Philosophers throughout history have pondered the meaning of life. Specifically, they ask questions such as “Why are we here?” and “What is our purpose in life?” My answer to these sorts of questions is that we are here as a result of a series of random events, and so the truly important question is “Now that we have this life thrust upon us, what do we want out of it?” The simple answer to which is “To be happy.”

So what are the things that make you happy? First, your basic needs should be met: food, water, air, clothing, and shelter. Then, other things follow such as health, safety, mental and physical excitement, and companionship. Mental excitement encompasses things such as learning new ideas, creation and appreciation of art, accomplishing tasks, getting recognition for accomplishments, and being loved. Physical excitement encompasses things such as sports and sex. Really, all it boils down to is that we want our basic needs met, to be loved, and to not be bored.

In order for us to achieve our happiness, a certain amount of work is involved. And to some degree, the harder we work the more we are able to acquire and achieve our elements of happiness. However, there seems to be a law of diminishing returns that applies. At some point our work becomes our life and our goal of happiness actually starts to move away from us the harder we strive for it.

Chances are that if you’re reading this from an industrialized nation, you probably have what you would consider a hectic life. Most of your time and energy seems to be consumed at work, and while there may be aspects of it that you like or even love, if you won the lottery you would be out of there in a flash. You work hard, hoping that your boss will recognize your efforts and reward you with more money. The money will allow you to pay for your shelter, your transportation, invest in your kids education, and buy items and services to keep you and your family entertained and happy.

But it never really works out like that, does it? A lot of what you buy either breaks in a few years, or it simply becomes “obsolete” in a matter of months. The car you bought last year is now offered with 100 more horsepower and gets 10 more miles to the gallon when driven conservatively. The cell phone you purchased just a few months ago is now offered in a version that fixes most of it’s grosser design flaws. That new wiz-bang electronic thingy you bought only a week ago has broken already. So you work a little harder and hopefully get that raise. Sure it’s more stress and longer hours, but now you can trade your car in for the better one, you can stand in line for that new cell phone, and you can buy another one of those wiz-bang electronic thingies since they were made in China and only cost $10.00. But at the end of the day, has that promotion made you any happier? After all, you only get to drive that new car to and from work, usually in traffic. That new phone still seems to be a little glitchy, and the blasted electronic thingy from China has broken again. Worse, you now see even less of your family. Your kids no longer mind you since you are never around. They seem to be acting out more and doing worse in school. Your spouse thinks you are cheating instead of working long hours, so they now have someone on the side for sex and companionship. Your son now has a new Xbox, but his father drinks too much and occasionally beats mommy. You are trapped in the yuppie scum scenario. Now what?

Lots of us joke that we may just hang it all up and move to some tropical island where we would sell puka shell necklaces to tourists on the beach and experiment with the various ways of combining ocean, beach, drugs, alcohol, and sex. Lets explore this scenario some more as it sounds promising.

You devote your life to selfish pleasure. You work very little, only enough to make the rent on your shack and to keep yourself in beer and marijuana. Life, in short, is good. But then, in a blissed-out haze, you find yourself with a kid. Selling enough beads to feed the family becomes too much of a hassle. You find it easier to just walk around and ask for the money. Sometimes at night you don’t ask for it very nicely. Your son gets older and learns how to con and steal like his old man. He eventually gets caught and thrown in jail, and you get an infection from a wound on your leg that cripples you. Your wife now sells her body to keep you both fed. Your son becomes a prison bitch. You are trapped in the Jamaican scenario. Now what?

In the Jamaican scenario, the average work output of the citizens is not enough to cover everyone’s basic needs. Technological advancement is very slow because the population does not posses the labor-saving devices needed to spring-board them to the level of an industrialized nation, nor do they posses the education or will.

In the yuppie scum scenario, the average worker produces plenty, perhaps even over produces. Technological advances come so fast that products have to be made very, very cheap because they will need to be replaced regularly with a newer version. In order to not be left behind, the population has to obtain a massive and costly education and work very hard.

Surely there is a happy medium we can find?

Dissident and Scorpio believe that we are heading for a singularity which, as I understand it, is a life-altering time when the exponentially quickening march of progress starts nearing infinity and we are then either made god-like by our technology, supplanted by our technology, merged with our technology, or destroyed by our technology. I think they are close, but I believe that we will burn out our energy and raw materials before we hit critical mass, so to speak. My guess is that it will look something like a “Mad Max” movie. We’ll be reset as a species and forced to live with the Earth, not just on it.

I’m trying to decide where we can draw the line? How much progress is enough? The Quakers drew the line at horse and carriage = good, electricity = bad. I’m fond of electricity and I think it should stay. In fact, whatever we have now should probably stay. I think it is just a matter of throttling back a little, pulling in the reins of progress. Perhaps deciding on some standards, making products that meet those standards, and then giving the manufacturers plenty of time to make quality goods simply by holding off revisions to the specs until the change would be revolutionary, not just evolutionary. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a beautifully crafted titanium and carbon-fiber communication device that you could pass down to your offspring? To have a car that was simply the best for your needs? To have that electronic thingy work for more than a week? To work less and see your family more? To have time again to enjoy your hobbies, and life in general. Isn’t it time to draw a line and just start being happy?

I don’t think the answer is to go back to living in the stone ages, and I don’t think that we should all become Buddhists and live a life without wants. What I do think we need to do is slow down, look at our lives, and reevaluate what really makes us happy.