The chapter opens with a statistically likely scenario for the average human today and describes what we all know as going through the motions but in somewhat darker, poetic terms. I like that it reveals the belief that many people have that recognizing the pattern and claiming to hate the pattern is somehow above it but their doing so and continuing the pattern is still indeed the pattern. I also like that it reveals how most of our opinions are not our own opinions but those of the culture around us infiltrating and making us think we are thinking.
What is lacking, however, is comprehension of what else it could be. He's basically describing physics and life with a dark scoff. Some of it might be new to some while much of it will be rather understood already by many. The reader will be drawn to accept that they, too, understand all this, are disgusted by it, and love that it is being talked about. In so doing, we grow a shared bond of disgust with Stan while assuming the insulting tone is meant for the other plebes just as it is not meant for him. But let's stop and consider, what else could it be?
Some of the routine we could ditch--absolutely. We don't need to check our messages first thing in the morning and feed stress directly into our face like breakfast. But small talk? Yeah, we all hate it, but what's the alternative? We can either ignore each other or turn every encounter into something deep. Ignoring is a sure-fire way to be disliked which will indeed have impact on your success. Trying to be deep with everyone is exhausting and the average person doesn't want that at all. The only direction I could imagine Stan to go is that we drop out of the rat race entirely, but I don't see that as a particularly viable option. All that said, I do believe it is important for people to realize just how much of who they are is not "scripted" or "programmed" as if necessarily intentional, but as a byproduct of the situations they've been a part of.
The factory settings (or operating system) that Stan speaks of is a decent model to comprehend. He explains quite well how our minds are wired by our parents and culture and that most people had either an authoritarian childhood, a permissive childhood, or an inconsistent childhood. As he points out, most people had some combination or varying degrees of these. The tone of the descriptions, as with the rest of the book thus far, has been one of negative judgement against the world--or so I perceive it. I might dare say that much of it, however, is just a facet of life and varying tradeoffs. There's not a whole lot of perfection to be had in the world even for ourselves, and every particular scenario comes with its pros and cons.
While the Authoritarian OS might lead us to be yes-men or else reject authority entirely, it might also create in us a devotion to hard work and ability to achieve our dreams even if bred of a fear of failure. We can eventually learn to tame the non-beneficial aspects and embrace the beneficial. Similar things can be said for the other operating systems as well and, of course, every person is indeed unique in how it affects them in particular. One person will rise to the challenge while another will shrink away. Anyone who has raised children knows this to be true.
Ultimately, it is good to comprehend what these upbringings have done to us and to learn how to overcome the various pitfalls. I'd say we should do so without an underlying tone of "someone did this to us," however, which seems to be a common theme throughout the book. This could be intentional as it plays on a victim mentality which is rampant in the world today. Playing to the victim mentality could simply be a means of engaging the reader to truly help them, but I'm still on the lookout to determine if the book is truly meant to help us or milk us like cattle.
The book further goes into detail regarding our generations and how when we were born can dictate many things about us. Most of these things are only true at large. When marketing, of course, that's all that really counts. If the average Millennial likes x, y, or z, Stan can write about all 3 and, much like horoscopes, we will quickly grab to y and ignore x and z if they do not fit. Human behavior generally dictates that we ignore the mismatches and latch on to the matches and create a bias just to make it fit. We love to belong which is why books (or dare I say movements) like this create an identity out of it. We read where we fit, ignore the rest, and proclaim, "Yes! This guy get me! This will be the one!" Funny enough, Stan explains this outright and then says you're wrong. It's a form of reverse psychology to make you believe you're different and show him wrong, and hey, if that gets you motivated, then it did its job.
Compliance Training
Stan explains the basis for our school structure and how it came from Napoleon. This is entirely accurate, though I don't know that it requires the negative assumptions behind it. He makes it sound bad with his particular judgement upon the reasoning, but I do think it's worth questioning what else it should have been. It's easy to throw bricks, but much harder to build a house.
