This Day Is Ours
It’s amazing to think of how far we have come as a species. Just to think that a few thousand years ago we were still living as uncivilized beasts and today, well I’m sure you can see where I’m going with this. The fact is we live in an amazing time, a time of great exploration, a time where literally anything and everything is possible. Just think, in the last hundred years we have seen more and advancement in technology than we have had in the past thousand, that’s exponential growth at it’s most simple form and it’s something we can all see and understand.
Exponential growth surrounds you every day. Compare the early 1900s when 50% of the population worked and lived on farms to produce food for the country. Now in the 21st century less than 3% of our total population works on farms and feeds THE ENTIRE population. Exponential growth is an incredible concept, with the understanding that things can change so rapidly our ability to create better technology is really questioned. How will things be different 20 years from now?
How is this Possible?
Greed. That’s right Greed. It’s seems funny to me that all of this can be attributed to the greed of people. A concept which has such as negative connotation attached to it being responsible for the prosperity of humans? No way would be my first reaction, but I want to take a closer look at this idea.
Why is it that we have things that other countries don’t? One answer would be that we have a system which allows us to in many ways prosper, but there is in fact a much more substantial factor in our prosperity, greed. Ask yourself what do you want right now? Do you want a new car, new shoes, or a new computer? We all want new things. Wanting something that will personally improve your living situation is the human condition. We want to be better, happier, and more relaxed. Our entire way of life can be either directly or indirectly attributed to the greed of past generations which have allowed us to have the things we do now. The greed of previous generations has provided us with technology like the personal computer and even the ability to create space ships, and Dr. Scholls foot inserts.
The great part about the want to improve your life is that it is completely unsustainable. You will never have enough to be satisfied, and in fact recent polls show that the more money a person has the more they think they need to be happy. You may think to yourself, I only need this and ill be happy. After you get that item you will say to yourself well now that that’s taken care of I think I need just one more thing to become happy. It’s a never ending psychological cycle. We literally can’t stop ourselves from wanting to improve our lives. It’s the equivalent to asking a person with a broken leg to not want a healed leg, it’s completely nonsensical.
It is completely understandable that people want to have a better life and it is fundamentally why we are as prosperous of a culture as we are. Don’t frown upon the person who wants wants wants, they are exactly like you, they just admit to the emotions that we all have.
Scientists believe that the amount of change that our culture has experienced from 1900 to 2000 will be the equivalent to how much will change from now to 2,025. Image you lived in the 1900’s and someone told you that in 100 years people would be flying across the country in planes, or that everyone would have a car capable of doing 100 MPH. They would laugh at you. The impossible is possible and we better get ready for it because it’s right around the bend.
