Life should be more like video games (or: eine kleine nachtmusik)

[thistlechaser]

I was listening to a great episode of This American Life while going to the store today, and in the background of one story was the best music. I'm not much of a music person, but I had heard it before, I just couldn't remember the name of it. Tonight I tracked it down.

Skip to 1:56 if it doesn't start there, the first two minutes are all warm up and credits and stuff. If it's not already on highest quality, I'd suggest clicking the cog and picking the highest one. (Edit: Seems you can't pick a quality when it's embedded. Use the link to go directly to Youtube and you'll get the cog.)

Ravel's Bolero, by the London Symphony Orchestra. The video is great not just for the music, but because it shows all the instruments and people as well.

Watching it depressed me. What an interesting life it would be to have spent your whole life playing an instrument, to practice every day and to now be so good at it, to hold a job where you're playing it every day. What's more depressing is there are countless other lives that would be just as interesting. And we'll never get to live them.

The life we're leading now might be very interesting, but that doesn't change the fact that there are countless other ones out there just as interesting. Things like reading books, LJ, blogs, TV shows help a little, but it's just a glimpse.

Video games are spoiling me. The current one I'm playing allows you to be any job in the game. Today I'll be X, tomorrow Y, the next day maybe I'll want to be Z. I can become an expert in any or all of them.

The older I get, the more aware I am of how... restricted? we are. One life. Even if you live it the best you can every day, you'll still miss out on the vast majority of things in the world.

More and more I understand why the idea of an afterlife is so appealing to people.

Well, this post turned out darker than I had intended. If you want to be cheered up, listen to this week's episode of This American Life, it's really funny. Also, depending on when you read this post, the alternate subject line might not fit. :P

Comments

[ashmedai.livejournal.com]

The older I get, the more aware I am of how... restricted? we are. One life. Even if you live it the best you can every day, you'll still miss out on the vast majority of things in the world.

This is true. On the other hand, it helps me to remember I'm also missing out what over 80% of the world population gets to experience every day: hunger, war, violence, unjust and discriminating laws, terrorism, censorship, disease, 12-hour work days for a few pennies, poverty, famine, lack of medical treatment, lack of water or sanitation, illiteracy, and so on and so on. Not to mention what people have had to endure all through history, so the way I see it, even if life isn't all roses, I still won the cosmic jackpot, being born in this time and in this place. That helps me keep things in perspective.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

That's very true. For all the good things we miss, most of us are missing the majority of the bad stuff, too.

I still won the cosmic jackpot, being born in this time and in this place.

I've thought that many, many times. (And the opposite as well, how much better life would likely be if we were born in the future sometime.)

[ashmedai.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't want to live in the future. Not the direction both the political, economic and global climate are headed. Nuh-uh. I'm glad I'm here now. :)

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it could be a lot worse, but I bet the technology would be amazing!

[manue7a.livejournal.com]

But it's never too late to start something new.
The video is really great.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Very true! To both of your comments. :)

[adam-0oo.livejournal.com]

I played a video game recently where I got to deal with my enemies by throwing vases full of spiders at them, as well as unleashing exploding frogs.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I know quite a few people who are weak to vases full of spiders!

[quistie.livejournal.com]

I think you are underestimating the range of possibilities we have today. It wasn't that long ago that most people live, work, and die in the same village. The California Gold Rush was so extraordinary because it was atypical—up until that time few people considered the possibility of undertaking a dangerous six-month journey to start a new life. Today, we can communicate with people on the other side of the world without leaving the comfort of our homes.

True, life is too short to try to experience/learn everything. But technology has evolved to the point where learning something new is more likely than ever. That's kind of cool.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

That's a good point! Not only is it so much easier to learn new things, but like you said, we meet so many more people from far off places.

It's very cool. :)