We Are All Stars

One of the my favourite things about living on this planet, is how we all have fundamental ideas about our existence, we still don't understand.  Imagine, if we had reached the point, where we had all the answers, knew what our purpose was, and knew why we were here.  Predictability, leads to chore, and the mundane. It's the randomness that leads to excitement.

None of us know why we are here.  Stephen Hawking doesn't know what my purpose in life is, or whether there is one at all.  The greatest astronomers think they know how the earth was created, but nobody can claim to know why.

The inpredictability of the unknown is what keeps us growing, and changing all the time.  We live as if each one of us is very important, and collectively we are the most important species that has ever existed. The ironic part, is nobody knows why we are here, or if we have any collective purpose at all.  Maybe we do have a collective purpose, just none of us understand what it is.

I'm not sure about any of it to be honest, so don't continue on reading, like there's going to be some great prophecy listed below.  There isn't.  I'm not sold on the fact that humans have any more of an important role, in progressing life, than the standard house fly does.  Won't the world just keep evolving, eventually with us ending up in some form of extinction?  Are we really the one species, that is more important than all the rest?

My rational mind says that we are just a cog in earth's engine.  A mere stepping stone, to another, even more advanced form of intelligence.  The real question is whether humanity by themselves, or all the species of this planet, and all future species, have any collective goal.  Are humans the key to unlocking the stars?  Are we meant to ever see what's out there, past our own galaxy?

I can make a decent case to suggest humans are special.  Unless I'm missing something, we are the first species to sit atop the food chain, using only our wits, and technology.  It's taken thousands of years, but it is difficult to imagine a future, where humans aren't on top.  I can't envision anything short of global disaster removing us from our perch now. 

You have to marvel at the incredible intelligence of humans, in groups, or as individuals. The technological advances we have made really are astounding when you think about it.  You don't see monkeys, and dolphins, building satellites, and spaceships.  We've broken into space, and returned humans back to earth, something I'm sure most assumed, impossible, just a hundred years ago.

The quest to discover life outside our planet, will either be the most important thing we do as a species, or a complete waste of time, depending on the outcome.  You see, we are either designed to explore and discover, or there was never a reason to.  It appears impossible at this point, to ever make it close to the next closest galaxy.  To put this in better perspective the moon, is 400,000 km's away.  The Sun is 150 million km's away from earth, or over 300 times as far as the moon.  The next galaxy, is 4 light years away, which is roughly 40 trillion km's, or 3200 times as far as the sun. 

Photo by nuttakit

Unless we have a break through in manipulating time, and space, it appears, we were never meant to ever explore the next closest galaxy.  We may never have a man on another planet, but Mars appears possible at this point.  Space is vast, has zero oxygen, and little sunlight.  Not exactly the ecosystem for humans to thrive.  Isn't this all just a sightseeing tour, unless we have some purpose to explore further?  Supposedly we are looking for other intelligent life.  Even if we find it, so what?  That doesn't really show a collective purpose, or help any of us know if there is a reason we exist.

Let's flip it around, and look at it from the other perspective.  Maybe we have no importance at all.  It's probably more likely that our existence has zero grandiose purpose, even over the long term.  Humans run from this type of thinking, because nobody wants to believe that this is it.  It's much easier to believe in either reincarnation, aliens, or some form of after life, rather than a complete end to your own existence, and someday, the end of existence for all Humans.

When I see humans, believing in something, that science can't prove, or where no visual evidence exists, I assume it's something they have created consciously, or subconsciously, to aid their physche.  I'll talk more about this in a future blog, but I believe it has roots in this topic.  That doesn't mean I'm right, or that I don't hold beliefs of my own in which I can't prove through science, but you can bet, I challenge each and every one of them.  You should too.

I could think about the universe, and research it, for the rest of my life, and I'll never have the answer to my fundamental questions about why the universe is, the way it is.  If we had these answers, I see it only affecting our lives in a negative way.  The unknown creates our daily excitement, and the multitude of answers to these fundamental questions, create unique people, with unique perspectives.  Never let anyone tell you that your version is the wrong one, because no one will ever have the answer.  At the same time, if you ever want to have a shot at some real answers, you better make sure the things you currently believe, aren't just crutches, you've designed to protect you from coming to grips with your own mortality, or a general lack of purpose.

Seniority Is A Myth

I'm not sure where some of these ideas are born, but sometimes human beings have expectations that are completely unreasonable.  Seniority is a myth, and it's one that most people believe wholeheartedly. 

Let's make it clear just what seniority is, seniority is the idea that the duration you have worked for a certain company, has some effect on your standing with such a company, offering you some form of protection above other employees, who don't have seniority.

When I began my quest to learn about the stock market, it solidified for me, the true difference between business and personal.  People don't get the difference.  They think they do, until a situation arises where something is happening to them in a business sense, yet they take it personally.

Let's make something clear.  Business is in business only to make money.  All other reasons to be in a business come after making money.  "But Bangin', I know good businesses..  I've seen them donate to charity.  I've seen others focus solely on using products that don't harm the environment."  I'm sorry, but you have been duped.  They donated to charity, or chose to be environmental, in order to hook you into doing business with them. 

Businesses are not supposed to have morals, and you shouldn't expect them to.  They shouldn't be immoral either.  They should be considered amoral, and all good businesses are.

Why am I blabbing about the difference between business and personal?  The best examples of this failing, are hidden amongst seniority.  I can look at the employee-employer relationship from both sides, without bias.  Which is really difficult because everyone understands taking something personally, and not everyone understands business.

When you first negotiated a wage for your first job, did you also inform the employer that you expected to be employed for the next 50 years?  Did you make sure they were aware that as you got older, and your job skills declined, that they were expected to keep you on regardless?

What most likely happened, is they offered you a wage per hour, and you accepted it.  From there, you would go to work, and they would pay you for each hour on the job.  Basically the moment you get your cheque you are up to date with them, and the employer owes you nothing.

No where is duration of employment ever discussed.  So where does this odd expectation come from?  I can't say for sure completely, but back in the 50's and 60's things kind of were this way.  You would, and could, work your whole work life at one employer.  There was an expectation that all university grads would be guaranteed careers.  Times have changed since then.

I'm here to tell you drop the whole entitlement thing when it comes to your job, and make sure you always have some kind of contingency plan.  Leaning on seniority to keep you safe in this workplace environment is a fool's game. 

You might hear a long time employee, recently fired, say something like, "You can't fire me, I've worked here for 30 years."  The employer could easily fire back, "Yes you have, but I've also paid you for those 30 years."