A Gap in Scale
We exist in relation to everything else in our environment. Our sense of speed relates to the speed of our own thoughts, our expectations, and our ability to move our body. If something moves faster than we imagine, it seems fast. If something moves slower than we imagine, it seems slow. Our sense of size is similarly in relation to our body. We think in concepts we can relate to.As computers and technology move many times faster than we can think, and as our environment grows in scale and changes around us, it becomes more challenging to connect with it. It is stressful to go to an airport because almost nothing relates to us. A simple thing like "where is my bag?" is suddenly out of our control. We can't even imagine the hundreds of people who have touched our bags, or why? Why is there not simply one person who remembers our bag, carry's it onto the plane we say we are going on and then hands it to us when we are done? The confusion, incongruous scale and complexity is difficult to trust, and almost impossible to understand. We wait, even when we are in a hurry, because we are only one small piece in a vast fabric of moving energy that seems increasingly isolated with us. We don't have a job because some person we have never met has decided somewhere that this or that which we are does not matter - or is not as valuable as something else. Why? And just as importantly: is there anything we can do? It is no different in the arena of automation: We anticipate being able to answer a simple question, but cannot. The people we speak to do not know what we want. We route through a mysterious series of connections halfway across the world to call centers and there is stress. Why? We don't understand how the person in our own bank down the street is not answering the phone and giving us information they have? This experience of "senselessness" creates irritation, depression, and a feeling of being lost that stifles creativity and initiative. We don't want to emerge out into the world because then we will start running into this chaotic and seemingly senseless machine and come out feeling small and insignificant. Just anticipating that brings up stress, and exhaustion.
