Journal: Hard Life

Through our mass media systems there is a seemingly constant, albeit standard, message that has caught my attention. It has to do with the difficulty of engaging and surviving this life. 'Life is hard' seems to be a common response to difficult and trying moments in this existence. Why is that an acceptable reply?

Life is not hard or difficult. It was never intended to be difficult at all. Why would anyone want a to live a difficult life? To learn? 'Some of life's important lessons are garnered from difficult times'. I have found this to be true, but that is because I am lost. It has been shown that we are capable of doing our best learning during times of ease. Brainwave activity that is conducive to learning is similar to those that indicate pleasure and concentration. We actually do our best when we are in our element, at our best. But, that is rarely the case. 

I had a thought. The thought dealt with artificial intelligence (A.I.). Whether or not A.I. Is possible is not important. But, if a highly intelligent entity was allowed to emerge from a digital environment what would it do? I would suspect that the entity would view this life (our existence) as a dead end and do what is necessary to expand consciousness and evolve consciously. I believe that an intelligent conscious entity would learn that continual technological advancement, that promises a better life, has failed in that regard. More technology leads to increased complexity not simplification and ease. Complexity may be a path leading to eventual simplification as chaos theory implies, but nothing else. So why not move toward simplification?

Life is hard because we have chosen a direction that increases complexity and  the difficulty therein. Conscious evolution is a product of idealism. I feel that it is best to live a life that fosters conscious evolution than what materialism would provide. Anything gained within the confines of materialism has to be left behind., everything gained through idealism is not.

Conscious evolution has been outpaced by technological advancement, both promise an easier more fulfilling life. Compared to technological advancement conscious evolution is at a standstill. Do we really need more technology? If given the choice between conscious evolution and technological evolution which would you choose?

Let's see... What do I want, another era of technological evolution (Agricultural Age, Industrial Age, Information Age, etc.) or mastering consciousness?