You're Not Special

Look at the black image below.

It's not actually a black fill. Rather, it's 8 billion black dots. Look closely and find a single white dot.

That's you, amongst an ocean of other people. Now multiply the square by about 10, and you can contrast your existence against all humans that ever lived.

Now compare your existence to the fullness of time (chart below). You and I - we're a flash in Earth's history. If complex life were to claim its kingdom, the dinosaurs would rank far above humans. To the planet, our existence is a wasps' nest that forms in the spring only to die-off by fall.

Those few months were of critical importance to the wasps, but not to anyone greater than 50 feet away. By the winter, nobody misses the wasps.

You and I - we're not special. We're just a grain of sand on the beach. While we may feel like our day-to-day problems - at work, with friends, etc. - are paramount, a little perspective shows they're not.

This doesn't abdicate us from responsibility. We must still live within the guidelines of our values. Rather, it illustrates our existence isn't to develop individual self-actualization - that's a bonus. Like it or not, we are here to serve the machine.

So why do our day-to-day problems seem so critical? It's because the machine is valued as the sum of our individual minuscule, seemingly meaningless contributions. Remove one person of 8 billion and nothing changes.

Of course, our lives have meaning beyond our contributions to the hive as workers, drones or queens. Conscious life is a gift. Somehow a bunch of atoms came together in the right place at the right time to create you. Your consciousness is a result of happenstance. The importance of life exists in what you do with that consciousness.

The system will gladly extract every ounce of your life if you let it. Only you can decide what's personally important.

Beyond making the most of your consciousness - by laughing and loving - your importance extends to your surrounding people.

Ask yourself, who would be devastated for more than a couple weeks if I died? For most people, including individuals society typically defines as "important", that list is remarkably short. While this underscores our relative unimportance to the world, it also highlights where we truly have effect. Remember this next time you forget your spouse's birthday. They're the ones that will miss you years after you're dead, not your boss.

This tiny sphere of importance vanishes as quickly as it forms. One or two generations pass, those that care about your existence are gone and it's like you never existed at all.

Why don't most of us realize this? We've been conned.

The system - as it works today - needs billions of individualists striving to punch above their weight. The legends of great wealth accumulation motivate many to do what the system considers "great things". That's not to be charitable, loving and kind. Instead, individual greatness is measured by the tokens that feed the machine - money.

We allow the dream of massive wealth to intrude on our personal liberties. We worship the few that have achieved the impossible, bestowing upon them characteristics they don't deserve. These people are as lucky as they are intelligent, often more so.

The turning cogs are lubricated by hopeless dreams of great wealth. Somehow, we're convinced the billionaires and multi-billionaires deserve their riches, ignoring the social sacrifices made to elevate them. Billionaires exist because they exploit the infrastructure built by society. Considering this, that wealth really belongs to everyone.

The ultra-wealthy will never say that out loud. Rather, they keep the curtains cracked open just enough for you to see what they have, only to hit a shut window when you reach forward. If only you could open the window, you too could be like them. They imply their success creates a pathway for yours, if only you weren't confined by your oppressors - others like you.

Believe it or not, most people are like you. You have a lot more in common with a millionaire than a billionaire has with a hundred-billionaire. The visualization of this comparison is absurd. The chart below compares wealth levels. Those with $1b or less are barely visible in contrast to the vast sums amassed by the world's richest brute.

I've always been sickened by the fandom surrounding this man. As if he were some great engineering genius who hadn't made numerous dubious deals and failed promises. Today, perhaps too late, many are waking up to the true nature of these people and their obsession with abandoning the planet and its people.

The billionaires, however, are not immune. Despite what they believe, it's the system that rules, not them. Throughout history, the machine has repeatedly turned against the rich and famous, as they became threats.

As an example, Fritz Thyssen and Hugo Junkers, wealthy industrialists during the Nazi era, were eventually eaten by the monster they fed. A billionaire by today’s standards, Thyssen was an early Nazi supporter who later opposed Hitler. Despite his wealth and influence, the Nazis imprisoned him in concentration camps from 1940-1945. Junkers was founder of Junkers Aircraft, a company vital to German aviation. The Nazis seized his company and put him under house arrest, where he died.

There are countless other cases throughout history of the untouchable rich, powerful and famous getting ostracized, imprisoned or executed. From this perspective, they are just as expendable as the rest of us, once they've outlived their utility.

While some billionaires try to redeem their nature through charitable donations, one must question the virtue of these acts.

I won't accuse them of tax avoidance or money laundering - I haven't looked close enough - but I wouldn't say it's not possible either. Even of the few that truly give back to create a better world, they're simply voluntarily returning wealth they borrowed from society. These acts are only notable because they're billionaires in the first place. Live a life of true virtue and nobody will ever know.

I wouldn't conflate invisibility with meaninglessness, though.

Rather, you have a choice to direct your consciousness - the rare gift I wrote about earlier - towards something meaningful to you. In the end, that's all that matters.

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Thanks,

Sarah