You need to remove from your life the day-to-day problems that absorb most people for meaningful parts of their day. ‘You’ll see I wear only gray or blue suits,’ he said.’I’m trying to pare down decisions. I don’t want to make decisions about what I’m eating or wearing. Because I have too many other decisions to make.’ He mentioned research that shows the simple act of making decisions degrades one’s ability to make further decisions. It’s why shopping is so exhausting. ‘You need to focus your decision-making energy. You need to routinize yourself. You can’t be going through the day distracted by trivia.’
Barack Obama on optimizing decision-making
Perhaps, the harsh truth of the Information Age was best described in Michael Vlahos' January 1995 speech, "ByteCity". We spent most of our time in our rooms staring at wall sized vidscreens. ByteCity is run by stateless modern robber-barons, which he terms the "Brain Lords" and which he characterizes as "rampaging not through the landscape but making billions in the ether."
These new aristocrats will come from the merger of telecommunications and entertainment multinational giants. The overlords do not inherit their class status and they will burn out from looting at an early age. After 40 they will retire to run the world.
Below them are thr "Agents", who will spend their lives in a vicious "information" driven chase for individual recognition. Below that, roughly 50% live as service workers, slaving 12-15 hours a day in front their living-room vidscreens "servicing" their global clients in a world that respects no time zones.
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