A General Theory of Bliss
Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Information Age
Last Saturday, in a merciful sliver of me-time between youth soccer, college football, and an impromptu pizza party, I re-read a short story I’d always appreciated called “Nightfall” by Isaac Asimov. The premise (spoilers ahead): A world with two suns that’s never known darkness is about to have its first “double eclipse” in 2,000 years. While everyone is fearfully preparing for the upcoming darkness, nobody is remotely prepared for the *actual* revelation: The first-ever appearance of thousands of stars in the night sky. Learning that the universe is far more vast — and their little world far more insignificant — than they’d ever imagined, they all promptly go insane. The end.
When I first read this story in high school in 1993, I read it as a theology critique. Copernicus’ heliocentricity vs. The Pope’s Church and all that noise. 25 years on, I’m reading it as an ahead-of-its-time warning about the Information Age, and specifically, social media.
Starting Small
Imagine two teammates, Richard, and George.
George is paid twice as much as Richard.
Richard isn’t thrilled with this state of affairs, but he convinces himself that George is more experienced, adept, and/or hard-working, so he shrugs it…
