The Meaning of Life

(Or at least the meaning of work)

(credit: KaterBegemot/wiki commons)

When you consider the evolution of the human species over the full sweep of time, our bodies have been changing only very gradually. Slowly it seems we get a bit bigger, a lot heavier and less hairy.

But only relatively speaking, of course, and subject to enough food, water, and access to good health care.

So what else?

Well, we’ve gotten more sophisticated in using tools, building nests, crafting comfortable clothing, inventing vehicles that let us zoom around the planet at will, establishing routines that optimize pleasure and a bunch of other lifestyle stuff. We can make a lot of noise.

But without question, the biggest and most revolutionary changes we’ve been able to accomplish have all come in the past tiny blip of geological time and they all involve technology.

If we had a giant mirror and could reflect down on ourselves as we are living now, we are exhibiting the behavior of a bunch of monkeys who have gotten a hold of a hijacked truckload of portable digital toys.

We’ve got them firmly grasped in our hairy little hands and we are staring at them when we are not turning them over and over, marveling at their magic. We look up now and then, looking side to side as of to make sure nobody’s going to discover us at this guilty pleasure, lest they swoop in and take them away from us.

We smile that guilty smile of secret pleasure and we just keep looking at those screens as we hop around place to place on our hindquarters, apes that we are.

***

Technology is inherently neither good nor bad. It is officially neutral like Switzerland. It is also, I firmly believe, inevitable. If there are imperatives to the evolution of our species they include a technological component — we are going to continue to experiment and develop technologies that extend our ability to live our lives the way we want to, to satisfy our desires and that extend our reach — physically, mentally and even emotionally.

No government or religion can stop that.

But this process is also inherently disorienting and disruptive. It was becoming commonplace for a while there to describe each new upheaval of one of our traditional industries in terms that it had just been disrupted by the internet, or by a digital device, or a software application.

In the process, suddenly all the middlemen, all of the intermediaries who dominated our society were being thrown out of work. The technical term is disintermediated.

Travel agents? Disintermediated.

Secretaries? Disintermediated.

Used car salesmen? Disintermediated.

Taxi drivers? Disintermediated.

Publishers? Disintermediated.

Journalists? Disintermediated.

I could go on ( and on and on and on) but you get the idea. Why did we need these guys (or gals) anyway, when we could just manipulate the new technologies to do everything for ourselves?

Well, that’s a good question. You know that old thing about being careful not to throw the baby out with the bathwater?

Beyond being an exceptionally odd phrase and concept, it’s nevertheless got more than a smidgeon of wisdom to it.

Maybe we got something pretty valuable from some of those intermediaries who used to be in our lives. Something we need every bit in our lives as much as we need food, water, clothing, blankets when it’s cold and fans blowing fresh air when it’s hot.

We need to be cared for; we need to be taken care of now and then; we need to be loved.

Conversely, most of us need to be able to take care of other people too. We need to be able to feel that we can do that and that we are doing that.

It gives our lives meaning. It gives our jobs meaning. We need to feel we are helping makes things better, not worse.

So that’s it, for now. We’re at the end of today’s story. Bt there is a lot more where this one came from.

Today in the News (66):

1. Germany intercepts Russian talk of indiscriminate killings in Ukraine (WP)

2. Civilians Flee Eastern Ukraine as Signs Point to Stepped-Up Russian Attack (NYT)

3. Russia suspended from U.N. Human Rights Council amid global outrage over Ukraine (WP)

4. Ukraine wants sanctions crippling enough to force Russia to end its warafter accusing some countries of putting economic wellbeing above punishment for civilian killings that the West condemns as war crimes. (Reuters)

5. VIDEO: Yellen: U.S. Working ‘Very Closely’ With Allies on Sanctions for Russia (AP)

6. U.S. Takes First Enforcement Actions Against Alleged Violators of Russia Export Controls (WSJ)

7. More Russians Consider Costs of War in Ukraine as Casualties Mount (NYT)

8. The democratic world must stop buying Russian oil and completely block Russian banks from the international finance system, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his daily video address. (Reuters)

9. Ukraine pleads for weapons as fight looms on eastern front (AP)

10. Amnesty report finds evidence of Russian ‘war crimes’ in Ukraine (WP)

11. Seeing Bucha atrocities is turning point for media, viewers (AP)

12. Document the War Crimes in Ukraine (Edit Bd/NYT)

13. VIDEO: Ukrainians Arrive at U.S.-Mexico Border Seeking Asylum (Reuters)

14. A New Surge of Ukrainians at U.S. Border (NYT)

15. Why Russia Doesn’t Want to Default—Even in a Time of War (WSJ)

16. Thousands of families trying to make way back to Bucha (WP)

17. Senate votes 100-0 to end Russia trade status, enact oil ban (AP)

18. Belarusians, Russians Join Ukraine’s Military, Hoping for Freedom at Home (WSJ)

19. U.S. Says It Secretly Removed Malware Worldwide, Pre-empting Russian Cyberattacks (NYT)

20. Battles in Donbas will look like World War Two, says Ukraine (BBC)

21. Ukrainian authorities have urged people living in the Donbas to evacuate immediately as the country braces for a renewed Russian offensive in the east. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said they would not give up. “We will seek all possible options to defend ourselves until Russia begins to seriously seek peace. This is our land. This is our future," he said. [AP] 

