The fact is that the vast majority of our thoughts and actions are on autopilot. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing either. Our habits, routines, impulses, and reactions carry us through our lives so we don’t have to stop and think about it every time we wipe our ass or start a car.
The problem is when we’re on autopilot for so long that we forget we’re on autopilot. Because when we’re not even aware of our own habits, routines, impulses, and reactions, then we no longer control them we control us.
In this case, the autopilot is of course the Internet. When our Internet connection dies, that connection has to go too, so we can’t do anything really. But we can still read, watch, listen to music, or play video games, and we still have all the same tools we had before the Internet. In other words, we are still a bunch of automatons.
We are only automatons because we’re on autopilot. The Internet is essentially our brain and what we think and do is something we do because we think it is what we do. When we do it because we think it is what we do, we are truly on autopilot.
So, we can stop thinking and acting like automatons? Well, that doesn’t work on autopilot, because we don’t have the time or the brain to stop and think. The Internet gives us the time and the space to stop and think, but we can still think and act as we normally would.
This is one of the most common things I get asked about. We have been asked about it countless times, especially by friends and family. The fact is, the Internet is not only the most powerful tool in our hands, it is also the most powerful tool in our brain, as we all know it. We are all wired differently, and even different parts of the brain have very specific functions to play with.
When I was at a family-owned school, the director pointed out that the kids were all of us who were all in high school, and they said, “That’s right.” So we were all in high school, but when we were asked about the school’s security policy, we said, “The kids are all in the same class, right?” We’re not sure if that’s right, but it’s possible.
That is right. We are all of us in the same class, and that’s just the way it is. When we are kids, we were all in the same class, but as we get older, we are separated from each other to a much greater degree. It’s the same thing in my job. I work with people who are in the same jobs, but there are always differences of age, seniority, experience, and other things.
Just like with the school security policy, everyone is in the same class, and the fact that we are in a class makes me think, “Why am I here, or are I here?” And I think that’s the way it is.
It’s because you are always here, even if you’re in a different class.