Upgrading mode

We now live with tools that can resist a generation or more. Yet, we run for upgrading as squirrels for nuts, in the  Fall.

Just a few years ago I had a four-hour hand-written exam. Now the other day I could just fly to New York with a very late notice and get a computer-based exam, not having much human supervision, nor any human interaction. I would have been happy to continue to hand-write and I would have probably bought a shiny typing machine the most, just to improve my writing-life. Yet, now I type with the help of a word processor, I draw with a software that is supposed to read my mind and  I have my whole life in a phone and in a vacuum which takes different shapes and names: "internet", "wikis", "twitter", "google".... and some others that I haven't upgraded to yet. I feel the race wave around me for upgrading all that: computers, phones, software, smart tablets, not to talk about the classic TV and car-upgrade.

Imagine you walk calmly in a park while people start running. Most of them, in the same direction. What would you feel then? Would you continue to walk slowly? Would you change your pace? Would you think there's something happening that you don't know of, and they do? Would you start running yourself? Let's say you would continue walking. You'd probably experience frustration, because the normal that you use to know - walking calmly in the park - is not the general normal anymore. You'd then feel tempted to find out why the other people are running and create some valid arguments for that. Then, the idea of following them would cross your mind. You'd experience a mental tension and you'd try to solve it by bringing more rational arguments. They call it solving the cognitive dissonance. Ultimately, you'd most probably think that the other people will think bad of you - they call it peer pressure - and you'd remain alone in the park anyway, if you continue to walk. So you start running.

People are actually racing for change. Change is good because change is natural. Yet, we fight and race for it.

Ironically, the technological upgrade easily transfers into our physical and psychological life. We daily upgrade our calories count; some upgrade their noses; some just upgrade husbands; others, their diplomas and their titles. Some people upgrade their garden crops, while others upgrade their house, their job, the city they live in. Lately, some even upgrade their home country. Very few though I see struggling to upgrade inside. We try to become better, but for a better job. We try to become smarter, for a better diploma. We try to become better-looking, for social recognition. Nothing is inside anymore. Nothing is private. Nobody stops racing and nobody asks why anymore. And if we do, we take the pre-packed answer, which is socially accepted, and which is, by default, good. And continue running. But what if you stop for a few seconds and look around? The perspective would change, along with the upgrading process. If we stop, for just a few seconds, we'd realize that there are no good or bad changes. There are just changes. While some cannot be avoided, for some we can discern. We'd realize that first and foremost....

Change is a mental upgrade.