22. Ukraine says Mariupol defense is ‘holding on,’ despite Russian claims (WP)

23. Russian forces are trying to wipe Mariupol "off the face of the Earth," Ukrainian military commander says (CNN)

24. Ukraine War: Veterans prepare for battle in occupied Luhansk (BBC)

25. Russia Is Recruiting Mercenaries and Syrians to Ukraine, Western Officials Say (NYT)

26. Nato states agree to supply heavy weapons to Ukraine (Financial Times)

27. Gen. Milley: Land mines have given Ukrainian forces an edge (WP)

28. China's abstentions on U.N. votes to condemn Russia's invasion of Ukraine are a "win", said the U.S. envoy to the United Nations, underscoring how Beijing's balancing act between its ally Russia and the West may be the best outcome for Washington. (Reuters)

29. Pentagon chief: U.S. giving Ukraine intelligence in Donbas fight (WP)

30. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation has wrested control of thousands of routers and firewall appliances away from Russian military hackers by hijacking the same infrastructure Moscow’s spies were using to communicate with the devices, U.S. officials said. (Reuters)

31. WHO bracing for possible ‘chemical assaults’ in Ukraine (WP)

32. UK looks to nuclear power to cut Russian energy dependence (AP)

33. European Union envoys are set to approve a ban on Russian coal that would take full effect from mid-August, a month later than initially planned, two EU sources told Reuters, following pressure from Germany to delay the measure. Here's how EU countries are hunting for global coal stocks. (Reuters)

34. NATO members agree to ‘strengthen’ support for Ukraine, Stoltenberg says (WP)

35. In western Ukraine, some 1,100 train wagons carrying grain are stuck near the main rail border crossing with Poland, unable to transport their cargo abroad. As Kyiv looks for alternative export routes by land, that effort has been hampered by logistical challenges and red tape (Reuters)

36. Ukrainian soldiers' Facebook accounts targeted by hackers, Meta says (CNN)

37. Facebook cracks down on covert influence networks targeting Ukraine (WP)

38. Putin Is the Only Leader They’ve Known. And They’re Done With Him. — Thousands of young, anti-war Russians are voting with their feet, fleeing to cities like Istanbul. Putin has labeled them a “fifth column.” (Politico)

39. I Tried to Put Russia on Another Path — My policy was to work for the best, while expanding NATO to prepare for the worst. (Bill Clinton/Atlantic)

40. The Growing Religious Fervor in the American Right: ‘This Is a Jesus Movement’ (NYT)

41. GOP senators on the Judiciary Committee don't agree how to define a woman, and some wouldn't even try when HuffPost asked them. The same senators had grilled President Joe Biden's Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson for not answering a question on defining the word during her Senate confirmation hearing. “I have more of a traditional view of what a woman is,” said Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.). What is that? "My wife." [HuffPost]

42. Donald Trump said he wanted to march to the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 — In an interview yesterday with The Post, Trump claimed the Secret Service stopped him from joining his supporters, adding: “I would have gone there in a minute.” (WP)

43. How AI and Humans Can Best Collaborate at Work (WSJ)

44. Yellen calls for crypto regulation to reduce risks, fraud (AP)

45. Californians reduced water usage by less than 1 percent in February, a far cry from Gov. Gavin Newsom’s call for a 15 percent reduction. (LAT)

46. California’s typically reserved nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office released a series of reports on Wednesday laying out in stark terms the alarming, sweeping effects of climate change. (CalMatters)

47. Solar panels that can generate electricity at night have been developed at Stanford (NPR)

48. Napa Valley Has a Problem: It’s Running Out of Prime Room for Grapes (WSJ)

49. U.S. life expectancy continued to drop in 2021, new analysis shows (WP)

50. Baseball’s Next Battle: Making the Game Exciting Again (WSJ)

51. Up to 65% of Africans have had COVID, far more than thought (AP)

52. People are developing trauma-like symptoms as the pandemic wears on (NPR)

53. Regulators contend with booster planning among Covid unknowns (Politico)

54. Covid: Blood clot risk higher for six months after having virus (BBC)

55. Dolphins’ playful social habits form bonds, but spread virus (AP)

56. Senate punts $10 billion in Covid aid until after Easter amid stalemate over border policy (Politico)

57. Shanghai lockdown: some parents allowed to stay with Covid-positive children after backlash (Guardian)

58. Scans reveal the brain's early growth, late decline and surprising variability (NPR)

59. Brazil military ‘posed as NGOs on social media’ to play down deforestation (Guardian)

60. Astronomers: Discovery of most distant galaxy 13.5 billion light-years away (NHK)

61. Sub-atomic particle discovery adds impetus to push into ‘new physics’

    Findings on mass of W boson challenge Standard Model that underpins how we understand structure of universe (Financial Times)

62. Record-breaking wet season sees frog numbers in Queensland leaping ‘through the roof’ (Guardian)

63. Tanis: Fossil of dinosaur killed in asteroid strike found, scientists claim (BBC)

64. Thieving sea lions break into salmon farm and gorge on feast of fish (Guardian)

65. Senate confirms Jackson to Supreme Court — Ketanji Brown Jackson secured the support of three Republicans and all members of the Democratic caucus after divisive confirmation hearings. She will be sworn in this summer as the first Black woman in the court’s 233-year history after Justice Stephen G. Breyer ends his tenure. (WP)

66. TurboTax Threatens To Tell IRS Customer Cheated On Taxes Unless They Upgrade To Deluxe Version (The Onion)