Convenience,

What if our lives were constantly just tests? Tests that we either passed or failed. I have been thinking a lot lately about how very entitled we are. Every time we take something for granted or have a chance to make use of some modern convenience, we are in a sense being tested. This test is not intrinsically linked to the object of desire or the usefulness of the tool. It is simply an evolutionary script meant to make its mark on our DNA. The outcome of this test will encode it’s self into our subconscious and we will either benefit or be set back by it.

When I get up in the morning and I turn on the blender to chop, blend and puree the food that will be going into my stomach, I am flipping a switch that says I can’t do this the hard way anymore. I can no longer be asked to chew and allow the salivary glands in my mouth to go to work on breaking down the chunks and bits of food in their slow tedious process. I must break it down further so that I can save that small amount of time beginning the digestion process in my mouth. I can fire-hose the now liquid contents of those fruits and grains into my stomach.

This will eat up some electricity of course. Every morning I run this thing it takes on average 200 W to run which averages maybe a few one hundredths of a cent (0.03¢) for the minute or so I am running it. The cost is not large. But what is it costing me to do this in terms of human evolution? Am I now telling my body somehow that I am no longer able to chew and swallow my food normally? I hope not.

When we think about going about modern “work” and all that it entails, most often our commute comes to mind. I believe this would be because it is a stressor. It is a totally inorganic process that human beings have for some reason contrived as a means to an end. The end not really being “the end”, but the action of arriving at work so we can start our day. For the many of us still not able to be self-employed, it is often the least enjoyable part of our day.

Each one of these decisions is a chance for the little bit of choice we have in the matter

What I think this stressor does is it presents us with many small tests. This stress test will have us making the most decisions we will probably have to make throughout the day. Each one of these decisions is a chance for the little bit of choice we have in the matter, to encode into our genome a signal that yes, if we want to have the best chance of reproducing this choice must become automatic or made for us.

Where am I going with this? I believe that by making the choices that make our lives simpler and reducing the stressors, we are in effect encoding less fluff into our biological code. We are programming our bodies to keep the ability to do hard things. In doing this I think we won’t be sabotaging ourselves by programming convenience and satisfaction into our DNA. This will make us more able to continue a lineage of humans with strong mind and body.

For now, this entails doing things that take more time: Choosing to read words instead of being force fed information from a moving picture on a screen, riding a bike or walking instead of taking a car, being happy with a blanket or mat and a simple place to sit and look at nature instead of an interactive sound system or LED tv. Yes this even means, processing your food the old fashioned way: In your mouth.