The Extinction of Backward-Looking People

The Extinction of Backward-Looking People

You think you can stand still? You think you can hold onto the past and ride out the storm? You're wrong. Dead wrong. In a universe that's constantly expanding, constantly evolving, standing still is the fastest way to become a fossil. This isn't a judgment call. It's not me being an asshole. It's physics. And if you don't want to end up on the wrong side of evolution, you need to listen up.

The Problem: Your Brain is Lying to You

Here’s the deal: your brain is a damn liar. It’s a survival machine, honed over millions of years to do one thing: keep you safe. And what’s the safest thing to do? The same thing you did yesterday. The thing that didn't get you eaten by a saber-toothed tiger. Your brain craves homeostasis, a state of equilibrium. It tells you that balance is good, that stability is the goal.

Bullshit.

Equilibrium is death. It's the state of a rock, a corpse, a dead star. Life, real life, exists on the edge of chaos. It’s a far-from-equilibrium system, constantly adapting, constantly changing, constantly flowing forward. The moment you stop adapting, you start dying. You become a Backward-Looking Person (BLP), a relic of a world that no longer exists.

I see it all the time. People clinging to old ideas, old jobs, old relationships, wondering why they feel so stuck, so miserable. They’re trying to build a dam in the middle of a river, and they can’t understand why the pressure keeps building. You can’t fight the current. It’s not just about seeking safety. It’s about a fundamental design flaw: the negativity bias. Your brain is like Velcro for bad experiences and Teflon for good ones. It’s constantly scanning for threats, for what could go wrong. This was great when we were dodging predators on the savanna, but in the modern world, it’s a recipe for anxiety and stagnation. It keeps you focused on the downside of any change, the potential for loss, rather than the upside of growth and opportunity. It’s the little voice in your head that tells you to play it safe, to not rock the boat, to be a BLP. The arrow of time only points one way.

The Application: Are You an FLP or a BLP?

It makes me laugh to reflect upon some of the choices I've made in my former life. Man was I a fucking idiot! I used to resist change; I used to hold on to things that were not; I made horrendous decisions every day, all in the effort to preserve my ego and resist change.

It took a damn painful wake-up call to realize I was on the fast track to extinction. I had to let go of my ego, my old identity, and embrace the chaos. I had to become an FLP. It was terrifying. It felt like jumping off a cliff without a parachute. But on the other side of that fear was growth. It was a new beginning.

Think about the classic example of the taxi industry. For decades, it was a closed system. Medallion owners had a government-enforced monopoly, and they got rich by maintaining the status quo. They were the ultimate BLPs. Then along came Uber and Lyft, these far-from-equilibrium disruptors. They introduced a new flow of energy—technology, data, a different business model—and the whole system self-organized into something new. The old guard who refused to adapt, who just complained and tried to lobby their way back to the past? They got wiped out. The ones who survived, the ones who became FLPs, were the ones who embraced the new reality, who maybe even started driving for the new platforms.

Look at your own life. Where are you being a BLP? Is it in your career, clinging to a job you hate because it’s “safe”? Is it in your relationships, staying with someone who doesn’t support your growth because you’re afraid of being alone? Is it in your health, sticking to bad habits because they’re familiar?

Being an FLP doesn’t mean being reckless. It means being aware. It means constantly scanning the horizon, looking for the next wave, and paddling like hell to catch it. It means embracing discomfort, because discomfort is the price of growth.

The Takeaway: How to Evolve

Alright, so you’re convinced. You don’t want to be a dinosaur. You want to be an FLP. How do you do it? It’s not about some grand, heroic gesture. It’s about small, consistent choices. It’s about building the habits of adaptation.

1. Feed Your ECS: Your endocannabinoid system is your best friend in this journey. Things like exercise, meditation, and a healthy diet can all help to keep it in balance. And yes, cannabis, when used mindfully, can be a powerful tool for promoting neurogenesis and breaking out of old patterns of thought. But don’t just take my word for it. Do your own damn research.
2. Embrace Novelty: Your brain is a pattern-matching machine. If you feed it the same inputs every day, you’ll get the same outputs. Break the routine. Take a different route to work. Read a book on a topic you know nothing about. Talk to a stranger. The more you expose yourself to new ideas and experiences, the more adaptable you’ll become.
3. Cultivate Gratitude: The negativity bias is a powerful force, but it can be counteracted. The simplest way is to practice gratitude. Every day, take a few minutes to consciously focus on what’s going right. It sounds cheesy, but it works. It retrains your brain to scan for opportunities and positives, not just threats and negatives. It’s a way of consciously directing the flow of your attention, which in turn directs the flow of your energy.
4. Practice Letting Go: This is the hardest one, but it’s the most important. You have to learn to let go of the past. The mistakes you made, the person you used to be… it’s all gone. The only thing that’s real is this moment, and the choices you make right now. Every day is a chance to reinvent yourself.

Closing: The Choice is Yours

The world isn’t going to slow down for you. The pace of change is only accelerating. You can either be the person who complains about how things used to be, or you can be the person who is creating the future. You can be a BLP, a relic of a bygone era, or you can be an FLP, a force of nature, a whirlpool of creative energy.

The choice is yours. But don’t take too long to decide. Evolution doesn’t wait for anyone.

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