Conspiracy theorists have said for even longer than I can remember that manufacturers deliberately design their products to eventually either break down or become obsolete so that we have to buy another product sooner than we’d like. Cameras. Cars. Computers. (odd – why do all those things start with C?) Cell phones are the latest – I’m happy enough with my phone that I’d like it to last for 10 years, but it seems ordained to break down at 2 years (a reminder that it’s time to renew my 2-year contract as well.)
So, what is the Creator’s motivation in the planned obsolescence of PEOPLE?
(Speculative fiction is good for that – SPECULATING about the why’s, the why not’s, and the what if’s. Trying to find answers to things that we can’t really know. Guessing and making things up.)
Nothing can last forever. That which doesn’t grow eventually dies. You MUST keep moving – keep adapting and improving. Changing.
Viruses (are they living things? I don’t remember…) and bacteria have extremely short lifespans, so the next generations come at us, evolving faster than we can physically adapt to them – if it wasn’t for our minds, technology, self-awareness and science – all of which we were given BY THE GRACE OF GOD, the tiny things would have killed off the human race ages ago.
Our world changes faster and faster, and even the most malleable of us are having a hard time keeping up. Species don’t evolve instantly within a single member – it takes generations.
We evolve so slowly as a species in physical attributes, our advances happen technologically (I remember someone commenting on how - despite all our technological advances - man as an animal has changed very little – I think it was Khan in the original Star Trek.) The human race counts on deliberate innovation to stay ahead of the curve.
When you hang around long enough you tend toward stagnation (I’d say entropy, but that’s even worse.) Whether it’s a job, or a place, or a relationship, something has to change – or the situation is overtaken by the competition. If human beings lived forever (as individuals), our tendency to stagnate would doom the species to obsolescence.
What do we do about it? We certainly don’t want to kill off people at 30 a la Logan’s Run – I’ve known too many people in their 60’s who are still waiting to become adults – we would lose our capacity to learn from our (many) mistakes. Neither should we work too hard at making ourselves physically immortal – that puts too much emphasis on what kind of animal we are, and ignores our spirit. WE NEED TO BE MORTAL BECAUSE IT HELPS GIVE A SENSE OF URGENCY TO OUR LIVES. We all know this – why else would the expression “Live like you’re dying” recur so often in our hearts and culture?
Realize something – YOU are not the same person you were when you were younger – EVEN YOU have died and been reborn countless times. At least if you’re living your life and learning and growing as you were intended. Take advantage of your time on this earth – revel in your experiences – don’t live the same day over and over again.
Just saying….
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William Mangieri’s writing (including
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