Thought Experiment: What if there was one person responsible for the planet? What would this person be like? The real question is can you wrap your brain around the idea? Can you imagine a brain like a massive super computer sampling everything at once? Would this person be positive or negative? Harsh or mellow? What he think about what you are typing right now? __________________
Bored and tired. Way to much data to even bother trying to look at it so his only job would be to keep the place dusted and the computer maintained. Backups would be a bitch.
Excellent point. Human behavior is repetitive, and at times, pointless. But every once in awhile, the bi-peds have their moments. For example: the Occupy Wall Street movement. After endless decades of attacking and blaming the servants of power, the Americans and others have starting attacking their masters. What woke them up? Oh yeah, the powers-that-be got greedy. Still, they are easily distracted and pacified. The media will have them eating potato chips and drinking coke in the blink of a eye. But wait, the media mafia kingpin's offspring was less than paying attention and the other jackals are turning on them. Could change come in the form of dumb luck?
Try reading The Well of Souls series. It's a computer the size of a planet. Its taker is Nathan Brazil.
A computer like a planet... that's is interesting considering the Valley is planning a quantum computer that has mechanisms the size of molecules.
The Caretaker. Well, I can imagine it. I think he'd have his hands full trying to keep himself a secret. If I were writing him, he'd be trying to laugh at humans' crazy attempts to understand the universe when he's actually controlling the planet, but he'd actually be secretly scared out of his wits that one day they'd figure him out; and then they would, and all these teams of humans would go pouring up to him to beg him to do something about the phenomenon known as climate change and the pollution that frightens them all to death and about the corruption in political systems, until finally he gets sick of people running to him for help and leaves them to fend for themselves. And they're lost.
Thanks for the fish, Cogito. But it raises a concern I have always pondered. I worry about angels. I mean, no weekends, 24/7 eternal job description, watching the bipedal mammals have all the fun. No wonder there are Nephilim. I believe that no matter how many perks there are, that corner office becomes a prison when there's no down time. Same concern with the OP's premise. It's not the job, but the hours.
Cogito... the mice is good example; but why not take it further, the noble creatures, human, as a bug or even an amoeba. Starring at the vastness of the universe, can any intelligent creature have nothing but humility? Erato...I think you hit on something important with your premise that people would ask to have things done for them. Every creature is born to take responsibility for it's own life. It is only in their three pound universe that humans construct a world where this is not the case. The Tourist... I understand your sediment but can you imagine a job as joy. And not just any joy but joy like a sexual climax, only a thousand times more powerful. Or even, the ecstasy dolphins experience their whole lives but increased by orders of magnitudes. A vacation would a punishment instead of a reward. live2write... I will have check out "Touch". Sounds like my colleagues in Hollywood managed to sneak something by the accountants.
No, I cannot understand a job as a joy. There are things I like to do, but not all day long. For every really nice knife I sharpen, there are usually 20 crappy ones. My 'adult job' as a credit manager was either that of a mercenary or a babysitter. And at one point in time, a babysitter that got paid to carry a gun--no kidding. As for the 'rush' you mention, yeah, I've felt it--during limited times and not often, or sustained. I like working for myself, part-time, and now on Social Security. I have paid into FICA for over 40 years, and the great thing about this age is the relief from the guilt of working simply because "men are supposed to work."
I can honestly say I have had more then one job that was a real joy. Creating new technology and discovering new knowledge can't be beat as far as I'm concerned and I got to do it for many years. Even fixing organizations was fun. I was lucky.
I guess that was a pretty clumsy metaphor. I guess I was alluding to the world behind this smart monkey circus. I guess I was pointing to the sublime. Why subtle, the parallel universe of the truth will rise just as certainly as the stench of a murdered corpse, but the question is when. When someone has passed on or before? What causes someone to un-learn what they been told as fact all there lives? When they realize it's a lie or when they tire of it's lack efficacy?