You are getting hypermodern

In the summer of 2005, Zach Lynch posted a blurb on a study that discussed the rise of mental illness in Bangkok. Apparently, it rose 900% in just three years, which is an extreme by all measures.

One phrase from the blurb in particular continues to reccur in many of business or social discussions I've had since Zach posted a note on the study in his blog:

"Constantly blasted with images of unattainable lifestyles, people face daily identity crises as they search for meaning in a world of continuously shifting truths."

Both Pavlov and Freud would tell us that for every such natural (or artificial) stimulus, humans would develop defense mechanisms. In this case, just as the stimulus is artificial, so seems to be the the defense mechanism; it is some severe desire and a constant drive towards the mechanization of society and mechanization of human physiology, whether through chemical dependencies or physical augmentation (e.g. RFID chip implantation). In short, to adjust their physiology to the pressures of current reality and the ever-increasing social tempo, humans turn to augmenting their bodies to increase brain processing speed and stamina.

I googled that same phase today and it appeared in its entirety in a scientific article published in 1990. Social and political theorists, Arthur Kroker, Marilouise Kroker, and David Cook referred to this crisis as hypermodernism.

Obviously, hypermodernism follows or emanates from postmodernism. Isolating the physiological aspect (the augmentation of physiology as a reaction to social stimuli), hypermodernism can be viewed as an epiphenomenon of postmodern society. In its article on postmodernism, Wikipedia notes that:

...although a difficult term to pin down, "postmodern" generally refers to the criticism of absolute truths or identities...

Hypermodernism would then be the denial of naturalism and a forced transition towards mechanization. In this light, Mars exploration starts making a lot more sense. It may be time to look for even more planets to move to.