Drugs are absolutely an enormous facet in our everyday lives. Now, I’m not saying we’re a nation full of addicts, but we are a nation that likes to experiment with drugs. Seriously think about the last time you drank a beer, smoked a joint, or took a pill? Last week? Three months ago? Yesterday? Maybe you’ve never touched a single mind-altering drug. It doesn’t really matter because at the end of the day, most of the people around you consume or have consumed drugs, which tells us something about where we are in modern times.
We take drugs for recreational purposes because we want to enhance our experiences or dwell in completely foreign ones. Most of us are done fighting. We just want to work to have fun. And it’s not necessarily a bad thing. It makes sense. Here in the Western World, we live cushioned lives that are safe…and also terribly boring.
We’re shrouded in an “Industrial Park” that looks just about the same in every direction. Every town you visit, has a “Burger King” and a “Mc Donalds”. Every town has a “Target” and a Walmart” and every town has a little downtown, with a strip of bars and “Mom and Pop” restaurants. You know, just to offset the giant tidal wave of homogeneity.
We drown ourselves in drugs just to deal with the monumental boredom that inflicts our lives. But it’s not just because it’s fun or because there’s nothing left to do. No, no, no. That’s far too superficial. We really do it because we’re constantly seeking to better our own well-being.
Think about it.
We have a strange propensity to try and better ourselves but everyone knows that it’s an arduous task. So, some of us cheat by taking drugs. But you’re reading this right now and telling yourself that you’re not a drug addict. Fair enough. Maybe you’re not sucking dick for crack, but you’re probably getting drunk on the weekends. You’re probably smoking a joint from time to time or taking a little pill here and there. Most of us are neither saints nor sinners. We just like to indulge in a little bit of both. But why is that?
Most of us get a decent job that pays the bills, but because we were too scared to go after our dreams or because we simply don’t have any, we replace the experience of success with drugs. So in essence, we make the money and we feel the enormous reward that comes with success, even though deep down, we know we’re not that successful. But who cares, right? After all, success is nothing more than an emotional experience so as long as we can feel successful and have enough to consume, then we don’t actually have to be successful.
This is only going to get worse/better. We’ll definitely be healthier in the long run. In fact, drug use is stagnating because there’s something else to replace the mind-altering experience…technology. Now, we have realistic games and films to immerse ourselves in so we don’t have to take drugs to get similar effects. We can scour the Internet and find those new experiences and even bring them into the real World so we can have those adventures without having to take those pills at those parties.
We’re still a drug culture, but at least we’re leveling out and perhaps soon, we’ll begin to put down the bong and the beer altogether. Perhaps one day we’ll be able to re-create the sensory experiences we get when consuming drugs so we don’t actually have to harm our bodies. Perhaps we’ll create completely new sensory experiences that we can’t even dream of. After all, we’re already on the verge of entering the “Internet of Things” so who knows what the future will hold for us.
The technological singularity is in our midst. That’s not much of a question these days. The question now is, what sort of social features will we see with this emergent singularity? Will we still be the helpless drug-crazed consumers that we are today or will that change with the times?
I’m not much of an optimist nor am I a pessimist. I’m more a realist and what seems realistic is that we’ll see more and more people move away from drugs and replace that with either their goals that they had previously forgone for a decent lifestyle or they’ll replace it with something that can bring about the same, if not better sensory experience.
One day, everything will be automated and we’ll no longer have to work. It’ll be a rough transition, but once we figure it out, we’ll be able to do as we please because we’ll have all the time in the World to just…live.
A lot of people are going to focus on art, just as many are doing right now. Then they’ll be a lot of people who’ll focus their attention on new discoveries and seek to expand our levels of understanding reality, either through science or business or both.
We’ll see a sort of Renaissance emerge that will further expand the singularity into unfathomable dimensions. But in spite of all these wonderful things, the sad truth is that they’ll always be those who will never know what to do and they’ll only have fun. They’ll only continue consuming drugs, whether they’re digital or real because it’s the only way they can reach that level of enthrallment one feels when they’ve accomplished something great. I’m not talking about the kind of great things that you do for yourself. I’m talking about the great things that you do for others.
