Life Purpose: Doing What Little I Can To Nudge Humanity Away From It's Looming Doom

[Erlend K]

Hi everyone.

The way I see it, humanity is at a crossroads. The way we deal with the inevitable transformations that will happen in our lifetimes will likely determine the entire future of humanity.

Global warming is due to exceed two degrees, possibly three degrees. The last time the world was three degrees warmer was during the Pliocene, three million years ago, when beech trees grew in Antarctica, the seas were 80 feet higher and horses galloped across the Canadian coast of the Arctic Ocean. Three degrees would be nightmarish. It would mean casualties in the hundreds of millions, unprecedented refugee streams all across the third world leading to massive destabilization of already weak states, mass unrest, civil wars, failed states, resource wars, a boom of Islamist terrorism, epidemics of antibacterial-resistant bacteria. The collapse of nuclear-armed Pakistan and (probably) Iran will likely mean terrorist acquisition of nuclear weapons, ushering the age of nuclear terrorism. Nationalist, racist sentiments in the first world will lead us to seal off our paradisic bubbles from them. Leaving this 2/3 of humanity to rip itself apart.

Meanwhile, the first world will develop evermore refined AI. AI will replace the majority of labor, leading to near-universal unemployment, and the means of production controlled by a tiny group of multinational corporations. Biotech will reach the point where designer babies become the norm. Scientists have already genetically increased the intelligence of mice. In China, genetic engineering is already used on humans to cure genetic diseases. Designer babies are right around the corner. Humanity will for the first time in its history split in two. The old homo sapiens specie living in the climate change-wrecked, war-torn remains of the third world. A new, superior specie: Smarter, stronger, healthier, happier than the primitive homo sapiens, and deeply embedded with nanotech/AI breakthroughs that lie just a few decades ahead of us. Surveillance will be truly panoptical, big data owners will know you better than you know yourself: Cambridge Analytica and the Chinese social credit system is just the naive beginnings of what we might see in the coming decades. Nuclear weapons will be evermore cheap and readily available. Antibacterial resistant bacteria can be printed with biological 3D printers.

Economic inequality keeps skyrocketing. The 1% is projected to control 2/3 of the global wealth within a few decades. Democracy may not survive all the stress that is about to be put on it. Even if it survives it might be irrelevant, as the real power increasingly shifts towards multinational giants. I believe it's the responsibility of every decent person living through this monumental time period to make whatever contribution they can to nudge the development just ever so slightly in the right direction.

My passion is writing. I will try to make my contribution by slightly nudging the zeitgeist through my writing. For this, I need to master the craft of writing. Step 1 is to train writing essays, ask for feedback/criticism and take this in. I just published my first essay on Medium.com. I would appreciate anyone checking it out. I would welcome any criticism, and feedback on how I can improve.

My first essay: Sorry Libertarians But Scandinavia Is Indeed Socialist - And Just So Happens To Be The World’s Most Prosperous Region

[Robert]

@Erlend K Do you have any spiritual practices?

[Erlend K]

I do, Robert.

I practice the three trainings of the Dharma: Concentration, Wisdom and Morality. Currently, my main spiritual practices are Samatha-Vipassana and generosity/random acts of kindness.

[ChimpBrain]

#1 I loved the article 

#2 I'm in no position to critique it other than 2 typos I spotted in paragraph #5. "believes" should be beliefs. And I *think* you meant "applauds" when you wrote applause. 

#3 thank you for trying to make a difference. I admire you and your writing abilities! 

[Erlend K]

Wow, thank you so much, @ChimpBrain! 

Both for the praise, and for pointing out those typos. I corrected them now.

[ChimpBrain]

You're right that 99% of us in the US are uniformed about the merits and drawbacks of different political systems. Myself included. What I "knew" before reading this was basically the politically biased mis/disinformation you noted in the article. I live in an extremely conservative-dominant area where socialism is a dirty word. What little positive I "knew" about socialism and the workings of Scandinavian countries government and economic systems came from the Bernie campaign, which was simplistic at best I now realize. So thanks for the education. Now I just wish I could remember all of it next time I'm presented with a closed minded anti-socialism argument from people in real life. 

Edited August 14, 2018 by ChimpBrain

[Girzo]

Your post reads like a description of some good science-fiction/post-apo story.

Invent some fascinating characters and write a book about it. It will sell well, $$$.

