Our ancestors, Hominina, a split from the chimpanzees, were on Earth about six million years ago, while modern humans, the species very close to our current form, evolved only about 200,000 years ago. Putting it into context, the average lifespan of a modern human is 75 years. Even though it is not accurate because the average lifespan in the past was much lower, we can nonetheless get a general picture of how many generations have existed within this 200,000-year time frame by dividing 200,000 by 75 - 2,667 generations.
Meanwhile, the readers of this article, including you and me, are in our only generation. In our lifespan, we would grow from a child to an adult and shape our understanding of the world. We would find our passions along the way, and we would encounter numerous individuals that have been going through the same challenges as us. We would find somebody we love, hate, or ignore. We would experience highs and lows. Nonetheless, our life on earth is merely that one single generation out of the 2,667+ generations before us. Therefore, our time on Earth is insignificant with respect to the duration of humanity.
Beethoven created the music in his generation and had it passed down through generations ever since. Newton did the same. Da Vinci did the same. Einstein did the same. These individuals, while they were on Earth, built long-lasting achievements with the limited time they had on Earth. In fact, not many of them lived up to 75 years old. Their work is more of a piece of art than a success accidentally achieved overnight. The amount of time and energy devoted to their work is vast and incredible on the scale of today - at least, they did not have social media to scroll mindlessly in their days. Here, I question - aren’t achievements like these that have a significant and long-lasting contribution to the advancement of humanity all built the same way - with a super high priority over anything else - as the impactful humans had demonstrated?
Then, priorities should be the fundamental framework we should clarify first and foremost. However, there is an unfortunate generalization and misuse of the concept of priorities that makes life more chaotic than it should be. For example, listing out priorities is the stupidest thing we can do because if we have ten priorities, which one is the priority? If we rank them in terms of priority, are the priorities below the top priority as necessary as the first? Now, we will run in full circle by asking, if there is only one priority, is that a priority after all?
To break out of this chicken-and-egg style of rhetoric, we should regard priority as an attribute of quality and refrain from using the plural form to confuse ourselves. If cancer research is the priority in my life, that means it is more important than anything that comes after, including food, energy, money, or whatsoever, even though they are the necessities of life. The necessities of life are merely the component that makes life continue and exist. That does not mean you should prioritize these necessities, as your goal should not be to remain alive but to create an impact on humanity in the greater scheme of things. In addition, as the biological system is designed, it will accumulate more and more mutations and the likelihood of dying as time goes on. So, it should not be a surprise that human life on Earth is designed to be finite, as suggested by the biological system of the human body.
Meanwhile, the readers of this article, including you and me, are in our only generation. In our lifespan, we would grow from a child to an adult and shape our understanding of the world. We would find our passions along the way, and we would encounter numerous individuals that have been going through the same challenges as us. We would find somebody we love, hate, or ignore. We would experience highs and lows. Nonetheless, our life on earth is merely that one single generation out of the 2,667+ generations before us. Therefore, our time on Earth is insignificant with respect to the duration of humanity.
Beethoven created the music in his generation and had it passed down through generations ever since. Newton did the same. Da Vinci did the same. Einstein did the same. These individuals, while they were on Earth, built long-lasting achievements with the limited time they had on Earth. In fact, not many of them lived up to 75 years old. Their work is more of a piece of art than a success accidentally achieved overnight. The amount of time and energy devoted to their work is vast and incredible on the scale of today - at least, they did not have social media to scroll mindlessly in their days. Here, I question - aren’t achievements like these that have a significant and long-lasting contribution to the advancement of humanity all built the same way - with a super high priority over anything else - as the impactful humans had demonstrated?
Then, priorities should be the fundamental framework we should clarify first and foremost. However, there is an unfortunate generalization and misuse of the concept of priorities that makes life more chaotic than it should be. For example, listing out priorities is the stupidest thing we can do because if we have ten priorities, which one is the priority? If we rank them in terms of priority, are the priorities below the top priority as necessary as the first? Now, we will run in full circle by asking, if there is only one priority, is that a priority after all?
To break out of this chicken-and-egg style of rhetoric, we should regard priority as an attribute of quality and refrain from using the plural form to confuse ourselves. If cancer research is the priority in my life, that means it is more important than anything that comes after, including food, energy, money, or whatsoever, even though they are the necessities of life. The necessities of life are merely the component that makes life continue and exist. That does not mean you should prioritize these necessities, as your goal should not be to remain alive but to create an impact on humanity in the greater scheme of things. In addition, as the biological system is designed, it will accumulate more and more mutations and the likelihood of dying as time goes on. So, it should not be a surprise that human life on Earth is designed to be finite, as suggested by the biological system of the human body.