#tomthefunginger

What is the essential component needed in order to travel? Opportunity. Fortunately, opportunities surround us. In his book Cognitive Surplus, Clay Shirky says that “by treating one another well, we can create environments where the group can do more then the individuals can do on their own.” He believes that we are surrounded by so many opportunities because of the way we interact with each other through the internet. 

The internet provides us all with a wealth of information, connections, and opportunities at our fingertips. It is how we use this resource that determines what opportunities become available to us. 

The most interesting example that Shirky gave to inspire the creation of opportunities through communal living was the Ultimatum Game. This was an experiment ran by economists to understand behavioral economics. One person was granted $10, but must offer a portion of it and to another person. If the person accepted the offer both participants kept however the $10 was split. If the offer was rejected neither person kept any money. 

Economists theorized that the proposer would offer $1 and the responder would accept on the bases that people naturally act out of self-interest and this offer would leave both parties better off.

They were wrong.

The less money the proposer offered, the more likely the responder was to reject the offer. However, the more generous the proposer was, the more likely the responder was to accept. 

Live generously. By living generously you provide others (and yourself) with more and greater opportunities. Ironically, living selflessly improves your life more than selfishly trying to figure out how to improve your life. 

Generosity creates opportunity. So go out and live every day being generous to others and it will expand the opportunities provided to you and the world you live in.

In her book How We Became Posthuman, Katherine Hayles states that “although the ‘posthuman’ differs in its articulations, a common theme is the union of the human with the intelligent machine.” 

M.T. Anderson’s novel Feed showcases this concept by implanting a computer in all of the characters’ brains. They are always connected to the internet, and always distracted. Everything they experience is through a virtual lens. They even spend more time communicating with each other via messenger than talking when in person.

We don’t have computers in our minds. But I would argue that we do have them on our minds. 

We are constantly distracted by the possibility that technology offers us. Social Media, Games, News, Messaging, Cameras, Etc... There are so many different things that distract our minds from what is in front of us. This can detract from the full experience of actually talking with your friends or watching a sunset. 

So do yourself a favor and go on a walk just to enjoy being outside and not to catch Pokemon.

If space travel was commercialized, would you take a vacation to the moon? That is exactly the adventure that six friends embark on in M.T. Anderson’s novel Feed. As they journey up to the moon to spend their spring break together, the main character think to himself “it’s better to travel together.” 

I have nothing against solo trips, I believe that a lot of personal growth can come out of them. However, I have found from my personal experience that traveling with other people is better. 

I spent two weeks in New Zealand crammed in a small car with three other guys and all of our stuff. It was the best. We had no plan. We just had each other, the Golden Tron (our car), and the road ahead of us. 

(The Golden Tron and two of the four guys on the trip.)

In Feed something goes wrong and it effects all of the main characters. At first they were all devastated, but over time they learned to adapt and it brought them closer together. 

Like the characters in Feed my travel group encountered a pretty major curve ball on our trip.The Golden Tron broke down in the worst town on the South Island. There was literally nothing to do there. It was going to take at least two days for our car to get fixed and at first we were pretty discouraged. However, once we accepted the situation we were able to have a good time in a boring place.

Our car got fixed and our journey continued, but that small town with nothing to do was one of my favorite stops.

When traveling you are going to meet lots of different people from lots of different backgrounds. For me one of the best parts of traveling is the new connections I get to make with people from all over the world. However, strong connections will not be made with other people (or places) while traveling if you are too focused on how you are going to spend your time while traveling.

Tristan Harris makes this point in his TEDx Talk on how better technology could protect us from distractions. The main point of his talk is that the goal of technology should be to form better quality connections with other people. He argues that this would be accomplished by shifting technology’s focus from making people spend time to spending time well.

Currently, technology consumes our days. We have become addicts to screens instead of being conscious of reality and the people around us. He gives one example of how checking one Facebook notification is a conscious decision to waste 20 min of our lives, yet this is a decision that we make multiple times a day and it is taking away from the quality of our relationships. 

Couchsurfers is an example of a website that is helping people form meaningful relationships while traveling. This is an invaluable website as it not only gives you a place to sleep while traveling, but it also  immerses you in the culture of that person’s home. Interacting with the local people and forming meaningful relationships with them is the best thing you can do when visiting other cultures.

Unfortunately, in America we say, “Time = Money.” This is a mindset and as a result most Americans try and get the most personal profit out of each day. This mindset not only affects the American’s working day, but also their vacation time. Travel plans become packed and days on the road get crammed with different sights to see and activities to do. Busy.

The Pacific Islanders have a very different view of time. They say, “Time = People.” this takes the focus off of how we can benefit from each situation and shifts it to how we can better appreciate others around us in each situation. As an American who lived abroad in a Pacific Islander culture for two years, this mindset shift was revolutionary for me. It slowed down my busyness and helped me see people for who they are.