Neither. It's due to the subverting importance of the prime mover and inventor. It's due to copying others for the sake of fitting in. Essentially, it's the destruction of individual soul.
Hi, we met again, so, the prime mover you are talking about is... God? Like aristotle's hypotesis? Another thing, this is a very personal view of what boredom and monotony are. For me, these two things have more to do with the environment than with ourselves, since the desire to fit in something arises when we observe society or parts of it whether through the media or advertisements, because of social pressure or even the pressure we create within ourselves to follow specific standards created for the capitalist world, I am not saying that capitalism is wrong, but for me, propaganda is clearly a very strong weapon of control.
The world has become extremely repetitive, we get high dopamine spikes just by watching TV, and it seems like everything is made so that you only feel fulfilled when you have something...
Aristotle's definition is tied to a more metaphysical foundation--hence the platonic context behind what is usually conceived of when you describe the Prime Mover.* Rather than god, the prime mover is a character of man that regards reason as his only means for knowledge and he aims to reshape the world into his ideals. He lives, both literally and spiritually, only for himself, and doesn't let the world sway his ideals into meaningless associations, unidentifiable emotions, or contradicting slogans.
*Edit: My interpretation of the prime mover is derived from Ayn Rand. She is inspired by Aristotle and uses the term but within the context of human consciousness and man-made action.
He is the cause of human achievement, the expansion of human comfort, and while all humans possess the faculty of reason, none adhere to it as much as the inventor. (Laissez-faire capitalism is the only economic system that can respect the metaphysical fact that his mind is free and allows him to trade his knowledge with others without the presence of force, but I will continue with this claim later on.)
I disagree that this is due to the social environment exclusively. The reason for this is because rather than cultivating your own values as opposed to copying what is most trendy or most lucrative or choosing a purpose for yourself as opposed to letting society dictate it for you, people who "desire" to fit in give in to this social pressure. There are people in this world who want to destroy the good, and this is why you get criticized for not fitting in. They expect you to be second-handed, and the second-handers are those who give up their soul and let every aspect of their lives be ruled by society. These people who try to "fit in" end up feeling empty, soulless, selfless, like mental sloths, and they can't dare think of an original thought for themselves because they are too busy with the opinion of others, and this leads them to commit the worst vice of man---mental evasion.
Businessmen are not the cause of this "social pressure" nor one's "internal pressure" to follow society's whims. Advertisements, the internet, social media, or other capital creations are not intelligently planned nor strategically designed in order to fool you to buy or to make you into a mindless creature. They are the product of the producer who wants to achieve the fullest and furthest capacity of his creative ability, to provide a valuable product or service in order to mutually benefit the buyer and himself. And it isn't by force---you might by approached by an annoying salesman, but you must use reason and understand that it is ultimately your independent conscious choice to accept the offer. If someone want to doomscroll on Instagram for hours instead of reading books, it should not be based on the decision of what other people tell him to do, but he should also take into account what activity would benefit his short-range and long-range goals the most.
The cause of today's boredom and monotony is because individuals don't want to think. They want to live for others and not bare the burden of creativity or productivity. They want to be parasites, and a parasitic culture of monotony it shall be.
everyoene here is a psuedointellectual, boredom is the natural state of man. we didnt evolve to be happy we evolved to survive, certainly natural life was filled with more stress instead of boredom due to the dificiulty of surviavl. but boredom FUNDAMENTALLY stems from the fact that consciousness is a prison
take all your senses away, for 100 years still alive, just black
you have no mouth and you must scream, prison right?
put your senses back, life is normal again. do you get the sense that it's still the same but now you are distracted?
everyoene here is a psuedointellectual, boredom is the natural state of man. we didnt evolve to be happy we evolved to survive, certainly natural life was filled with more stress instead of boredom due to the dificiulty of surviavl. but boredom FUNDAMENTALLY stems from the fact that consciousness is a prison
take all your senses away, for 100 years still alive, just black
you have no mouth and you must scream, prison right?
put your senses back, life is normal again. do you get the sense that it's still the same but now you are distracted?
guymandudepersonthin said:everyoene here is a psuedointellectual, boredom is the natural state of man. we didnt evolve to be happy we evolved to survive, certainly natural life was filled with more stress instead of boredom due to the dificiulty of surviavl. but boredom FUNDAMENTALLY stems from the fact that consciousness is a prison
This is the example of Immanuel Kant's influence on the state of our culture today. You are perpetuating that boredom is the natural state of man. That we are metaphysically incapable of thinking, valuing, judging, and loving. And not only that, like him, you're proclaiming a transcendental solution to the "problem" of consciousness. What a woozy. I'm going to argue with you in defense of man's greatness, his ability to reason, and the pursuit of happiness.
