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“All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” -- Blaise Pascal
According to Pascal, we fear the silence of existence, we dread boredom and instead choose aimless distraction, and we can’t help but run from the problems of our emotions into the false comforts of the mind.
The issue at the root, essentially, is that we never learn the art of solitude.
...
our aversion to solitude is really an aversion to boredom.At its core, it’s not necessarily that we are addicted to a TV set because there is something uniquely satisfying about it, just like we are not addicted to most stimulants because the benefits outweigh the downsides. Rather, what we are really addicted to is a state of not-being-bored.
Deep thoughts by Blaise Pascal. Was he right? Are we addicted to not-being-bored? Is boredom good for us?
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday November 28 2018, @10:54AM (4 children)
What you say indeed has merit but I feel obliged to point out that not having company and not doing something especially productive are not quite the same as boredom, though they may appear outwardly so. Reading a book, pondering the meaning of life, trying to figure out how to release a million chickens in NYC in one day without going to prison, or engaging in a bit of introspection (not too much though; anyone who's ever dealt with depression knows better than that) are all means of alleviating boredom rather than being boredom.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 28 2018, @11:04AM
... and then declining the job offer from Google.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday November 28 2018, @01:55PM
That sounds cool. Please give us a heads up here on Soylent before you do so I can go watch and take video. That would be absolutely hilarious.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 29 2018, @04:39PM (1 child)
You could try reading up on old laws that could allow herding chickens in NYC. Also from which height could they be dropped (maybe with a cute parachute)? Good luck.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday November 29 2018, @07:55PM
The scope is the problem there. A million chickens is a fucking lot of chickens. An eighteen wheeler can't carry more than ten thousand or so if you want them to mostly be alive when you get where you're going. That's a hundred trucks flat full and add ten more to account for the dead ones.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.