Fellow Humans,
I have a question, a question that has plagued me for lo these past almost ten years of my life. A question that even to this day (and inevitably for the foreseeable future) which befuddles my mind, throws into doubt the way I think the world should work and concerns me regarding the destiny of humanity as a whole. A question both lacking in and saturated with such profundity that people ask themselves the same question in one breath and then wonder why they would ever think of it the next. Even now part of me doesn't want to bother asking the question because I know there are two fundamental answers; one which defines the human condition as it exists now and the other which describes an ideal humanity has had in the past and (hopefully) can obtain again in the future.
The first answer denies the hundreds of thousands of years it took evolution to create a human being, the tens of thousands it took to shape a human and the last thousand or so it took for the human race to advance to where we are now. The first answer also describes, nay, epitomizes humanity and the civilization it has created in the present form and justifies itself with the description therein. There is little flaw in the logic of the first answer when taken in that context, which I suppose many people do, but the proponents of the first answer typically add to the essence of their argument a defeatist attitude towards the answer itself. If perhaps those same proponents of the first answer were to attach to the logic a comparison of the past and deliverance from our roots coupled with a hopeful triumphant future stance, I would be not only more amenable to the first answer, but also more amenable to the proponents themselves. However, I rarely see that.
The second answer idealizes a past free from the burden that the question implies due to the primitive nature of that past and fantasizes about a future in which humans unchain themselves from the burdens of the present and the primitive nature of the past. Unfortunately the proponents of the second answer reject the present in its entirety both as means and methods to transform from the past into the future and do so typically by complaining about the present. I've been one of those people many times. To live an idealized life without making the effort to make that fantasy come true is not only selfish but also rejecting of what we as humans are; creatures defined by their struggle for that ideal, i.e. the present. The future utopia, which the proponents of the second answer dream of, may come one day. Hopefully the trials and tribulations humanity has been through deserve some reward in the end, and it may not. The may not is what scares those proponents into the denial of the present; the knowledge that humans are creatures of habit and that the powers that be (some humans) prefer the authoritarian control they have over their minions (the rest of the humans) and fear the loosening of that control, the loss of their power, so as to be unwilling to allow the evolution of the habits of the individuals and bring about the idyllic future.
The question, even though you never asked and probably don't care anymore is; Why do humans work? They voluntarily wake up every morning, place themselves into a cubicle for 8+ hours, 5 days a week, 50 weeks a year and spend the vast majority of their adult lives; wash, rinse and repeat, in this manner. They have chosen (and I use that word loosely) to forgo the wilds of the open world to build a civilization with the hopes that one day humanity will advance itself enough to break free from the menial tasks they perform each and every day and live, once again in the wilds. Sure, the middle part sucks, especially for the millions of man-years required to get from A to B, but the end is worth the effort, right? Humanity has taken on this "task" to better itself and will in the end achieve the reward for this journey, right? The 8'x8' cages humanity has locked itself into and the LCD screens humans stare at every day are merely a means to evolve from a bunch of grunting primates into a race of intelligent beings who contort space, time and matter to their every whim and want for nothing.
I hope so because my ass is sore, my neck hurts, my wrists don't turn correctly anymore and my eyes will have the shadow of Outlook burned into them for the rest of my days. I hope those future effers appreciate all I've done for them in the effort to forward mankind.
Cheers