Portals

by Douglas E. Richards

In most jobs, one learned from one’s mistakes. Unfortunately, in our job, a single mistake usually led to a swift death, and corpses were notoriously stubborn when it came to learning from bad experiences.

On average across the globe, human beings are wealthier, healthier, more literate, longer lived, and safer than at any time in history. But, ironically, we’re also more pessimistic and stressed out than ever before. Many of us feel like hamsters running on a never-ending but ever-accelerating wheel. “Because of this rising stress, more and more of us are seeking an escape, and there are more and more avenues of addiction to turn to. And addiction itself dramatically increases stress, resulting in a nightmarish vicious circle.”

Do you know why you aren’t charged to use social media platforms? Because you aren’t the customer. You’re the product.”

The scholarly term is Intermittent Variable Rewards. Which simply means that unpredictability has great power to addict. Because we have an innate evolutionary compulsion to know. Is it something good or bad? Does it bode well, or is it a harbinger of doom?”

“America’s ruling class is insidious. You think your democracy is really a democracy? Less and less all the time. You’re being manipulated by ever more unscrupulous politicians, media, and social media platforms, with content moderated by those in power. You aren’t free at all. Your ruling class just allows you the illusion that you are.”

You’re more neurotic and miserable than we’ve ever been. You have wars raging even now. You have an entire generation whose minds have been rewired by the internet. Who are so used to constant stimulation and jumping from hyperlink to hyperlink that they’re largely incapable of anything but superficial thought. And who hide behind anonymity to spew venom online, displaying the worst behavior our joint species has to offer.”