At the end of your life, imagine you're a participant of a game show where you are flashed certain images/moments of your life and are asked to identify them. Moments that are not necessarily the highlights like your graduation or wedding day, but random everyday moments. If you were shown first person point of view images of you staring at your plate while eating lunch, or watching TV, or sitting inside a tent somewhere staring at the top where the raindrops are falling, or in a public washroom somewhere, could you identify them? Perhaps specific moments like the latter two can be identified, but it is highly unlikely that you would identify the precise moment for the first two examples. How many moments in our lives are distinct enough such that we can separate them from all the other moments and experiences? What if you see an image of yourself reading this blog? Would you remember this?
One may say that the quality of one's life can be measured in this "game show". The more images you identify, the more eventful your life was. After all, if you cannot remember a moment of your life, would it have made a difference in your life?
There are thousands of people, places and things that we would be unable to identify. Unless it had some significance, as far as we are concerned, it never happened. However, this does not imply that the moment was superfluous, or that it did not make a difference in your life. I believe that a moment of life is defined by it's differential, i.e. the impact of a moment when compared to the impact of all the other moments in your life. For instance, let's say you go to a restaurant and a painting on the wall catches your eye. At the end of your life, if you are flashed this painting, you would perhaps remember it or at the least, acknowledge its existence. The reason for this is that this particular moment had a slightly higher impact than the average impact of all the other moments of your life. The higher this differential, the higher the impact (hence, higher the significance) of the moment. As we go through life, the "running average impact" adjusts itself based on the moments we've experienced. If at the same restaurant, there were 10 paintings that catch your eye, then the "relative differential" will be substantially less for each of the paintings. At the after-life game show, if you were shown one of these 10 paintings, you would probably not remember it. However, if all 10 were flashed in front of you, you may remember the time you were at this restaurant.
Life is about these differentials. The more of these you have, the more moments you remember, and the better you do at the After-Life Game Show. In other words, Life is about change. A privileged person may have had a life full of these "great moments", however this implies that the "running average impact" is also quite high for them, and hence the differential of these "great moments" are small. The impression of a great moment on a great person's mind is not as high as the impression of a great moment on an ordinary person's mind.
Hence the mundane moments (i.e moments we can't identify in the game show) are just as important as the high-impact moments. They help in keeping the "running average impact" low so that the impact of a "great" moment has a higher differential. Life is all about maintaining a balance between the running average and the high-impact moments. The mundane moments highlight the important ones and vice-versa. To win the After-Life Game Show, Life should be optimized to maximize the number of high-differential moments.
One may say that the quality of one's life can be measured in this "game show". The more images you identify, the more eventful your life was. After all, if you cannot remember a moment of your life, would it have made a difference in your life?
There are thousands of people, places and things that we would be unable to identify. Unless it had some significance, as far as we are concerned, it never happened. However, this does not imply that the moment was superfluous, or that it did not make a difference in your life. I believe that a moment of life is defined by it's differential, i.e. the impact of a moment when compared to the impact of all the other moments in your life. For instance, let's say you go to a restaurant and a painting on the wall catches your eye. At the end of your life, if you are flashed this painting, you would perhaps remember it or at the least, acknowledge its existence. The reason for this is that this particular moment had a slightly higher impact than the average impact of all the other moments of your life. The higher this differential, the higher the impact (hence, higher the significance) of the moment. As we go through life, the "running average impact" adjusts itself based on the moments we've experienced. If at the same restaurant, there were 10 paintings that catch your eye, then the "relative differential" will be substantially less for each of the paintings. At the after-life game show, if you were shown one of these 10 paintings, you would probably not remember it. However, if all 10 were flashed in front of you, you may remember the time you were at this restaurant.
Life is about these differentials. The more of these you have, the more moments you remember, and the better you do at the After-Life Game Show. In other words, Life is about change. A privileged person may have had a life full of these "great moments", however this implies that the "running average impact" is also quite high for them, and hence the differential of these "great moments" are small. The impression of a great moment on a great person's mind is not as high as the impression of a great moment on an ordinary person's mind.
Hence the mundane moments (i.e moments we can't identify in the game show) are just as important as the high-impact moments. They help in keeping the "running average impact" low so that the impact of a "great" moment has a higher differential. Life is all about maintaining a balance between the running average and the high-impact moments. The mundane moments highlight the important ones and vice-versa. To win the After-Life Game Show, Life should be optimized to maximize the number of high-differential moments.
