the future concept of life, on Star Trek, exploring on google chat

1am this morning....chatting with my man about the future, and now.

Justin: i'm a looooong term planner...just a little daft when it comes to short term planning

me: this long term planner...does he have his own savings?

Justin: no woh

me: your long term planning ahead requires no money for your future plans?

Justin: star trek

me: what is star trek?Justin: star trek evolves around the concept that in the future, there's no need for money, we have all we need to survive because we can make things efficiently without needed to work for it. You want a motorcycle, just press a button, you want a vintage dress, just press another button. Hence, the human species can concentrate on doing what they like to do as opposed to doing what they have to do. Hence, the exploration of deep space is what Star Trek is all about.

me: i think we need more time for that

Justin: planning too far?

me: so i dun think we will live that far into the future

Justin: scientist are working on it. they just need to find the gene to turn off aging. but that will introduce another problem - over population. imagine nobody dies (naturally) and just more and more are born. disaster

me: unless you are plannin to live into 300 years old, maybe you found a solution to extend human life to

300...anyway, i dun like the Star trek life, bcoz i cant figure how and what the purpose of living would be

if i press a button everyday to get what i want

Justin: you'll be singing for free

me: i guess...i duno if i will like it

Justin: but i guess, people don't have to hire you, they just press another button an a hologram of Janet Lee comes on stage, but if they want a real Janet Lee, they have to hire you

me: i will think about it...or blog about it, if i press a button n i dun need money for anything, how will i live happily....maybe i just post this whole conversation onto my blog can?

Justin: but you don't need money, so you only do the acts that you really like, the ones you really believe in, like Dama can hire you without needing to pay you

me: ok, interesting one to think about...but, for now, for the next 50 years - i think we need cash ok?

Justin: imagine, all the things you do will be closer to the recyclist work as opposed to your theatre work

me: ..hows is that?

Justin: you're not getting paid for recyclist

me: but am not working in theatre bocz they're paying me whatever x amount of money, if they pay me zero also am likely to play the role anyway, bcoz the playing the role is priceless, ..so you see

star trek or not, it's already in our everyday lives -- there are things that money cannot buy...like the credit card ad says.

Justin: so imagine Dama and all other musicals, etc... and all other performances are purely for charity, you're living close to the Star Trek dream already!

me: well ya, but we still need to pay ppl who are not in the star trek live

, restauarants, doctors, teachers...

Justin: they will also be doing out of passion, not need - they teach because it makes them happy, they cook because it makes them happy and they save lifes because it makes them happy

me: err, but their grocers will want their cash when they buy a bread...so when they are teaching for FREE, in a way, they still have to trade it with cash to buy that bread - that has a price tag.

.....well, if the resources are all free, then i guess yes...ok it works. i think i understand this Star Trek concept better now

Justin: in the future, we're able to re-arrange the atoms and manufacture anything we need by just re-arranging the atoms, apple, honda-repsol, vintage dress, mustard, mountains, etc.. all things material are made out of atoms. The same atoms, rearrange them, we get a totally different item.me: maybe i should watch Star Trek n see what they do with all that freeedom

Justin: they just explore, explore, explore, some gossip, gossip and gossip all day, some fight, not for money but the other evil things like ego, power, etc...

me: what about me then? Justin: you? you just sing sing sing everyday!

me: no i mean, can you rearrange the atoms and make another me?

Justin: they cannot duplicate living beings because of the spirit

me: ok, you mean personality right?

Justin: can make another clone of you but it won't be you because it won't have the same experience path and learning

Justin: but that's Aeon Flux

me: wat?

Justin: your spririt, cannot clone one...

me: wat is aeon flux?

Justin: another sci-fi about the future of clonning, its a cult movie, started by MTV as a adult cartoon series, dark and sinister

Justin: goodnight...hope you feel better. and i'm saving, ok? not in terms of cash but in terms of intellectual capacity. i'm building myself to be able to do more things in the future. like your music training and voice training, etc...

.........

you want the future life on Star Trek?

the learning path

Funny how going to school & doing homework used to a chore...when you were 12. And your parents are the ones paying for the school fees & books.

Now, I happily spend my hard earned dough on various classes & tuition. Singing class, dance class, pilates class, speech class (NEW!!! next week!!), music camps, workshops...

Spending the whole day in school didn't cost me any cent, back then. Now, every seconds in the class ticks away the cents.

And now, every class is treasured like there's no tomorrow. You used to see the same teachers everyday and you take them for granted, "So what? I'll see her tomorrow in Math class, again!"

Now, I jump with joy every time I successfully scheduled a lesson with my high flying teachers.

Now that my brains have aged with my body, I have to race with time to speed the learning process before I get too old. But maybe with all the active learning, the aging will slow?

Here's to all who's actively learning out of school :)

Jonathan Haidt: The Happiness Hypothesis

The Happiness Hypothesis, Putting Ancient Wisdom and Philosophy to the Test of Modern Science

Jonathan Haidt

I picked this up at the Big Bad Wolf Warehouse Book sale. Wasn't sure if I bought a good book, but it was RM 8 and I generally like to study science writings on topic of happiness so I didn't think twice before I bought it.

Turned out this is one of the best stuff I've ever read. I have read The Science of Happiness (Stefan Klein) that examines how our brain can make us happy and what can we do to derive it.

Jonathan's study of ten great ancient ideas narrate in detail how we can extract it and use it in our modern day lives. He questions and applies each of these ideas with scientific researches to provide well-rounded suggestions.

The book and its content so rich and enlightening that I keep the book with me in my handbook everyday, reading too slowly (I just reached page 97 after having this book for over a month) and carefully. I underline all the ideas with a pencil that mean something to me or require coming back to.

Ever since I started studying writings & studies on the Science of happiness, I feel that I have a lot more control over my emotions, and of course, my happiness. Though these books are far from trying to be a self-help title (they are not self-help, they are reports of studies & researches and experiments), I find that they are absolutely better solutions than self-help books, for me.

For me, deep understanding of how our brains & our emotions work, is half the battle won in having control over your own happiness & emotion well-being. And I think, being emotionally healthy is also the first step to many successes, depending on your own definition of success.

Maybe it sounds too easy? Risking of sounding like a snob (I probably am one), I find that people these days look to fancy alternatives to hunt for happiness. Some of my friends get their kicks at spiritual readings and visiting soul-healing gurus, readers of their past lives...am sure this sound familiar for some of you. "Oh my animal spirit is a tiger." "Oh they told me mine is a dragon." "Yes ah? I was told my past lives I had been a monk, a singer, a robber and a cabaret singer."

...ya, and these information are suppose to help you seek out your future happiness. I was told, ya man, you gotta know your past to plan your future, right or not?!

I rather get better at time management so that what I invest in the present moment will benefit my future.

Anyway, I have digressed :) I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the topic of human behaviour, how we live and what happiness is (although we should first derive at our own definition first).