Is it though? Is it this mysterious "elites?" Define that term. You think Bill Gates personally wants to end democracy, the system that underpins capitalism, the very source from which Bill Gates draws his supposed elitism?

You can't be at the top of a pyramid without all the stones beneath you. If it all collapses, these supposed elites going to claim their property without a government that has exclusive use of violence behind them?

I put it to you that people have always, since we evolved conscious thought, had different views and opinions about how things should work, and formed tribes, in the non-anthropological sense, around those ides. What's changed is our ability to openly discuss, share and proselytize our views.

The so called "division" we hear so much about now has always been there, and probably always will be. Where we as a species are now being forced to adapt is that we can now hear the thoughts of those who think differently to us more clearly and loudly than ever before. With the pace technology is evolving, that's not going away, and with the advent of fast language translation we may start hearing the thoughts of those in other, non-English speaking countries. And they may start to hear us.

The experience of having such technology at our fingertips is a relatively new thing. So as humans, we must be learning, going through a stage that I would think must be inevitable, where a people start to explore new considerations, new systems, changing government, new ideas about property, capitalism, class, statehood; ways to get along and to accommodate the different viewpoints and values held by different tribes all over the planet.

I put it to you that this process, this maturation or even evolution, does not sit well with some people. The changes humanity must go through in the next 100 years if it is to survive, and which are being formulated in many minds right now, are to some, terrifying. I'm not just talking about solving emissions, or preventing nuclear war, and other top of mind visible things. I'm talking about our ability to co-exist, which we also, ultimately, must do. But when it comes to change, there will always be three options: do more, do something, do less. For some people, the answer will be do less, or even better, do nothing. The onus is always on the proponents of change to argue the case, sometimes they prevail, sometimes they don't. But the process is equally frustrating for everyone involved.

So have some hope. If it has always been this way, and it has been at least since democracy was invented, but we can no longer simply dismiss the views of the other, who were once far away, out of sight, out of mind. It's going to be hard, and it's going to be frustrating, and this change has been foisted on us by our advancement, and we have to work it out. But we always have before.