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Wake up. You're all slaves.

5 points by throwaway8882 ↗ HN
Think about your life. When you were a kid you had such big dreams. You could do anything if you wanted to. Then you started school and learned all this new information and the world was so new and big and full of so many possibilities. Then, little by little, your dreams died one by one didn't they? You started realizing everything you were taught was not entirely true. Not everyone could be trusted. But, who could you trust then? Your parents of course! Then you grow up a little more and start to realize your parents are just as confused as you. By the time youre about to graduate from high school the world has gotten very confusing. You enter the 'real' world. Now, instead of teachers monitoring your behavior 7 hours a day you have to scrape up enough money to live. You have to pay for rent, for food, for warmth, and for protection. All the necessities in your life are provided by complete strangers halfway across the world, put together in factories by people just like you. Congratulations! you are now a slave and the people that rule over you have their hand in your pocket and their foot on your neck. There is no escape from this system. Each and every day it gets more controlled, more inhumane. Cameras everywhere watching your every move. More of your income going to complete strangers, more complete strangers building useless objects for you to spend your time on.

Then, after youve given up on just about all of your dreams and settled for mediocrity, you decide to bring a child into the world to feel that you have some kind of purpose. The cycle begins again. Welcome to the machine.

18 comments

[ 4.2 ms ] story [ 49.0 ms ] thread
alecbibat
This has been an extremely widespread viewpoint and I think that it's a HUGE misconception. It's true that society is a machine and that there are certain costs to live in that machine. However, in most cases, I think that we are free to do as we please.
throwaway8882
What if I don't want to live in this rat race anymore?

Pretty much everyone reading this will be dead in 80 years - surely you must have thought to yourself "there must be more to life than this..."?

anigbrowl
There's a lot more to life than this. Drop out and travel for a while, get therapy, take up art, You may not succeed with your first attempt.
anigbrowl
I'll take existential angst for $200, please.
throwaway8882
Perhaps, but applying a label to it does not make it any less accurate :)
anigbrowl
What I mean to say is that to a large extent, this is just a stage of adjustment. It's natural to be perplexed about what it's all about, since much of life boils down to work, eat, reproduce, and die, but your being in the grip of a philosophical crisis doesn't make everyone else slaves, as such.

I was serious above about taking some time out from the world to evaluate your feelings about it. This is a great time to explore philosophy and art of different kinds.

throwaway8882
"It's just a stage of adjustment" - hehe, am I the only one who sees the humor here?

"since much of life boils down to work, eat, reproduce, and die" - Remember, it's a choice :)

il
Have you spoken to anyone about possible depression symptoms? I think it's all a matter of perspective and attitude. Most of the things you see as negatives seem to me as positive aspects of society. Come on! Most of us reading Hacker News have really great lives! We're in the top 1% of the world's population with wealth, freedom, leisure time, etc. Don't complain...go out and explore the world!

It's silly to assume that everyone's dreams are dead. Some of us are actually living our dreams every day.

throwaway8882
I'm not depressed, although I do admit the post came out that way. It was actually meant to be somewhat humorous about the absurdity of the human condition.. but perhaps a bit too dark for you guys :p

Are you really living out your dreams though? Or are you settling for the dreams that are allowed within the confines of the system?

il
Don't know. Doesn't really matter. I suppose I'm more the blue pill type. As long as my dreams/goals/experiences feel authentic and rewarding, it doesn't really matter if they're a product of social conditioning.

A lot of it is luck. I'm so lucky that the activity I enjoy most, building up a business, happens to also be highly valued and rewarded by society.

This kind of angst is definitely a first world problem. Go travel and see how most people in the world really live. You'll find a new understanding.

throwaway8882
Agreed that it's all arbitrary/relative. But still interesting to think about.
andyl
Are you free or slave? Are you successful, or not? Are you loved enough, rich enough, respected enough, powerful enough? Whatever.

Don't give too much energy to these thoughts. Bring some prayer/kindness/meditation/mindfulness into your routine. Yes there is injustice. Yes you gotta pay the bills. But there is also an aspect of life that is much bigger than that.

[dead] bluestix
Throw away your Social Slavery Card and forget the number.
fluxon
Both the good times and the bad times pass, because of time. Time exists so that everything doesn't just bunch up all together at once. Exploit that fact.
chefsurfing
My suggestion is to focus yourself on doing the activities in your life that you find virtuous. Make a list of three things you decide are valuable and pursue them. Focus on them and do them one at a time. Trust me, this will work. You complain that people are not free, well Bob Marley said: "none but ourselves can free our own minds" and while I don't agree with all of his statements, this one I find to be true. So my suggestion is to focus on freeing yourself first. Lead by example and the negativity will fall away into the background.

Ideas on virtue: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtue