Part 1: The Reset

Questioning the assumptions behind modern life

Welcome to part 1 of 31 in the series...

Society, But Make It Make Sense

This series asks a simple question: if we redesigned society today, would it look like this?

Each post explores the strange rules behind modern life and what might work better.

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Sometimes I try to imagine explaining modern life to someone from a few hundred years ago.

Not the technology. The systems.

“Yes, we invented machines that can do the work of thousands of people.”

Pause.

“And then we all kept working forty hours a week anyway.”

Another pause.

“We also built enough houses for everyone. But some people own twelve and some people sleep in their car.”

At this point, the person from the past is quietly backing away.

The strange thing about living inside a system is how normal it feels. Even when it’s clearly a bit… off.

1. You wake up tired.

2. You rush to work.

3. You answer emails.

4. You pay rent/mortgage.

5. You scroll through a feed full of other tired people.

And everyone just sort of agrees this is how life works.

But most of the rules around us are not natural laws. They’re old decisions we never questioned.

Things like:

• Work should take up most of your waking life

• Housing is primarily an investment

• Economic growth means society is doing great

• Being busy is the same as being useful

• The internet should make you slightly angry at strangers

Individually these decisions made sense at the time.

Collectively they’ve produced a world where we have incredible technology… and a surprising number of exhausted humans.

Which raises a fun question:

If we had to design society from scratch today, knowing everything we know about humans, would we build it like this?

I suspect the answer is no.

So this series is a simple thought experiment. It’s not a manifesto. Think of it as a working notebook.

If we could reset the rules, what would a better world actually look like?

Welcome to the reset!