To start, I'm going to mention the metaphysics of objective reality before I address your fallacy that only a witch doctor (who hates mankind) would destroy himself with.
First, existence is identity and consciousness is identification. An entity is an existent that both exists and has its own identity. Consciousness is the state of awareness of reality and the existents thereof. Only living organisms are capable of consciousness. The epistemological basis for the knowledge of these axioms is because they are perceptually self-evident. Yes, a human infant cannot formulate the perception of existence into concepts like an adult can. However, as stated by Gregory Salmieri, "an adult knows nothing more about what is to exist than an infant does." (A Companion to Ayn Rand, pp. 250)
Second, reality is mind-independent. You don't need to degrade the capabilities of consciousness in order to understand that. There is no distraction from the external world because our sense organs grant us the perceptual data from our interactions with other existents. These sense organs are the tools in which living organisms can navigate through the mind-independent world.
Now, you're claiming that we evolved to survive. Whether you mean living organisms as a whole or just humans in particular, you're not entirely wrong. The purpose of life for any living entity is to commit to self-generation and self-sustenance. And while evolution plays a factor in the continuation of a species, it isn't the primary cause, unlike the sole principle for its reason to exist. Life is literally meant to be lived, and this includes man.
Man is equipped with the faculty of rationality, and this is the fundamental, proper epistemological conclusion that grants his identity while distinguishing himself from all other creatures. He is the source of his capacity to value, and he's even able to choose his values at his own discretion. Why? Because he can think. However, in order ensure his survival, man must think. His rational faculty is his only means of survival. He cannot rely on his emotions to guide him for what is in his self-interest. Emotions, like fear, won't tell him how to survive a flash flood or an earthquake.
You reduce man to a hedonistic savage that can only respond to the range-of-the-moment because that's how he can escape his perpetual state of boredom, and you encourage that he should. You claim that instead of being able to love, he should go TikTok and YouTube because of his insatiable, intrinsic nature of being disinterested in life. That nothing can treat it besides replacing boredom with another emotion. You evade man's passion for his values and virtues, such as productivity and achievement, because to you, it is a distraction from the perpetual disinterest in life. The mood of boredom is the result of a man who has no direction, no purpose, no values, no ideas. But how can boredom help him survive? Boredom, like any other emotion, doesn't give him the knowledge to produce or create a product or service that enriches his life. If anything, it destroys his ambition to self-sustain.
guymandudepersonthin said:take all your senses away, for 100 years still alive, just black
you have no mouth and you must scream, prison right?
put your senses back, life is normal again. do you get the sense that it's still the same but now you are distracted?
I don't understand the point of this question. You cannot have your all your senses taken away without death, and even if so, you wouldn't even be capable of perceiving black. I can only imagine that you'd start hallucinating if such a thing were to happen.
Really like this conversation here.
I would like to add that identity is one of the main issues of philosophy. While philosophers like Descartes, for example, affirm the personal self, other philosophers deny it - for example Pirandello, for whom the individual has no identity. For Pirandello, there is no self except the reflection of what others expect from me - in other words: "I am as you want me to be".
I think we can easily find such structures that deny the self in nationalistic identites. Here, there is no other identity than that of the civilian of a state. You live for the state - and certain minorities may even "spoil everything" for you and your countrymen.
Now, such denial of the self can also be found in capitalism, as people try to fit in with dressing popular, for example, or going for sensual things (having a "sex life") or following lifestyles (shopping in Dubai, etc.). Speaking in general, pursuing the freedom to consume rather than to pursue personal metaphors that can lead to binding conditions.
Following your own path means to find out who you really are. That is a journey to make - and it's not an easy one. You have to be brave, introspect and experiment with yourself to accept your self. That's why most people today take the easy way and try to fit in with others.
Now, all the digital media that we have today makes it easier to follow your own path, for example with identifying with certain protagonists. Fantasy worlds can provide people with alternate meaning and value, helping them to explore themselfes rather than following the norms set by a hegemonic group. Places like anime conventions or concerts offer to meet like-minded people - and you don't need to wear the trendiest clothing, for example, to fit in. You wear the clothing that has meaning to you - and that meaning is shared with others.
As for me, I don't feel bored or empty. I know who I am and what I stand & work for. And that's because I simply followed one thing - and that is:
Love
