“It is of the nature of desire not to be satisfied, and most men live only for the gratification of it.” ― Aristotle
The so called society we live in, or in my own words the shitshow we participate in, is a master at manufacturing desire in all arenas of life. Its expertise does no longer only come in the form of material goods, but also in the form of flesh and bone. All the Tinders of the world offer us a tradeoff that appears appealing (on paper 😉 ) to many: give me some of your time, personal info and a slice of your attention, and I’ll reward you with hopefully some alluring prospects and a promise of intermittent dopamine hits that’ll keep you coming back around for more.
Because that’s the thing with human beings: they constantly want more. This is why regret is such a powerful emotion : because it injects in your mind the potent desire to know what could have been. It doesn’t matter that your life is the best it has ever been. You’ll still be driving your Tesla, chilling in your overpriced mansion and wondering to yourself every now and then if you could have gotten more for your money’s worth.
You can’t possibly quench the thirst that humans have for longing for more. It does not matter that we can’t have it all ; we’ll still go to great lengths to make our selfish wishes come true. We want the safety that comes out of a stable long-term relationship; yet we yearn for the excitement that comes from meeting someone new. We want the latest gadgets, so long as they come with the eyes of envy from others.
Society takes deep pleasure into exploiting this vulnerability of ours. Everything is orchestrated in ways to keep us hooked by the never-ending possibilities of potential sources of fleeting excitement and entertainment. Self-introspection isn’t being sold to us because it doesn’t sell. What sells is anything that can provide us enough distraction so that we stay caught up in this dumb game that has no finish line to it.