Modern culture, built on a foundation of a capitalist paradigm, is about, more…always. Infinite growth on a planet of finite resources.
Media and entertainment as we know it in any form, was built by, in the service of advertising. What is the purpose of advertising? To inform, persuade, and remind. Information and reminders have long since exited the chat.
Persuasion. Advertising’s purpose is persuasion in the modern world. For each small business, non profit, and NGO one can point to that use advertising for the greater good, there are literally thousands of examples of advertising persuading people that they need more, more, more…always.
More things, more experiences, more goods, more services, more products, more placements, more, more, more…always.
If our eyes or our ears are open there is some entity using some form of media to persuade us that what we have and/or who we are isn’t enough, we need more, more, more…always.
We are expected to do more, be more, buy more, say more. Keeping up with the Jones’ is a full time job that like many real jobs, doesn’t pay enough to stay out of debt.
Being human can be hard enough. Modern life seems to get more and more complex year to year. Sometimes we’re not going to be our best self. That’s not only okay, it’s normal.
Optimal isn’t always optimal regardless of what the caucasian male with a podcast universe would have us believe. Hustle culture creates a thousand burn out victims for every one that achieves a measurable external success by trading away a minimum of two thirds of their life.
We can’t thrive if we don’t survive. Some days just doing enough to survive isn’t just fine or good enough…it’s literally all there is. A dead entity can’t optimize, it can only decay.
Enough is greater than more. Enough is optimal.
Those who always want more will never have enough and will always try to convince those with enough that they need more.
There’s nothing wrong with goals. There’s nothing wrong with growing, evolving, striving or achieving. There is value and maybe even necessity in metaphorically always moving forward and towards.
It is also becoming more and more of a necessity in an optimal obsessed world to remember that we can’t strive if we don’t survive.
Surviving comes first, always.
Anarchy Journal Constitutional 
I am in the camp that says it’s too late. Too late to save us from our own demise. I won’t be around when the faecal matter hits the fan, but all I know is that those end-of-the-world films will seem childsplay to what’s coming down the “track”. Take care, Julian