[supremeyingyang]

@Erlend K 

Hey Erlend, congratulations for publishing your first article!

Your writing is technically good and I would like to have such a great vocabulary in english.

I also have to say that the theme is way to pessimistic, dark and fatalistic in my opinion. Why do you want to write about this? You'll get depressed. Why not change you perspective an look at the good things that also happens?

8 hours ago, Girzo said:

Your post reads like a description of some good science-fiction/post-apo story.

Invent some fascinating characters and write a book about it. It will sell well, $$$.

Right, people want to read this. But most of them read this not to change their habits.

Edited August 14, 2018 by supremeyingyang

[Sashaj]

Sad to see such pessimism here

[Erlend K]

4 hours ago, supremeyingyang said:

@Erlend K 

Hey Erlend, congratulations for publishing your first article!

Your writing is technically good and I would like to have such a great vocabulary in english.

I also have to say that the theme is way to pessimistic, dark and fatalistic in my opinion. Why do you want to write about this? You'll get depressed. Why not change you perspective an look at the good things that also happens?

Right, people want to read this. But most of them read this not to change their habits.

5

Hey @supremeyingyang

First of all, thanks a lot for the compliment! It makes me feel both humbled (a bit awkward, actually) and deeply motivated to keep at it, striving to master this craft.

Your third line made me stop an ponder for a while. I'm not sure if you mean my forum post or my article. My forum post was written in the tone it was, due to the enormity of the stakes. I know it seem pessimistic when it's all put together in a few paragraphs, but every single one of my statements are highly plausible. Overwhelming forces pull humanity in the wrong direction, a couple missteps in the coming decades is all it will take for us to burrow ourselves so deeply, that before we know it we will no longer, ever be able to crawl back up.

Many leading experts believe 3 degrees warming is plausible. There is no question what will happen then. My description is a  distillation of the conclusions of various UN, Pentagon, CNA’s military advisory board reports. The ever-increasing concentration of wealth is widely agreed upon by economists unless income is radically redistributed.  AI is already in the process of killing jobs. Certain developing countries like India will be particularly hard hit by job loss, combined with climate change-induced droughts, which will massively destabilize this nuclear-armed giant. Similarly with its hostile nuclear-armed neighbor, Pakistan. When asked what keeps him up at night, Obama famously replied "Pakistan".

Designer babies are right over the horizon, with China currently leading the charge as the west have a lot of moral scruples with this idea of playing god. If the rich are willing to pay fortunes to enroll their kids in elite school and universities, they will no doubt be willing to pay even more to genetically enhance the intelligence, creativity, sociability etc. This will give their kids a massive edge over poor kids, and the cement of class differences will dry, never to soften again.

Those living through this century does not have the luxury of sticking our heads in the sand, ignoring the gravity of the era we will live through and focusing on the petty positives. Like the generation living through the 1930-40's didn't have the luxury to stop being pessimistic about the Third Reich and focus on the positive. I am for acknowledging and celebrating the positive, but we have a historic responsibility to take on this unprecedented danger, exceeding even that of the early-mid-20th century.

There's an idea by Jordan Peterson I find intensely inspiring. Bear with me here. Despite his propensity for pseudo-intellectual bullshit, he has one great idea. Meaning comes from striving towards some important goal. The more important the goal, the more meaningful your striving becomes. From this, he draws the conclusion that in order to live a maximally meaningful life, aim for the highest possible good, tool yourself into someone who can achieve this end, and spend your life going for it. I agree. Dedicate your life to this struggle - THE struggle of our generation - together we might tilt the balance in the right direction.

[Robert]

@Erlend K Cool. The most important thing is to focus on raising people's awarenesss.

Also, I would say find someone or a group of people to get higher quality feedback from. This forum won't do much for you in terms of your writing skill. It's better to get feedback from a master, expert, people from a writers group, or a critique partner who is on a similar path as you.

Edited August 14, 2018 by Robert

[Erlend K]

Thank you for the tips @Robert

I guess you are right. This is just the only forum I have been active on over the last year, so it feels like my online home, and was the first place I thought about asking for feedback.

I would love to find a writers group. After reading your reply, I searched a bit trying to look for an online writers group, but I couldn't find one for essay writing, witch is what I'm primarily interested in.

