Sometimes I have to just stop and remind myself that most of us are more likely to slip into a state of eternal hope — or "hopium," if you prefer — rather than remain perpetually anchored in the tangible reality of existence.

Not suggesting this can be applied to everybody, but there are many of us who only manage to plod along through life because we have a pervasive hope that things will "get better."

Last time I paused and questioned my mental state was a few days ago when our Hive token — once again — dipped below $0.20, albeit briefly.

I think about how many people here keep hoping that the world will finally come to appreciate the true value and potential of our community, but after nine years of "not very much," how likely is that to actually happen?

As I have stated before, I don't really care about the actual price of Hive, I care about how we're doing," in comparison to the greater Cryptosphere.

According to Coinmarketcap, Hive currently ranks 367th among cryptos by market cap. And it keeps sinking about 8-10 slots every month.

Did you know that this was — once upon a time — a "top 10" token.

Then we started worrying about "at least being in the top 50." And then the top 100. And then the top 200. And then the top 300.

Of course, I am still here — like many others — hoping that things will turn around, at some point. Yet, objectively speaking, this strongly suggests a losing proposition. At least it seems to be. Based purely on numbers and logic, should have bailed, a long time ago.

But — going beyond the borders of Hive — most of us really don't want to live in reality... perhaps because "reality" sucks far more often than it brings us joy.

The balance of life typically turns out to be a game of "hanging in there," as opposed to the "fulfillment and joy" so many are striving towards.

Perhaps our grandparents and great-grandparents — who were raised in an atmosphere of "you just DO what you need to, and appreciate life's small moments of joy when they come" — had a much better grasp on the idea of what it means to be alive than we do today.

Religions often teach that we should "beware false idols," and I can't help but wonder whether the promise of these "rich and joyful lives" is actually akin to worshiping a "false idol?" Have we been promised — and subsequently gone in pursuit of — things that actually have very little chance of coming to fruition? And is our insistence that we want to keep pursuing them little more than "chasing ghosts?"

Most of the time, I have believed in some kind of "middle way" between the impossible utopias and fear-laden dystopias we tend to get served up, all the time.

I don't believe that Web 3.0 will be the magical solution that leads to eternal peace and meaningful prosperity for all... any more than I believe everyone but 1% of the population will be living in FEMA camps within a couple of decades.

Humanity doesn't work that way. Humanity actually works more like water, always finding holes and gaps through the weak spots in whatever barriers are thrown up in front of us. If the extremes become too extreme, those "pressure points" tend to break and things swing back in the opposite direction.

We tend to ignore such ideas because most us won't be alive for long enough to experience the cycles. But they are there. Just try sitting with a 90+ year old relative and have them talk about their life and times, in a more historical context...

But that tends to be very boring, compared to promises of pie in the sky. And so we would rather zone out on our little clouds of fantasy and hopium.

Good or bad? Who truly knows?

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