As Linsey, Chimmy, & I continued our sunset walk down the Oregon beach, my brother sat on some driftwood with his wife and dog and watched the last light dip into the Pacific. He stared far beyond the horizon. He shared his thoughts once we all returned to camp: "I'm nearly 45 years old, and I believe reaching 90 is a stretch, so I'm pretty sure I've lived over half of my life."
Silence fell over the camp as everyone did their math and came to the same conclusion. That assumes we all see a ripe old age. My daily journal details a stark contrast, as I frequently write: "You're gonna die. Maybe today."
What lies at the center of both extremes is TIME. A subject I'm spending an increasing amount of time thinking about. Sometimes I focus on the time in my life. How much time do I have left? What am I going to do with this time? What am I going to do today? But more and more, I take a big step back and think about time as it relates to humanity.
Most experts agree modern man has been strolling the earth for at least 200,00 years. I've expressed previous enjoyment in knowing my genes (and your genes too) have battled and beat elimination at least 4,000 times over this period. I stand a little taller whenever I think about my time-tested DNA, the best of the best. We all have our flaws, but we're here, and that's saying something.
My attention has recently turned to how different the world is today than it has been for most of my DNA-creating years, radically different. Let's compress humanity (200,000 years) into a 24-hour clock. Noon is the halfway mark. It’s also the time homo sapiens took out the homo erectus. We're good at removing competing species; ask the Neanderthals, whose DNA is helping organize these thoughts. But I'm skipping far ahead as a lot has changed since 10:30 pm.
All humans are hunters and gatherers (Midnight to 10:30 pm).
So 94% of our genetic code, wiring, behaviors, and gene selection occurred hunting and gathering. Find food, reproduce, survive, sleep, live in nature, repeat. This explains why I feel my best on a river trip and quickly assess the threat of approaching animals (dogs, humans, ducks, etc.) unconsciously. It's why Stanford prescribes a walk in the woods for depression, and we flee cities during pandemics. It's hard to reverse the first 22.5 hours of the day in the 1.5 hours. Let's remember this.
Agriculture gets started (10:30 pm)
At 10:30 pm, the world changed in a big way. We went from the berry bushes to the Golden Corral all-you-can-eat buffet. Obesity has replaced starvation as our biggest killer. Today, we stroll into a grocery store that makes Julius Ceasar look like he didn't have a spread. Our ancestors would laugh as we inform the store clerk our favorite of the 250 cereal varieties isn’t stocked on the shelves. Organic fruit was all we knew for 22.5 hours of the day, but it's hard to find and more expensive in the waning hours of this day.
The printing press fires up 4.2 minutes before midnight.
The big accelerator to mankind is stacking and spreading ideas. Elon Musk didn't have to learn how to build a car or even a wheel; he just had to figure out how to make it electric. Climb inside, and you'll see a dashboard resembling a big Ipad. If any of these ideas flicker out in a campfire flame, we wouldn't be living our life of grandeur. I'm giving the printing press the lion's share of the credit for our intellectual advances in the last 600 years. We eliminated the start from scratch and have lived exponential lives ever since. Today, I can think of these thoughts, write them down, and anyone in the world (but usually only my mom) can read them and use them as they please. And I'm old school; a Tiktok video spreads ideas faster.
The Duel is alive and well 1.5 minutes before midnight
America's 1st secretary of state, Alexander Hamilton, died in a duel in 1804. And our 7th president Andrew Jackson won a gunfight in 1806, twenty-three years before taking the oval office. The point being for 99.9% of humanity, killing the other person was the best way to solve the problem. As we struggle with skin color, gender, and culture, the gains we've made in treating fellow sapiens are nothing short of remarkable. The end of slavery, women's voting rights, and equal voting rights have all come in the last hour of the day. I'm not saying there isn’t work left to do; I'm saying we appear to be trending in a kinder direction.
The lightbulb shows up in the last minute.
This weekend I used my cell phone as a flashlight. I also used it to identify four species of birds, accurately calculate the sunrise time, and build relationships with a friend in Japan, all from a remote mountain lake my hunter and gather ancestors would have loved. All this, only 150 years after Edison's 10,000 failed attempts to bring light to the world.
My life captures only seconds of the day.
If I reach 90, and I don't think I will get to 90, my life will capture 38 seconds of the day of humanity. Here today, gone tomorrow. Just like the 117 billion members of our species that came before me. Time is precious. Time is of the essence, and I just spent a fair amount of time on the subject of time. Why? So I can have a greater appreciation of my time here on earth.
You're gonna die. Maybe today.
Enjoy it.