There is no better feeling in the World; no drug or simulated experience that could induce such an intoxicating feeling. But who knows. Maybe one day we’ll even be able to re-create that sensory experience. AndIf that does happen, will there even be a point in doing anything real at all?
Thoughts on this?
We take drugs for recreational purposes because we want to enhance our experiences or dwell in completely foreign ones. Most of us are done fighting. We just want to work to have fun. And it’s not necessarily a bad thing. It makes sense. Here in the Western World, we live cushioned lives that are safe…and also terribly boring.
We’re shrouded in an “Industrial Park” that looks just about the same in every direction. Every town you visit, has a “Burger King” and a “Mc Donalds”. Every town has a “Target” and a Walmart” and every town has a little downtown, with a strip of bars and “Mom and Pop” restaurants. You know, just to offset the giant tidal wave of homogeneity.
We drown ourselves in drugs just to deal with the monumental boredom that inflicts our lives. But it’s not just because it’s fun or because there’s nothing left to do. No, no, no. That’s far too superficial. We really do it because we’re constantly seeking to better our own well-being.
Think about it.
We have a strange propensity to try and better ourselves but everyone knows that it’s an arduous task. So, some of us cheat by taking drugs. But you’re reading this right now and telling yourself that you’re not a drug addict. Fair enough. Maybe you’re not sucking dick for crack, but you’re probably getting drunk on the weekends. You’re probably smoking a joint from time to time or taking a little pill here and there. Most of us are neither saints nor sinners. We just like to indulge in a little bit of both. But why is that?
Most of us get a decent job that pays the bills, but because we were too scared to go after our dreams or because we simply don’t have any, we replace the experience of success with drugs. So in essence, we make the money and we feel the enormous reward that comes with success, even though deep down, we know we’re not that successful. But who cares, right? After all, success is nothing more than an emotional experience so as long as we can feel successful and have enough to consume, then we don’t actually have to be successful.
This is only going to get worse/better. We’ll definitely be healthier in the long run. In fact, drug use is stagnating because there’s something else to replace the mind-altering experience…technology. Now, we have realistic games and films to immerse ourselves in so we don’t have to take drugs to get similar effects. We can scour the Internet and find those new experiences and even bring them into the real World so we can have those adventures without having to take those pills at those parties.
We’re still a drug culture, but at least we’re leveling out and perhaps soon, we’ll begin to put down the bong and the beer altogether. Perhaps one day we’ll be able to re-create the sensory experiences we get when consuming drugs so we don’t actually have to harm our bodies. Perhaps we’ll create completely new sensory experiences that we can’t even dream of. After all, we’re already on the verge of entering the “Internet of Things” so who knows what the future will hold for us.
The technological singularity is in our midst. That’s not much of a question these days. The question now is, what sort of social features will we see with this emergent singularity? Will we still be the helpless drug-crazed consumers that we are today or will that change with the times?
I’m not much of an optimist nor am I a pessimist. I’m more a realist and what seems realistic is that we’ll see more and more people move away from drugs and replace that with either their goals that they had previously forgone for a decent lifestyle or they’ll replace it with something that can bring about the same, if not better sensory experience.
One day, everything will be automated and we’ll no longer have to work. It’ll be a rough transition, but once we figure it out, we’ll be able to do as we please because we’ll have all the time in the World to just…live.
A lot of people are going to focus on art, just as many are doing right now. Then they’ll be a lot of people who’ll focus their attention on new discoveries and seek to expand our levels of understanding reality, either through science or business or both.
We’ll see a sort of Renaissance emerge that will further expand the singularity into unfathomable dimensions. But in spite of all these wonderful things, the sad truth is that they’ll always be those who will never know what to do and they’ll only have fun. They’ll only continue consuming drugs, whether they’re digital or real because it’s the only way they can reach that level of enthrallment one feels when they’ve accomplished something great. I’m not talking about the kind of great things that you do for yourself. I’m talking about the great things that you do for others.
There is no better feeling in the World; no drug or simulated experience that could induce such an intoxicating feeling. But who knows. Maybe one day we’ll even be able to re-create that sensory experience. AndIf that does happen, will there even be a point in doing anything real at all?
Thoughts on this?
