The system had never specialized in long-term investment for the future. Or at least not the future of humanity. How would you justify it to the board of investors when all of the other companies are part of humanity too? What the system DID specialize in was finding a need and offering an affordable, market-valued solution. So when the sun began to beat down in the city squares, light-mitigating plastic-glass shells for public spaces became the new standard. When sea levels rose against coastal cities, damming projects arose in turn, earning self-congratulation from the corporate media for employing thousands as they put them to work to save their own cities. Of course, not every city had the pure wealth to establish these projects, so there was a period where quite a lot of people moved to the already overpopulated large cities. But that brought more opportunities and challenges for which the corporations were happy to provide market solutions. The funny thing about death spirals is that they sometimes look like a cycle of rebirth from a distance. Especially to PR representatives and marketing teams. After all. It’s only business. Side Chatter MUSIC CREDITS PLAYERS