The recent swine flu news has led me to think about a question I've asked myself a lot which is "how is life supposed to be"? or "how was life in the past?" What were people's lives like before the invention of modern medicine and mass media? Is a "simple" natural life better than the lives we are leading which are full of materialism? What is the "natural life"?
I'm not sure if wondering what life was like in the past, ever hoping to return to the past, or wondering what a "natural life" is like is a legitimate investigation/desire. Many philosophers who are smarter than me have argued it is not. If life in the past were an ideal situation, I don't think we would be where we are now. For whatever reason, the guiding force of human existence - whether it's God, reason, belief, thought, evolution, chance, free will, or a whole combination of things - has led us to the state we reside in. This is the "natural life". I think questions such as "Are we happy with our current existence?" and "How can we improve it"? are important, but returning to any former state seems like an impossibility at this point.
Whenever I am walking around NYC and see all the buildings, I'm amazed that they could have all been built in about 200 years. Granted, they are impressive structures and cool to look at, but is this what we should be spending our time on? The last fews days, my friend and I have gone out for lunch and observed tourists taking pictures of stores, clothes, flashing signs, buildings, etc. Is that what people identify NYC/America with right now? Are consumerism and the crazy fixation on branding benefitting society? If they aren't, what should we be focusing on?
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