Yawning Through Progress

Don’t most of the problems facing people, today, stem from boredom? How else did we get to this point, and continue to get deeper and deeper into trouble? 

I mean, of course boredom must have led to the culinary arts, which I guess can be pretty useful, if you don't mind staying hungry for hundreds of dollars. 

However, think of early civilizations. They must have seen the smoke from fire, and they must have been bored of breathing, so they decided to start breathing smoke. It was just through experimentation and trial and error that things like tobacco and marijuana were discovered. 

And as far as alcohol is concerned, obviously the early peoples got bored of swallowing, so they decided to swallow everything, and they must have swallowed a lot of rotten liquid before they discovered that rotten juice was literally intoxicating. 

People got bored of having houses, so they built bigger houses. People got bored of having bigger houses, so they built mansions. People got bored of having mansions, so they got more elaborate mansions. People got bored of having elaborate mansions, so they got elaborate, thinking mansions. And now even people who don’t have mansions have thinking devices in their homes, because they got bored of the non-thinking devices. Now the government can listen and watch us every moment of every day, because it’s apparently boring, otherwise. 

People got bored of the dark, so they lit stuff on fire to get light. People got bored of contained fires, so they made the wick for smaller fires. People got bored of candles, so they put them in lanterns. People got bored of lanterns, so they built chandeliers. People got bored of firelight altogether, so they built the light bulb. People got bored of the light bulb, so they made a brighter light bulb. People got bored of the brighter light bulb, so they built a smaller light bulb. People got bored of light bulbs not being behind stuff, so they put little light bulbs behind stuff. People got bored of the stuff in front of the light bulb, so they made stuff on the stuff move. People got bored of the stuff on the stuff moving, so they made the stuff on the stuff have sounds. They got bored of the sounds, so they got better sounds with colors. They got bored of the sounds and colors, so they got higher detailed sounds and colors. Now we’re consuming the natural resources to keep these things alive, but that’s just the current pattern before it gets boring. 

Boredom with rocks led to arrows; boredom with arrows led to guns; boredom with guns led to rocket launchers. 

People got bored of walking, so they started riding horses. People got bored of horses, so they got more horses. People got bored with more horses, so they built a giant, metal bullet that houses goods and people and runs on steam. People got bored of the steam train, so they built automobiles. People got bored of automobiles, so they built faster and bigger automobiles. People got bored of faster and bigger automobiles, so they built even faster but smaller automobiles, or needlessly huge but slower automobiles. People got bored of having more efficient automobiles, so they started racing each other in them or crashing them into each other. I guess vehicular manslaughter was too bland. People got bored of swimming, so they built canoes. They got bored of canoes, so they built boats. They got bored of boats, so they built sail boats. They got bored of sail boats, so they built ships. They got bored of ships, so they built carriers. They got bored of being above water, so they built submarines to go under water. They got bored of submarines, so they built automated marine cruisers. People got bored of not being in the air, so they built the airplane with propeller. They got bored of the airplane, so they built a bigger airplane with two propellers. They got bored of the bigger airplane, so they built a bigger airplane with four propellers. They got bored with that, so they built an airplane with turbines. They got bored with that, so they built a bigger airplane with turbines. They got bored with that, so they built a smaller but faster airplane with a jet-turbine. They got bored with that, so they built a bigger and even faster jet. They got bored with that, so they built a smaller but even faster jet. They got bored with that, so they built a giant but slower airplane. Now they have drones. And, with all these modes of transportation, they got bored with how they didn’t kill enough people, so they put guns on them. Then bigger guns. Then missile launchers. Then bomb hatches. Then bigger guns, with missile launchers. Then bigger guns, with missile launchers, with projectile bombs. 

People all throughout history have just been bored with what they have, with everything including, but not limited to: ways to kill animals, ways to kill people; ways to talk to people, talking to people; ways to train animals, animals to train; ways to tells stories, types of stories that could be told; telling the truth, telling lies; stuff that holds other stuff, giving each other stuff, touching stuff, using stuff, looking at stuff, watching stuff; playing with variations of balls and shafts; etc. The list goes on. And it all comes at the expense of expending unsustainable energy. 

I guess if necessity is the mother of invention, boredom must be the father.