30 Questions for 2018

1. Why is there something rather than nothing?

2. Can my individual choices aid in either the ‘something’ of the universe or aim for absolute nothing?

3. What is the relationship between Christianity and power? What does it mean to invert all hierarchies and bring union between man and God?

4. What is the true relationship between sex and gender? Is evolving toward a non-binary future a sign of primitive apes becoming more than biological mechanisms, and attaining true control over their cultural and individual destinies? Is the desire to overcome the categories of male and female the most interesting cultural transmutation going on right now? If so, why are current political movements botching this transmutation so horribly?

5. What is intelligence? Why is it distributed unequally? What is intelligence ‘for’?

6. Why is time accelerating? What is the end goal of history, and how does it relate to intelligence?

7. Why is capitalism so omnipresent, and why does capitalism favor and reward high intelligence?

8. Is Yahweh in the Bible actually God, or a primitive template? Should we live up to Yahweh’s expectations, or should we seek to transcend him entirely? What is our true goal as a species?

9. How can evolutionary theory and evolutionary psychology become better integrated with the religious or symbolic understanding of humankind as an intrinsically purposeful animal?

10. What is the relationship between conscious awareness and measurable intelligence?

11. Why are human beings the only animals that create artistic representations of ourselves and the contents of our minds?

12. Why are human beings the only animals who have developed scientific methods?

13. Is the goal of stories to reiterate what we already know about ourselves, or provide radical new ideals to strive for?

14. Will I become a virtual representation of myself and be swallowed entirely by my smartphone?

15. Is tribal/group identity more powerful than individual identity? If so, is the goal of my life to integrate into a tribe or reject them all toward infinitely more complicating and beautiful ends?

16. If I must reject tribes, then why are my genetics predisposed toward a shallow tribal mentality?

17. How can I, as an autonomous being, choose to accept or reject the very programs and dictums of my genetic code? How could any organism reject who they are in search of a higher self? Why is this contradiction not more openly discussed among scientists? How can I possibly choose to consciously reject ideas inscribed in my own genetic code, the information that is at the root of my being?

18. What is the relationship between conscious awareness and time?

19. If time is accelerating, will consciousness also accelerate? Will I end my lifetime as an organism that is no longer human? Will I be lesser or greater than the human I am today? Is that conclusion entirely in my hands, and up to me to achieve or fall short of?

20. What is the relationship between God and Satan? Why does God tolerate Satan and provide a place for him in the grand creation?

21. Is suffering the purpose of life, as implied by Christ upon the cross?

22. Will the written word cease to exist?

23. Will fiction and film both be displaced by a new creative medium in my lifetime?

24. Would I be better off with a YouTube channel than a blog? Will a platform better than YouTube arrive this year?

25. Will I still be on Twitter at the end of the year? Will I remain addicted to an infinite deluge of information or become numb to it all and only read books, rejecting social media?

26. Is rejecting social media like rejecting the printing press? Is it just a maladaptation to be smoothed over in time?

27. Will I become social media by the time I die?

28. Would becoming virtual be any serious transcendence of flesh?

29. Is the intention of intelligence to transform the physical into the virtual, in a great transformation of biological matter into pure information?

30. Are these questions all missing the mark or am I dead on and advancing into a better future?