While I agree that technology has made most aspects of our lives more convenient, I disagree with the conclusion you've come to.
First, I'd make a distinction between physical and psychological struggle. While the former is certainly declining thanks to technology, the latter is about to become one of the biggest problems of society; because they're inversely correlated. Just think about it. Most people living in America and Central Europe live better lives than most kings in human history. Yet people aren't happy. Why is that? It's because we don't struggle like our ancestors did.
Don't have a job? No problem! Let the government take care of you! Move back in with your parents! Now you have all day to think about that guy from school who just returned from a month-long vacation and just bought a new car. How unfair! But you don't appreciate for a minute that you have a roof over your head and food on the table. You don't appreciate having a toilet with a working flush because you never had to take a dump alongside 30 other people in the streets. I mean, there are children in Africa who can't go to school because they have to walk 20 miles daily to a piss-pot of a well, just to carry 70 pounds of cholera-infected water back to their families. And you have the audacity to get upset about the fact that someone just cut you off in traffic? Go F*ck yourself.
I realize that other people's problems don't diminish your own. That being said, the 'problems' of today's society are a complete joke. It's an unfortunate part of human nature to always want what we don't have. We are never content with the way things are. If I gave you all you think you need to be happy right now, you still wouldn't be. You might experience euphoria for a day. Probably for a week. Maybe for a month. But eventually your shiny new car that was supposed to bring you status and respect just becomes 'your car'. And not even a year will pass before you want another one. Some people might not want a car. Some want a house, others want a loving relationship, not realizing that happiness cannot be bought. It has to be earned. And that's not possible in a life without struggle.
What I'm trying to say is this: There's a relation between the lowest lows you've experienced and the intensity of the highs you can achieve. Taking struggle out of our lives completely - assuming there was a way - is just about the worst idea I can think of. Instead, embrace the pain. Welcome it. It's a catalyst for growth. Say 'hello' to the attractive girl on the street. Make that cold-call. Climb a mountain. Break yourself, both physically and emotionally. You'll be dead in 80 years anyway, and in 200 not even your descendants will remember you. Make the most out of the time you've been given. You'll be a better person and the end of it, and, more importantly: you'll be happy. That's what they mean when they say 'it's the journey, not the destination'.
Instead of removing struggle from our lives, we should consciously add to it. Pain in life is unavoidable, but suffering is optional.
First, I'd make a distinction between physical and psychological struggle. While the former is certainly declining thanks to technology, the latter is about to become one of the biggest problems of society; because they're inversely correlated. Just think about it. Most people living in America and Central Europe live better lives than most kings in human history. Yet people aren't happy. Why is that? It's because we don't struggle like our ancestors did.
Don't have a job? No problem! Let the government take care of you! Move back in with your parents! Now you have all day to think about that guy from school who just returned from a month-long vacation and just bought a new car. How unfair! But you don't appreciate for a minute that you have a roof over your head and food on the table. You don't appreciate having a toilet with a working flush because you never had to take a dump alongside 30 other people in the streets. I mean, there are children in Africa who can't go to school because they have to walk 20 miles daily to a piss-pot of a well, just to carry 70 pounds of cholera-infected water back to their families. And you have the audacity to get upset about the fact that someone just cut you off in traffic? Go F*ck yourself.
I realize that other people's problems don't diminish your own. That being said, the 'problems' of today's society are a complete joke. It's an unfortunate part of human nature to always want what we don't have. We are never content with the way things are. If I gave you all you think you need to be happy right now, you still wouldn't be. You might experience euphoria for a day. Probably for a week. Maybe for a month. But eventually your shiny new car that was supposed to bring you status and respect just becomes 'your car'. And not even a year will pass before you want another one. Some people might not want a car. Some want a house, others want a loving relationship, not realizing that happiness cannot be bought. It has to be earned. And that's not possible in a life without struggle.
What I'm trying to say is this: There's a relation between the lowest lows you've experienced and the intensity of the highs you can achieve. Taking struggle out of our lives completely - assuming there was a way - is just about the worst idea I can think of. Instead, embrace the pain. Welcome it. It's a catalyst for growth. Say 'hello' to the attractive girl on the street. Make that cold-call. Climb a mountain. Break yourself, both physically and emotionally. You'll be dead in 80 years anyway, and in 200 not even your descendants will remember you. Make the most out of the time you've been given. You'll be a better person and the end of it, and, more importantly: you'll be happy. That's what they mean when they say 'it's the journey, not the destination'.
Instead of removing struggle from our lives, we should consciously add to it. Pain in life is unavoidable, but suffering is optional.
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