End of History Illusion
I was watching an old Vsauce video where Michael brings up the end of history illusion. In a nutshell, people generally believe that their present, is their forever. That theyâre done changing and the person they are now, their likes and dislikes, will all be the same for the rest of their lives. But clearly thatâs not true. Just think about how you were five or ten years ago, and how drastically different you were then. Odds are, youâll be that different in five or ten more years. Now, Iâm only twenty-three so ten years ago I was in middle school... so yeah, the changes are more drastic, but the principle still applies.
I think itâs the same reason we donât see drastic differences in our appearances when we look in the mirror. I think we spend too much time with ourselves. We don't notice small little changes because they happen so gradually. I think I read once that it takes seven years for all the cells in your body to be replaced with new ones. So, you're a whole new you.
This also reminds me of a paradox. This paradox was first explained to me in a VERY HARD TO FIND video by Dan Brown (pogobat). Itâs called the Ship of Theseus. Itâs a thought experiment that raises the question of whether an object that has had all of its components replaced remains fundamentally the same object. So after the seven years it takes to replace all our cells, are we still us?
But I got a little off topic. I made this post because the End of History illusion is so comforting to me. Right now, Iâm generally happy, but sometimes I get unreasonably worried that this is it. Itâs probably because, for the first time in a long time, my life is slowing down. For most of my life, Iâve been a student in the American education system, and with that comes a pretty strict schedule. Grade K-12 took up most of my life, and then I went straight to a four year college. My life up until recently has been very preordained. Go to school, be a student, break in the summer. A great deal of my life was determined by powers higher than me. So when I finally got out of college, the End of History illusion hit me hard. To put it like Jack Nicholson, âwhat if this is as good as it gets?â
I guess what Iâm trying to say is, this likely isnât as good as it gets. I donât think there are really superlatives in life, because it keeps going until it stops. Thereâs always potential for things to get better or worse and I guess thatâs kind of comforting.
