Aliens Are Definitely Real, And Other Facts
Welcome to What We Learned This Week, a digest of the most curiously important facts from the past few days. This week, You no longer have to believe, you should do less and don't start the apocalypse without coffee.
Oh Hell Yeah Baby, Aliens Are Definitely Real
By now, you've probably already read that the Pentagon was secretly investigating reports of unidentified flying objects from 2007 to 2012. They have the videos. They have the freaking alloys. Alloys!
I know you know all this. But I just want to point out two things.
First, I think it's fantastic that we're all just excited and welcome the existence of extra terrestrials on this planet. Not in a delusional "Abduct me baby!" kind of a way, but "Heck, this planet could use an outside actor to really come in and shake things up." This planet has been running on autopilot for the past few millennia, it's about dang time some consultants come in and determine if humanity really is all it's cracked up to be.
Second, the group that now possess the alloys, To the Stars Academy of Arts and Sciences, was co-founded by none other than Blink 182 frontman Tom DeLonge. We are now aware of the presence of aliens because of the guy who released an album called "Take Off Your Pants And Jacket." Incredible. What a small world and universe we live in.
[Digg]
There's No Way In Heck Doomsday Preppers Are Gonna Face The Apocalypse Without Their Coffee
We might not agree that stockpiling food and weapons in the even that society collapses is a good idea. But the one thing we have in common with doomsday preppers is that, daggumit, when the shit hits the fan we WILL have a hot, fresh cup of that bean water we all know and love.
GQ's Cam Wolf reports this week that those awaiting the end of the world are relying on coffee to do more than just lift their spirits. They see it as peace offering to strangers, a valuable commodity in the future barter economy and, heck, even a decent wood stain.
[GQ]
Anti-Depressants Aren't Always Used For Depression
Drugs are complicated. The human body is complicated. And the interactions between the two are, you guessed it, complicated. And yet, we all seem to be running on the understanding that we need a drug for every ailment.
This week for Mosaic, Leah Shaffer dives into the controversial idea that drugs can be used to treat more than one thing. It's not exactly the most novel thing on the planet. There was that whole thing in the '90s with Bob Dole and Viagra. But what if instead of relentlessly trying to develop new drugs, we focused our energies and money on trying to find new uses with what we've already have?
The short answer is, well, because the pharmaceutical industry exists. But let me propose another hypothetical. What if the entities responsible for developing treatments did not have to worry about their bottom line? What if… no one really had to worry about a bottom line? Would that be insane?
[Mosaic]
We Should All Be Doing Less
If I was in front of you right now, next to me would be this chart comparing productivity to hourly compensation over the past 60 years. I would be pointing at it and jabbing it with my index finger until it turned into a bloody stump. Do you know what it says? It says that we, as a society, have managed to increase productivity some 73 percent while only increasing hourly pay by 12.5 precent.
The average person is working more and making less. This, Vincent Bevins, argues in the Outline, is not how it should be. We all need to be doing less. We all need to realize that the people trying to convince you being more productive is good thing are those who are earning a profit off you busting your ass.
Not convinced? Well, British philosopher Bertrand Russell thought that an ideal society would encourage people to work less, not more.
"I think that there is far too much work done in the world, that immense harm is caused by the belief that work is virtuous, and that what needs to be preached in modern industrial countries is quite different from what always has been preached," he writes in the opening of "In Praise of Idleness".
Work, Russell rightly points out, is merely "altering the position of matter at or near the earth's surface relatively to other such matter," and thus we shouldn't really bend over backwards to do more of that. Life is too short.