[Joseph Maynor]

SOME MUSINGS ON LIFE PURPOSE

Life purpose should come from within.  Maybe you're you're the one who feels 'at a crossroads and at a looming doom' and you're projecting that 'out there' instead of accepting it 'in here'.  Life Purpose is all about solving your biggest life problem for yourself and sharing the fruits of that with others.  Do not base your Life Purpose in some kind of compassion for others.  First of all, you don't even have compassion for yourself yet.  My main point here is, your Life Purpose should be solving some kind of problem for you primarily.  That's why you have a super-human motivation to work on Life Purpose.  Sustainable Career is then an evolutionary and inevitable fruit of that massive action you'll take working on your Life Purpose -- working on sustainably solving YOUR biggest problem in life.  But step one is to make sure you find your genuine Life Purpose.  I give you props for asking this question.  I don't think you've found your genuine Life Purpose yet.  Being a do-gooder is not a sustainable Life Purpose in and for itself.  My Life Purpose is to help myself and others accept themselves and reality by optimizing the use of the mind.  And that's also my biggest life problem and always has been, see.  So, as I'm working on my Life Purpose, I'm also sustainably solving my biggest life problem.  That's like putting your Career on the fast-track if there ever was one -- and it doesn't even feel like work.  I would pay to do what I do.  That's how you wanna feel about your Life Purpose.  Find work that you would do where you would pay to do that work.

//

Charles Bukowski describes very well what's it's like to work with an authentic Life Purpose:

‘SO YOU WANT TO BE A WRITER’ - by Charles Bukowski

if it doesn't come bursting out of you
in spite of everything,
don't do it.
unless it comes unasked out of your
heart and your mind and your mouth
and your gut,
don't do it.
if you have to sit for hours
staring at your computer screen
or hunched over your
typewriter
searching for words,
don't do it.
if you're doing it for money or
fame,
don't do it.
if you're doing it because you want
women in your bed,
don't do it.
if you have to sit there and
rewrite it again and again,
don't do it.
if it's hard work just thinking about doing it,
don't do it.
if you're trying to write like somebody
else,
forget about it.
if you have to wait for it to roar out of
you,
then wait patiently.
if it never does roar out of you,
do something else.

if you first have to read it to your wife
or your girlfriend or your boyfriend
or your parents or to anybody at all,
you're not ready.

don't be like so many writers,
don't be like so many thousands of
people who call themselves writers,
don't be dull and boring and
pretentious, don't be consumed with self-
love.
the libraries of the world have
yawned themselves to
sleep
over your kind.
don't add to that.
don't do it.
unless it comes out of
your soul like a rocket,
unless being still would
drive you to madness or
suicide or murder,
don't do it.
unless the sun inside you is
burning your gut,
don't do it.

when it is truly time,
and if you have been chosen,
it will do it by
itself and it will keep on doing it
until you die or it dies in you.

there is no other way.

and there never was. 

//

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Bukowski

Edited August 15, 2018 by Joseph Maynor

[Erlend K]

Hello @Joseph Maynor!

Thanks for the input!

"First of all, you don't even have compassion for yourself yet." This is a weird shot in the dark. Having been away from this forum for a while, I forgot about the community's tendency for such random, unfounded bursts of psychoanalyzing to pathologize contrarian ideas. Luckily the shot completely missed its target :). I have plenty of self-compassion and a genuinely great life.

If I had to pay a fine to be allowed to write, I would gladly pay it.

Contentment comes from within - Meaning comes from without. From purposeful engagement with the world.

Contentment is a goal fit for animals - Meaning is a goal fit for humans.

Even tho you have bought into an ideology telling you that meaning comes from solving your own problems, this is an extremely sad, egocentric way to lead your life. Focusing on yourself, obsessing over your own petty problems is a horrible long-term strategy for living a meaningful life.

I am obviously familiar with Bukowski. ‘SO YOU WANT TO BE A WRITER’ is a stirring, soulful poem, but its message is BS. If you want to write, write! You don't need anyone's permission. With a few, rare exceptions, even the greatest writers start out mediocre, struggling to master the craft. They practice, practice, practice. Experiment, attend workshops, seek constructive criticisms and meticulously hone their skills for years. Going through this path of mastery is precisely the source of their humility and self-appreciation in relation to this mastery.

[supremeyingyang]

On 8/14/2018 at 3:51 PM, Erlend K said:

I know it seem pessimistic when it's all put together in a few paragraphs, but every single one of my statements are highly plausible.

