risen for renters and declined for homeowners, creating one of the largest wealth gaps between owners and renters, reaching nearly 50% in the last decade. These are the signs of a transition to a rent-based economic system. We are now in a battle with billionaires who do not want you to own anything, and instead wish you would rent everything from them. Private ownership is a hallmark of capitalism, yet they seek to make you rent all of the services they offer.

To make matters worse, we are entering the age of digital share-cropping. After the Civil War, sharecropping was a legal arrangement in which a landowner allowed tenants to use the land in return for a share of the crops produced. The rise of industrialism would render share-cropping obsolete, yet it has returned in a more insidious digital way. Content, views, and engagement are the new crop of the digital era. Now, platforms like TikTok, Instagram, or YouTube pay creators pennies for their abstract labor in creating eye-catching videos or posts, in the hope of going viral. At Amazon, I make only 20-70 cents per sale on my digital, physical, or audio stories while Amazon takes a much larger cut. I fear things will only get worse as we shift further from a labor-based to an abstract rent-based economy.

Next, let's discuss AI. AI slop is everywhere. Did you know it can cost over 200 million dollars to train a large language model? Not to mention the increased processing power every time you query that model. Ultimately, I believe these tools are being pushed on us as a method of control. They want to know what we will buy, what new hobbies we might be interested in, and how best they can influence our personal decisions. Digital AI assistance is not your assistance. They exist to understand and manipulate you and your purchasing power. Our reliance on them undermines our self-interest and freedom of choice, which are vital in a capitalist society. These AI tools help their owners, not you. Be careful how you utilize these tools. They are not your digital friend; they are a method to manipulate your choices. At some point soon, they may be spitting out responses that are paid advertisements disguised as genuine advice.

Let's shift gears and discuss briefly that second topic. I often worry about humanity's future. In 1900, the global average parts per million (ppm) concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was about 295 ppm. In 1950, it rose to about 310 ppm (15ppm in 50 years). By 2000, it was at 370ppm (60ppm in 50 years). In 2015, when I started my PhD program, it was at about 399 ppm (29 ppm in 15 years). When I finished my program in 2021, I watched in horror as it rose to 415 ppm (16ppm in 6 years). In May of 2025, it was recorded at over 430 ppm (15ppm in 4 years). Greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide trap heat in our atmosphere, leading to climate change.

Many scientific models try to estimate the global surface temperature by a specific date, 2100. Current estimates range from 2 to 4 degrees Celsius for conservative models and from 3 to 6 degrees Celsius for models (SSP5-8.5) with high emissions and limited climate action taken. I fear it may be worse than we think. I do not know of any models that estimate further into the future (past 2100), because there is always more error in a projection that far out in time, and thus it is less reliable. Although new models are being called for that go past this date.

My estimate in the story is meant to be scary. It is a clarion call for action. I don't want it to be accurate, although I fear capitalism may ignore the issue and instead focus on expanding new developments in space or on other planets. Resist. Every action we take today will help, even if they are small. The worst thing we can do is rob future generations of this beautiful planet for short-term economic gains. We need systems like Universal Basic Income, we need regulations of AI development, both from an environmental standpoint, as well as the potential for higher-order AIs to snuff us out of existence. Like it or not, the 6th mass extinction event, known as the Holocene extinction, is currently ravaging ecosystems. The contemporary rate of extinction is estimated at 100 to 1,000 times higher than the natural background extinction rate. Remember, 99.9% of all the living things that have existed are extinct. The universe is a brutal place; survival is never guaranteed.

In the face of environmental change, complacency is deadly. The 'business as usual' approach will generate conditions no human has ever faced before. However, it is not a binary. Success and failure are not measured by the actions taken at a specific moment in time. The sooner we act, the less damage is done. Spread the word, vote in your local elections, and use your purchasing power to help support efforts that improve the environment and the climate. Let us move towards a more mutualistic relationship with our environment and take on the role of stewards of the Earth, for all life's sake. Change is inevitable; let's work together for a better future, not a default one.