A Thought Experiment

Imagine how man might exist a thousand years from now. Let’s say that all his material needs are taken care of due to vast leaps in technology. Menial work simply does not exist. Nor does the need to sell anything to anybody. Indeed, man has advanced past the economic system we know today as capitalism. Yet neither does socialism exist. Nor communism, feudalism, totalitarianism. Some ism we know not right now supplies the solutions to all his needs, wants, and desires.

The currency of this culture – since currency we know and value today, money, does not exist – is Prestige. And for some crazy weird reason, this thousand-year-future society values dense abstract higher mathematics. Maybe it’s a result from (or cause for) the magic-like technology that suffuses the world(s). Who knows. Anyway, men and women spend all their free time studying and solving incredibly complex functions and formulas. Hours and hours every day, at their desks, with pencils and paper, pushing the boundaries and borders of higher mathematics farther and farther toward the very Mind of God. Those that push it the farthest gain the most of this intangible currency, Prestige.

Now, suddenly you – this is very important, the 21st-century You who’s reading this humble blog post – you arrive on the scene.

You may say you don’t need Prestige. But you do. You may not be interested in Prestige, but Prestige is interested in you. It’s inherent in every interaction at every level of this society, ranging all the way from intimate familial relations to those with complete strangers. Everything turns on Prestige.

So …

How do you – You – get “prestige” in this society?

Hmm?

This is the best analogy I can think up that sufficiently describes my situation and the way I feel about where I am at this point in my life. At least, during my bleakest moments.

During my lighter times, I go about my business minute by minute thinking Happiness Is Just Around the Bend.

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All right. Enough navel-gazing for now. Let me take a few days off, then we’ll have some fun (and funny) entries here at the Hopper.