More and more, we are realizing that the answer is machines. Since our lives are short, we need help getting all the things done that we want to do in only 9 or 10 decades or even less. But! If we build machines that can get some of our tasks done while we do some at the same time, we will be more efficient, more powerful. So, why not?
Let's start with reading. Reading books, web pages, magazines, email contributes to our knowledge. With good reading, we are more in tune with the whole world, including our own bodies and personalities. It ought to be possible to write an app or a short program that downloads books and copies every page of each book and stores them in the cloud. I am not talking about a mass zap of the whole book at once but an actual copy of each page. The machine will "look" at each page just as I do with my eyes. I think with a few programs working on a few computers I could multiply my reading by ten.
Ok, worrying. As I get older and do gain more knowledge, I have more things to worry about. Bill Bryson says there are 90,000 cosmic bodies whose orbits intersect with that of the earth. It seems only a matter of time before another large asteroid or space rock smashes into our planet. My luck has been pretty good up to now but malevolent spirits may balance all that by putting my house or my car or my favorite restaurant square in the path of some big squasher. Kathryn Schulz, author of "Being Wrong", has an article in the current New Yorker, about big dangers of long overdue earthquakes in the northwest of the country that could bury us in ash and cause all sorts of disruptions. Of course, we all worry about the next election and about climate change.
I am not sure how to build a machine that can worry for me but it will be a big help when I figure it out. Once I know my Worriers are on the job, I can focus on greater serenity.
In that area, I am already doing pretty well. The key to serenity is stillness. See Eckhart Tolle's "Stillness Speaks." I have several serene rocks. I let them practice serenity for me. You should see how still they can be! I am telling you, I can sit watching those rocks for hours and not a twitch from any of them! By having those rocks sit serenely for me, I am getting far more serenity hours in than I have ever been able to. It is really great. I know it is a little hard to believe but as usual in this modern world, the answer is technology. Look around. Take a short walk. When you come across a likely rock, take it home and give it a try. I can spare a couple of my own better ones, for say, $7.99 each, if you are interested.
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