Dopamine

Doom Card: You Are Running Out Of Time

What did you do this week? How did it make you feel? Here’s a fun fact - you’ll probably do and feel that same stuff for the next several decades. Then you’ll get sick. Then you’ll die.

Sweet. You know the future. Your personality, and other things beyond your control, have written your life story. It’s an arranged marriage between you and inevitable death. Mazel tov.

But maybe you’d like to change what you do, or how you feel, or how it ends. Cool. Let’s try that.

Not getting sick and dead would be choice. For that to happen, we’d need to cure aging. There’s a small industry working on that, but it probably won’t be ready in time for you. The process could be sped up with a massive influx of tax dollars. So… write your congressman?

That said, if we do invent immortality, it won’t necessarily be fun. If you don’t like your life now, why would you want to live forever? Maybe life isn’t too short. Maybe we just waste it.

But what else can you do with life but waste it? I guess you may want to waste it in the best way possible. Like, optimize your time so you die with no regrets. If so, you’ll probably cycle between these four strategies:

Try to make life better by yourself

Try to make life better with others

Try to enjoy life as it is

Give up

Fixing life by yourself starts with borrowing money. To fix life with others, start by calling out the established powers. To enjoy life as it is, may I suggest exercise, friends, and gratitude. And If you’ve given up, existential distress can be treated with magic mushrooms. Also, you don’t have to wait until you’re dying to take them. Have a nice trip.