Modern society is a relative paradise, developed for us, by us, to consume our desires, at the detriment of our evolutionary needs. We no longer need to adapt to the environment, as we have adapted the environment to us. We don’t need to grow or kill or own food, build our dwellings, or defend ourselves from wild animals. We can order almost anything we want, and in as little as 2 hours it will arrive at our front door. In one day, we can travel around the world by plane, or across the country in a self-driving car. When we’re in pain, whether physically or mentally, we have medications to make ourselves numb.

We understand enough about the universe to create a world that is both the most advanced we’ve ever known, and also as far away from the world that made us who we are today. The socially poorest among us are able to enjoy a level of physical comfort that was unimaginable 1000 years ago, and the richest people are literally able to live as the gods were thought to have. 

AND YET WE ARE SO FUCKING FRAGILE. 

Modernity’s double punishment has served to make our health suffer, yet allow us to live longer at the same time. This comfort has come at a cost. Suffering can be seen through epidemic rates of obesity, heart disease, depression, T2 diabetes, reality television, social unrest, Zoom drinking parties, and an actual epidemic. 

What will we learn from this?

Hopefully, we can finally learn the error of our ways. That with each successive generation we are competing with weaker and weaker versions of ourselves. Our children’s generation are the first to have a shorter life expectancy than their parents. This doesn’t bode well for the future of humanity. It is said that the best horses lose when they compete with slower one, and win against better rivals. Undercompensation, combined with the absence of challenging the status quo is a sure fire way to degrade the best of the best. 

To end my rant for the day, I will paraphrase the author of Antifragile, Nasim Taleb by saying that just as wind extinguishes a candle, it can also energize a fire. Likewise, the challenges we face are indicative of a crisis, we need to use the clues, not hide from them.