For
the past few months my creative energies have really been focused on
graduate school applications. I’m ready to take that next big step
out into my life and I’m hoping that step will land in another
country. I’ve been putting out my tentacles, feeling out where life
will pull me next. I was contemplating this process while
editing my essays the other day (for a program application) when it
dawned on my just how much life I have already lived up until now. I
mean, for a woman of 27, I have gotten to do nearly as much as some
people get to do in an entire lifetime. I have had immense privilege
in my life to be able to have accomplished so much; and there are
other people in the world who have accomplished even more feats that
I have by this age.
As
much as this truth is relevant today, in a world where privilege is
spread unequally among humanity, it has even more relevance when we
think about our modern life as compared to someone who lived 100
years ago. Life was much slower back then, one generally
accomplished much less in one lifetime then that we do now. Modern
technology has allowed productivity to flourish; there is always
something to do. We are doing much more in the same amount of time,
which has a tangible effect on the way our brains process information
as well.
The
kids I work with have an extremely high capability for understanding
technology. To them it is completely normal; after all, they have
grown up with it around them their entire lives. Therefore,
for children, it is no more difficult for them to operate modern
technology then it is for them to learn how to solve a puzzle; for –
it is the same thing. It is all relative to them; it is
simply a matter of perspective.
On
that same note, looking from an alien perspective upon our Earth, one
might notice how in a matter of 100 years our time; we have become n%
more productive. And our productivity, along with our population, is
also rising exponentially. From an alien perspective, one
could even conclude that a modern human technically lives longer than
a historical human simply based on the fact that the modern human
accomplishes more in their lifetime than a historical human. After
all, isn’t that why historical human’s wanted a longer life? To
accomplish more?
With
that frame of reference, it is easy to see how as we evolve we will
continue to process more and more information. We will – in a sense
– be living longer and longer, as we will have the ability to
accomplish more in one lifetime. As the mind is able to process more,
the very concept of "lifetime" could change as well. The
notion of one lifetime could have a completely different meaning in 100 years than it does now. “One lifetime” certainly has a
slightly different meaning now than it did then. It’s
conceptually the same idea, but it has a different connotation.
Just
like raising a child, it is sometimes difficult to see one’s growth
until you step out of the picture and look at the whole from
“beginning” to “end.” (Where does anything ever really begin
or end anyways?). For humanity, it can be difficult for us to
witness our own evolution in the present; retrospect is much
easier. I personally see this heightened ability to
process at faster and faster rates as a huge signifier of our current
evolution. If our brain can process more, it is because it
has begun to perceive more. And perception is everything – it
creates our reality. So, if we are able to perceive more, who knows
what that could mean in terms of our reality, and our abilities as
human beings. The possibilities are endless.
