Musing Posts

I guess I haven't realized we're in a simulated reality here in America, or for that matter, anywhere else in the world. I guess that means I'm still plugged into the Matrix. :)

I'm not entirely sure if I'm even getting what you're asking, though, but I'll go ahead and offer my opinion and feel free to let me know if I've totally missed what your point was.

It's true that we don't have imminent threats of disease, war, death, etc., as we may have in the past, but that doesn't mean threats don't exist. And while those might not be on a national level, there are still threats to individual and family well-being that occur on a regular basis.

It certainly can feel like we're stuck in some kind of subroutine, and maybe we can get to the point where we don't think anything is real, because we're not feeling, or because nothing really happens. I would say that just because life is better than it has been for most of America's existence, or even the extent of the history of the world, that doesn't mean we're somehow not really living.

I would say life is what we make of it. And living under constant threat of something isn't really living. It's surviving and maintaining, but we don't have to live in constant fear to appreciate joy—we do need to experience both frequently enough to understand them—and maybe that's what's lacking. A little more fear, or pain, or something that makes us feel more.

In my case, I think I have enough of the negative side (without really having a lot) to help me appreciate the really good times. I find myself thinking about that on a regular basis—just how good life is—even when I'm in the moment when something is happening. I would hope never to be so numb to either side of the spectrum (though I have been heading in that direction many times throughout my life) that I couldn't feel that life is precious, and meaningful, and finite. It can continue on for decades, or be snuffed out in an instant.

While the posts on HOT, TOP or NEW show up with the question as their titles, it's not really the question that is ending up there, but the answer. That's the first thing to note.

Now, that could be different depending on how much of an upvote questions got, which is what's driving the HOT and TOP lists.

HOT

This list is compromised of the posts (predominantly answers) that usually have the highest amount of rewards allocated to it in the sample period. That's not always the case, so there may also be a rate of increase component to it, too.

TOP

This is an all-time list, also determined by rewards allocation. So, those who are the top of that list are the highest rewarded Musing posts (again mostly answers).

NEW

This is more or less self-explanatory, except in this case, these are questions listed in the order they were published. In this case, subsequent upvoting has no bearing on placement.