- The first few chapters of the book didn’t feel particularly mind-blowing, most of it felt like common sense stuff about evolution, or rather things just made sense intuitively, although I’ll grant that I myself didn’t think of these ideas so there’s value in hearing/reading them presented in this format.
- This is a few chapters into the book, but it was talking about the luxury trap, the idea that technology was intended to make things easier and give us more time, but we just ramp up the pace. E.g. back in the letter era, people would send a few letters a month, and take a lot of time with them and not worry about getting immediate responses, but with email, we get dozens of them in a day, and people expect immediate responses. I feel like this affects me a lot.
- There was a part of the book that mentions when humans first started domesticating animals as cattle, and honestly it was hard to hear. Stuff like cutting off pigs noses or eyes so they couldn’t leave is disgusting, and I know factory farming is even worse. I really wish we had lab grown meat so that I could enjoy the taste without any of the suffering.
- Just realized there’s a huge swath of the book that I didn’t take notes for, again this book didn’t feel particularly mind-blowing. Perhaps I’ll have more notes after discussing it with people.
- Near the end there was a bit where it was talking about how the consumerism of today would be seen as morally bankrupt by people in the past, and I guess that resonated with me. Not so much consumerism itself, but the inequality and wastefulness of it. I think it’s fine for people to keep consuming and wanting new things, but I want everyone to have that opportunity, and for things to be properly recycled instead of wasted. Scarcity Is The Root Of All Evil.
- There was a part that mentioned that we tend to just think about human happiness when discussing the concept of happiness, but what about the happiness of animals? The animals that we use in factory farming live in horrible conditions and are surely not happy. And I guess this is just a fact that I know in the back of my head and try not to think about. But yeah this why some people don’t eat meat or animal products. I really would prefer everything could be lab grown.
- There was also a section mentioning that people adjust to disabilities, say if they lost a limb or got in a car accident etc. As long as there isn’t constant pain, most people are able to adapt and get back to a baseline of happiness. I just found this interesting to hear as one of my biggest fears is getting injured to the point I can no longer do the things I love, e.g. if I couldn’t use my legs I couldn’t dance or play soccer, or if my hands then I couldn’t code or play games as easily, etc. I guess it makes me grateful to have a body with no major issues.
- it mentioned that when considering happiness, we just consider humans. Why not that of animals? If we did, then factoring farming is horrible, and indeed that’s why some people don’t eat meat/animal products.
- Book was mentioning that people adjust to injuries, assuming it’s not causing constant pain. Eventually you’ll be happy and live with it. Contrast this to myself, one of my biggest fears is getting injured and not being able to do the things I want to do.
- There was a part that was talking about genetic engineering and mentioned Alba the rabbit, a genetically modified rabbit that glowed fluorescent green. However upon looking this up, I can’t tell if it’s real. Or at least, the rabbit seemed to have been genetically modified, but the picture associated with the rabbit is suspect as people think the rabbit wouldn’t glow that much in reality.
- The end of the book talks about where humanity will go from here with genetic modification, cyborgs, AI, etc. Mentions The Singularity.