In this small county town, nobody talks about AI, Codex, Claude, or Muse. Nobody talks about X, Hong Kong bank cards, U.S. stocks, or the Nasdaq...

People still talk about
whose child got into which school, whose son still isn't married,
who bought a house or got a new car, which workplace pays well, who got divorced, who made money this year, who fell into debt—and how high oil prices are.

The flywheel of the times tears one generation after another apart.
It all feels as if it doesn't exist. The world is still the same old world.