A Realm of Skinner Boxes

A friend asked me the meaning of life. Here was my answer. I also threw in God, as an extra: Skinner boxes. You know, those lab experiments where you offer a chicken a red button that produces treats and a blue button that produces punishments. The chicken slowly learns. That's what this is. A realm of Skinner boxes. The world is nothing but Skinner boxes, though we don't frame things that way, because it's like trying to get a fish to understand water, which to a fish is just EVERYTHING, so it's essentially invisible. This immediately answers ann enduring mystery: Why do we jade? The moment someone gets what he wanted — his dream come true! — it's only a matter of time before his joy will fade into colicky sourness and he'll whine for some other thing and start dreaming some other dream. Most billionaires never stop wanting more money. Most people with extremely attractive partners never stop seeking other partners. Etc., etc., ad infinitum. It's not because aspiration is the wind…