A Journey called life — where is it going, a few random thoughts…
I am sure you have heard it before!
Life is not a destination, and it’s a journey.
If so, how often do you board a bus if you do not know where it goes?
Our lives run 40% of the time in automatic mode, mundane works like brushing our teeth, eating food, driving, etc., do not need deliberate effort.
Then we have our deliberate actions like our work; a surgeon is in the most deliberate effort when performing surgery.
Our most productive work happens when it is intended and deliberate.
However, we cannot live a 100% deliberate life; our brain will not sustain that.
Then how much of our life should be automatic and how much should be deliberate?
Well, it depends on your life goal.
There is no formula.
Sometimes not being deliberate could even be deliberate.
For sure, people who live a deliberate life achieve more in life.
Achievement does not mean only money, career, etc. it could be in relationships, spirituality, and even creating an impact on society.
“Not all those who wander are lost .”- J R R Tolkien
Sometimes we may not appear to be deliberate.
We wander, or we become seekers.
So wandering can also be deliberate.
In the best-selling book “Hyperfocus: How to work less to achieve more,” Chris Baily delves into how narrow, deliberate focus enhances our productivity and how broad focus helps our creativity.
All living beings need regeneration, revitalization, and not doing anything could also be a step for more productivity.
However, the dilemma is very profound and long ingrained.
“The woods are lovely, dark and deep, but I have promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep .”- Robert Frost.
So, do we stop by and laze a bit, or do we keep going?
It bothers every human being.
This is where we need to make a choice.
And we keep looking for that fine balance between living a life of spontaneity and living a life driven all by purposes.
I remember reading in an interview with Farhan Akhtar where he mentioned that his biggest learning came from those days when he used to loiter bare-footed in gullies in Bandra without any purpose.
Sure, that would have somehow shaped his storytelling.
Steve Jobs once casually entered a Calligraphy class and got interested, and later on, it helped him design iconic Apple products.
A random non-deliberate act could add to your creative repertoire.
However, modern psychology has proved that we are optimally productive when we set clear intentions and pay attention to what we do.
When we make a deliberate effort, commit to the work, and enjoy doing the same, we can attain a flow state of performance.
However, some of the most creative ideas came when there was no deliberate effort, like Archimedes getting a eureka moment of discovery of laws of Buoyancy or Newton’s famous falling apple and Gravity.
Many people think, nowadays, even with all deliberate efforts, we are not innovating something truly remarkable like electricity which created a real breakthrough to human civilization.
Today, people are doing recombinant innovations.
People are creating newer things from existing ideas, knowledge, technology, maybe more efficient ways, and combining different technology pieces.
Today human knowledge has such a vast repertoire that it is creating dominos effects and growing exponentially.
A human being is a pleasure-seeking animal.
We love our pleasure, extra pint of beer, another scoop of vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup.
We love our conveniences.
A section of people is burning the midnight oil to create more pleasurable experiences and convenience.
Exponential knowledge and technology are helping to create newer experiences.
That is why automation is coming a big way.
That is why humanoids are coming.
One day maybe humankind will achieve singularity where computer programs will become so advanced that artificial intelligence (AI) will transcend human intelligence and dissolve the boundary between humanity and computers.
The computer will mimic human behaviors, and they will enact the same through machine learning.
It is already doing that; that is why Netflix tells you what to watch, Amazon says what to buy.
Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is emulating human actions replacing some of them with repetitive works.
The car will drive itself, a robot to deliver judgment, the drone will deliver your parcels.
AI is already capable of making music, writing stories and articles, trading shares, and whatnot.
The day computer will be capable of doing everything, including emoting happiness, sorrows, anger, rage, or love, what will humans do?
Will human beings create 21st Century feudal system and start ruling computers?
What happens to those who will still not be able to afford technology?
Accordingly to Oxfam, the wealthiest 1% now has as much wealth as the rest combined.
Or will the less privileged class have a new king called a computer?
Already a large part of the financial market in the US is run by computer algorithms.
The head of state will probably listen to their computer’s recommendations rather than their deputies.
Will the human race be over-dependent on computers?
Are they going to be modern salves?
Will these technological marvels be able to keep the world still as a liveable place?
Forests are burning, and polar ice is melting.
Species are extinct.
Or that ultra-rich 1% will go to the space colony.
Will we see an Afghanistan-like scene?
When the Taliban were taking over the country, some tried boarding the flight and going out of the country, some fell from the landing gears, and most could not even think of taking a flight.
If good sense prevails and all humans can live a dignified way and in harmony and the computer takes over people’s hard work, what happens?
Will people eat, drink, party, have sex, and be merry?
Or
Will people quest for their higher self and wander deliberately for enlightenment?
Will people make a deliberate effort to keep human ingenuity and people on top?
And, we have miles to go for that before we get there.
