Just random thoughts coming across my mind as I was daydreaming about various software solutions…
One preoccupation I had was: how to make something useful, purposeful and valuable? Well, I realized it was a tough question, To escape the resulting frustration, I started to wander among the nearby thoughts.
I believe the creeping feeling of lack of purpose is a major characteristic of our society: there is not any more just a few paradigms to help us organize the world mentally. Our world is a globalized network (network of people, of financial connections, of ideas, of computers) in which it is difficult for the individual to find its way, to have a vision of where the world is going. Our actions and lives depend less on our close environment and more on remote connexions. Physical proximity, hierarchy, inclusion in a group (may it be family, company, religion) used to provide a meaningful structure for societies. It is less and less the case. We cannot understand our world with the sole help of our good old paradigms. The gap between those who try to adapt, try to understand (which requires education, willingness and efforts) and the others who want to live and think by the same old standards is bound to widen.
As a computerized, connected (whether you want it or not, whether you are aware of it or not) agent who produces value, what should I do to feel I am alive in my environment, to feel that what I do matters.
I think I have to clarify my statement at this stage. I do not mean you cannot be happy in life nowadays because of networks and complexity: there will always be simple things in life that make people feel happy and fulfilled. Here, I am interested in those forces which drive societies, companies, industry, and which have repercussions on how we understand our environment and how we perceive the part we play in the game.
I mean, people need to understand why their bank just failed to go bankrupt for 5 days and is fine 3 days after, people need to know why they are paid so little and still have their factory shut down for costs control reasons, they need to know why some agents (may it be companies, persons, products, services) are incredibly successful and why others are not. They need to know where the value comes from, where it goes and above all, how they capture (or not) some of it. This is not the answer to life, the universe and everything but it doesn’t hurt to wonder.
