As an engineer by training, I see everything in terms of trade offs. Designing algorithms is to find the right time vs space trade off. But this drive to find the best compromise is not a human peculiarity. It is ingrained in the world independently of human will and we are controlled by it. We are designed to meet the objectives that emerge from the sum of individual interests.
I do not know whether this cybernetic system emerged out of pure chaos or by the will of some entity we cannot grasp. However my observations suggest that it consistently favors the flourishing of the species against the welfare of the individual.
For example, human institutions continuously evolve in order to shape our behavior. Wars and revolutions leave trails of blood as political systems hunt for stability. Religion offers meaning to believers but its true goal is to incentivize cooperation and sacrifice.
Our fate may be sealed before birth. Biological diversity ensures variation among individuals, deliberately producing some who may not thrive in the environment. A few live subpar lives in a world not designed for them. Many, whose traits align with societal values, inherit a friendly and generous world.
Like spare parts in a vast machine, variations among individuals are maintained not for their immediate utility, but as potential adaptations for unexpected environmental changes. A perfect hedge against unpredictable change. There will be a minority resistant to a particular virus, a minority more resistant to famine.
Even in an unchanging environment, the unjustified suffering of second class individuals is brilliantly taken advantage of. They are relegated to fulfill ungrateful tasks by social pressure. They serve as fence posts delimiting the space of normality from where the majority draws their self-esteem.
The tension between these two groups of individuals has a deeper function: it creates the foundation of society. Freedom of choice implies rejection. Human beauty only exists in contrast to ugliness. Ostracized people develop selfless kindness that feeds the majority’s need for acknowledgment.
I am captivated by the genius of this self stabilizing machine. But I am desolate when I realize that our moral frameworks do not provide an answer to the unjustified suffering that fuels it. In the bible, God never explains its preference for Abel over Cain, for Jacob over Esau. These stories reflect the amoral power governing our fate.
Our mortality is the only merciful gesture we get from the machine. I cannot oppose the forces driving progress, but I remain free to choose death. I am free to end my suffering, to manifest my frustration with the role I was assigned to play. After all, a missing cog will never jam such a well designed machine.