I think that's just you opinions on how the future will be (which may be based on facts). I could of course be wrong. If there are so highly plausible, then show me statistical proof that the future will be in any point like you said. You can't. For example + 3 degrees. What if people adapt with technology that isn't developed yet? What if this catastrophe leads to people change their ways? Then would something you think of as bad bring something good.

 

On 8/14/2018 at 3:51 PM, Erlend K said:

Like the generation living through the 1930-40's didn't have the luxury to stop being pessimistic about the Third Reich and focus on the positive.

What do you want to imply? If we are too positive, the new 'nazis' will win?

On 8/14/2018 at 3:51 PM, Erlend K said:

Dedicate your life to this struggle - THE struggle of our generation - together we might tilt the balance in the right direction.

No I will not dedicate to the struggle. You make this shit up. Yes, there are bad things and I'll do what I can. But I'll never again concentrate on the bad things like you did in you blog post.

The self-righteous Intervention is almost certain to be more harmfull than what we have. Look at Irak. Look at China. Look at Germany (1933-1945).  Grindelwalds  "For the greater good".

 

I think you can do better with your talent and your drive. Write for the purpose of make things better. I like that. But I feel that these kind of educational pamphlet won't really work outside of a educated clientele. A short example:

If they would should everyone the vegetarian due to the unbeatable arguments that it's cheaper, on average healthier and easier to produce (= some translate this to be better for the planet as a whole)

 

 

Edited August 16, 2018 by supremeyingyang

[Erlend K]

hi again @supremeyingyang

Thanks a lot for sharing your thoughts. 

4 hours ago, supremeyingyang said:

I think that's just you opinions on how the future will be (which may be based on facts). I could of course be wrong. If there are so highly plausible, then show me statistical proof that the future will be in any point like you said. You can't. For example + 3 degrees. What if people adapt with technology that isn't developed yet? What if this catastrophe leads to people change their ways? Then would something you think of as bad bring something good.

We both agree that multiple potential paths lay before humanity. Wich one we end up traversing depends on human decisions. There are powerful forces pulling us towards the cliff. We have a responsebility for futrue generations to do our best to puch towards safety. Each of us only have enough power for a light push, but if enough caring people join, we can do it. Catastrophes usually change peoples ways. Look at the cultural impact of WW2 as a prime example. 

Quote

What do you want to imply? If we are too positive, the new 'nazis' will win?

I thought my point was pretty self evident. I might have been mistaken. I can elaborate on it later if you want. I don't have time right now.

[supremeyingyang]

16 minutes ago, Erlend K said:

hi again @supremeyingyang

Thanks a lot for sharing your thoughts. 

 

You are welcome.

 

16 minutes ago, Erlend K said:

We both agree that multiple potential paths lay before humanity. Wich one we end up traversing depends on human decisions.

Yes.

 

16 minutes ago, Erlend K said:

There are powerful forces pulling us towards the cliff.

No.

16 minutes ago, Erlend K said:

We have a responsebility for futrue generations to do our best to puch towards safety. Each of us only have enough power for a light push, but if enough caring people join, we can do it.

Again... I don't write as a hater. I think (which may be wrong) that I know from where you are coming. Since I was 15 I was around socialists and activists. I read fuckin' Karl Marx and Adorno at 16. I demonstrated. I got vegan at 18.  I heard this phrase over... and over... and over... and over. I think we, the west, is far from this. And we're far from being doomed. We have to do work, but we're (if you want to frame it as a we) doing quite good. I mean you can participate in social revolution as a writer. But please not with these cataclysmic stories.

There is the bright future I see

Edited August 16, 2018 by supremeyingyang

[Robert]

On 8/15/2018 at 7:24 AM, Erlend K said:

Thank you for the tips @Robert

I guess you are right. This is just the only forum I have been active on over the last year, so it feels like my online home, and was the first place I thought about asking for feedback.

I would love to find a writers group. After reading your reply, I searched a bit trying to look for an online writers group, but I couldn't find one for essay writing, witch is what I'm primarily interested in.

Yw.

I get that. I feel the same way about this being like an online home. Lol

The writers group thing is what I thought of since I write a lot of fiction, so I hear about them a lot. It may not be as useful for non-fiction writers, idk. But the other things I mentioned (finding a master or expert or critique partner) are surely helpful for non-fiction writers, especially the master. I understand you most likely don't have direct access to one, but I still suggest you at least look around. A high quality source of knowledge could improve your learning speed by like a hundred times, no exaggeration.