[ccvannorman]

Some things never change.

Yes, technology is the way we circumvent effort to deliver results (e.g. to live longer, healthier, and with less pain/fear.)

Yes, our civilization rewards and encourages short circuiting effort, depriving us of the basic positive feedback loop of effort to reward.

It's been like this since the invention of the wheel and fire. It's up to us to find and/or create meaningful (and effortful) lives, and it is more sustainable to focus on the path than the destination; every zen text teaches this.

This article started off strong but ended up quippy, spiteful and shallow. Still, I appreciate the effort ;-]

[ak_builds]

Thank you for your feedback. I appreciate the depth.

You are right, it ended with a spiteful tone and I should have chosen better world.

I see a lot of people questioning if dopamine deficiency is real. And maybe some more context would help.

1. I am one of the early IVF kids in India. My life is tracked. 2. Do you know 80% of IVF kids born in 90s and tracked have mental health disorders? 3. I have struggled socially all 28 years of my life. I only felt two emotions - happy and sad. Never experienced a mania, so never ticked the box of bipolarity. 4. In 2021, I was told that DaTscan might help. But I couldn't afford back then. 5. In 2023, finally got it done. Results showed little to no release of dopamine.

I was forced to learn about dopamine and when I see the younger generation getting into a certain cycle (of course not as dark as my article), it makes me feel sad. Because it reminds me of how hard it is to get out of that space.

I have piles of reports that prove 'dopamine deficiency'. Yet the comment section is not fully convinced.

I am fortunate that my life is tracked.

So yes, this is the thought process that led to that ending. No one teaches us to care about our bodies and I hope that changes some day.

[vouaobrasil]

> Yes, our civilization rewards and encourages short circuiting effort, depriving us of the basic positive feedback loop of effort to reward.

To some extent, but so far before AI it has been at a speed and magnitude most people could handle. With AI, they can't.

> It's been like this since the invention of the wheel and fire. It's up to us to find and/or create meaningful (and effortful) lives, and it is more sustainable to focus on the path than the destination; every zen text teaches this.

You are ignoring again the magnitude of the effect of AI, which is much worse than previous technologies. One can always focus on "the path" but Zen teachers also teach practicality: why make your life complicated? AI makes things complicated unecessarily.

[barrell]

The progress from throwing sticks to fishing rods is very different from fishing rods to ordering fish at a restaurant — and not really comparable imo