In your twenties, you were a visionary. You wanted to learn it all, and fix it all. All the world.
Ever realized that you cannot do everything that is meaningful in your life? When you dedicate your life to help people with HIV, you can't go find a cure for HIV. Or find the quantum gravity model. Or develop sustainable government. Or find out and teach us all about the Transcendental and God (if you find there is God). Or clean up all the landmines. Or the ocean plastic. Or invent a fair-for-all mode for economic exchange. Or this. That.
Because your lifetime is limited.
And then you realize, it would be great to at least achieve one of these. And then you focus on that one.
And then you realize, you have neither time or money for even one of these meaningful contributions (… contributions to what, actually?). Because your parents might be old, needing your help. Or you made children, just like everyone else, and now have to care for them. Or you got fired from your job, the bank took your house, and now you're living in a tent. That you found in that garbage can. It's just a tarp actually. Or you get medical conditions, so you can be happy to make it through the day.
Because your lifetime is limited.
And then you realize, your life will pass and end as meaningless as everyone else's life. And life, what is life? It then seems like a meaningless aggregates of matter to you. You, yourself, just a bunch of atoms, with your conscience an unnecessary (and unpleasant) emergence of it.
And you start to enjoy that your lifetime is limited, not your limited lifetime.
Stop that.
Now, come back to your visions.
Just change one thing: it should be no longer your vision, now it's ours. Humanity's. We are all in our twenties again.
Everyone who has given up on seeking, and expecting to see, the abolition of greed, poverty and evil, and the introduction of immortality and freedom for all, has given up living while alive. Seek, and expect, again. Because now we seek, and expect, together. You were frustrated by your powerlessness as an individual. Now marvel at what seven billion can do. And what God will do, if there is a God, and seven billion seek him.
Yes, you should expect and seek God, because there might be God after all. But do not forget all the rest of what is good. Physical immortality. Good governance structures. Unextinction of animals. Desert forests. The Theory of Everything. Space colonization. So much before us!
Now what? It's all about how we organize. If your grandma cooks a simple healthy meal for scientists working on quantum gravity, she contributes. If you read news about political quarrels, visit touristic spots from your hard-earned surplus money, engage in any avoidable consumption, you do not.
Wake up, all of us!
The pieces are coming together already. Take note, organize yourselves, contribute. Some inspirations? Here you go:
- De-criminalizing all drugs and offering medical help instead halfed the number of addicts and drug-related diseases in Portugal.
- On reversing aging.
- Helping us understand our unconscious selves. (And also, remove that damn paywall from the article!)
- Towards the Theory of Everything: Help us finally understand physics, maybe with geometry indeed.
And of course: Are we alone in the universe? What does it all mean? Are we sure about this? Why? Re-asking the big questions is probably one of our biggest challenged. Us modern folks got so used to the scientific storied of Big Bang, cosmic evolution, and biologic evolution. And now, scientific evolution comes along and puts to question the very concept of space-time. And with it, the existing notion of Big Bang.
Now, what?
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