At any given moment, such as right now, you have X possible actions you can take, limited only by your identity attachments, responsibilities, constraints on time, money, and current location, weather, limiting beliefs, etc. You can keep scrolling, read another post, watch another reel, or put the phone down and read a book, meditate, go for a run, get a snack, start a hobby, hop in the car towards a destination which will lead to other actions, etc. You can call a family member or friend or begin an adventure.
You have X possible actions that are within reason and available to you right now.
In the not so distant future, you will have Y possible actions. If the emergence of super intelligence doesn’t destroy us all but leads us into an abundance beyond our current imagination, including a universal high income for all, then Y will be significantly larger than X. What is your strategy going to be to cope with this increase in optionality?
Instead of the many options you have now on Netflix and Amazon Prime, you might be able to watch a nearly infinite number of shows or movies that were custom generated in real time just for you and have never been seen before that moment. Not only that, your friends and family will have their AIs recommend their favorite custom content which you could engage with to better get to know them and their unique preferences. And that’s just one example with video content. Now imagine that same dynamic flexibility across every domain from sports to games to any activity you can imagine including new ones that haven’t been invented yet. In every moment, there will exist incredible, mind blowing optionality. It may also come with challenges.
Decision paralysis (the inability to make a choice due to being overwhelmed by too many options, fear of making the wrong decision, or overthinking potential outcomes) may become a common problem. Sure, our personal AI will help us out with suggestions, but we may also lose a sense of agency, like we’re just automatons following the script that creates the most feel good chemicals in the moment.
Some say we’ll have a crisis of meaning and purpose. When the possible actions Y becomes so large and the constraints or needs that would significantly limit those actions diminishes, does it really matter which action you choose?
I think it’s important for us to start thinking about this now. I’ve been exploring this a bit already over the past few years in terms of having a lot of freedom, moment by moment, and filling it with whatever I want. I don’t really have much in the way of work responsibilities and though we live modestly, if I wanted to spend more money for a given reasonable activity, I could.
Freedom brings clarity to the question, “What are you doing with your life?”
Most of us, I think, are chasing our tails a bit. We’re doing moment by moment actions because of the responsibilities our identity attachments include which lead to the most present and familiar (not necessarily best) outcomes of wellbeing.
How to simplify?
Obtain (don’t strive for or chase after) the wellbeing directly, not an activity which leads to an experience that acts as a proxy for that wellbeing feeling. Do it now while X is still much smaller than Y. One path of action which makes sense to me is to engage with Jeffery Martin’s work.
Decades of research into persistent fundamental wellbeing:
The Finders book by Jeffery Martin: https://www.amazon.com/Finders-Dr-Jeffery-Martin/dp/1572425563
His peer-reviewed, published research that is about all human brains, not a bias from any specific religion or spiritual practice: https://www.nonsymbolic.org/
The 45 day course he created that has an 86%+ success rate of transitioning people into fundamental wellbeing: https://45daystoawakening.com/ I’ve taken it. It’s good. It helped clarify my own transition that happened years ago for me.
If you want to explore the protocol within the 45 day course, it’s been described in detail on Reddit here: https://www.reddit.com/r/streamentry/s/27zYgO87Tu
If you want to deep dive into locations and layers of the PNSE (persistent, nonsymbolic experience—the clinical term for fundamental wellbeing) stuff, this talk goes into it:
There are a lot of other great talks online as well. Lots of good stuff. Just search for Jeffery Martin on YouTube.
If you have Audible, you can get his book there. It’s a good place to start.
The future may include so many possibilities that your current brain, with all its self-referential neurotic thought, isn’t well equipped to handle it.
One that’s at peace, that is deep down okay in any and every situation, that’s a brain that will enjoy the future and not be overwhelmed by it.
Pictured: this morning’s sunrise in Caguas, Puerto Rico