Imagine if you're running a country. You are responsible to keep the country safe, secure, fed, and happy. Is this going to happen if everyone is killing each other for kicks? No, of course not. So you make laws and enforce them. How well is it going to work if everyone is a fool with no clear direction on right or wrong and constantly get into fights? Not well, of course, so let's instantiate some structure. All the things we can point out as some nefarious plan can just as easily be the outcome (whether hairbrained or not) of someone attempting to solve a larger problem.
That said, there were definitely unethical activities then and still are now. It's just important to recognize that not everything is a conspiracy and even if we dislike how some things run, there may just not be any other options that anyone has yet invented. And all such solutions, as anything else, has side effects. Life is indeed complex and it continues to become even more so. So much of what I see in this section and chapter is an appeal to the part of the reader that is fed up with the system in order to derive followers. I am sincerely doubt that he will explain a better method of education, for example--he is simply tearing down the things for which we have a universal dislike without consideration of what else it could even be.
This method continues as Stan rails against our desires for careers and marriages and points to stories as programming that makes us crave it as some intentional beast to control us. Now, don't get me wrong, there are definitely pieces of media bent on controlling us, but a significant amount of it simply appeals to who and what we already are. It's a question of the chicken or the egg. Women were already treated like property from the caveman days, for example, and as such it was our programming already to desire fighting for them in tropes of princess rescue. The stories didn't make us see women as inferior, we already did and so we made movies that mirrored our beliefs. As beliefs change, so do the movies people make in hopes to change more beliefs. It's a cyclical pattern.
Much of this chapter refers to an ethereal "them." They want to control you. It feeds into our superstitious perceptions of an unknown entity to make us rise and fight. It's an emotional tactic. Now, whether or not it's intentional or if Stan simply believes all this himself and is attempting to share his perspective is beyond my knowledge. He might really see it this way. And honestly, there might be more truth than I know to some of it. It shouldn't be bought wholesale though without greater evidence. I believe most people are simply making the most of what they have and it results in the various shit we have to deal with.
Being Different
Everyone does want to be different because nobody wants to think they're irrelevant. It is an unfortunate aspect of existence for a self-aware creature such as most of us. It's why we turn to religion or books such as this that promise to unleash the power within us and who we were born to be. And yes, much like he says, all our attempts to be different are just other methods of being the same. And being truly different does indeed suck because the average human does not take kindly to differences. If, however, someone does something different in a way that people appreciate, people will begin to mimic it and a new trend is born.
It reads as another aspect of how life works dressed up as some revelation that we should rise against it despite there being no other options. True difference makes your life hell or creates a new group that takes away the uniqueness of that difference. Even now, if we all follow Stan's teachings, we are all now a sub-culture of Stanzians. What other way is there? He does conclude with "What you want is to be special within acceptable parameters. Different enough to matter, similar enough to connect." Ultimately, I see that as destroying everything he just talked about. In what way shall we be different enough to matter? Matter to who? I thought we weren't seeking approval of others. It all sounds revelatory, but I am not yet obtaining any substantive meat on what to do with any of it.
Work
Stan talks a lot about work and the dynamics of boss-pleasing and working with others. He again points it all out like it's evil, but there's still no substance on what to do with any of it. Yes, we please our bosses. No, that doesn't make us a shill. What else would we do? We want to survive so we need money to afford our needs and we therefore find ways to get the resources owned by others. Sometimes the best path to doing so is doing your due in the corporate world. The very bosses that hold you back will one day be filled with people like you as time moves on if you're up for it. Sure it's a big machine, but everyone relies on it running. What else is there? I assume the principles will simply make you more likely to become the next boss, but to keep the machine running. Let's not confuse that with success though. Some people will want it, others will not. This isn't the definition of success.
Unless it's your passion, your job is your means to survival and our issues are generally elsewhere. We generally crave more money when we don't really need it. Most people simply need connection with others to be happy along with basic needs being met. People can live happily without 99% of the things we have in the US. Most of us are unhappy because we don't understand where happiness comes from. It's not from being the boss. It's not from getting out from under your boss. Such things are generally irrelevant. And for that reason, poking at the machine like it, itself, is the problem is quite likely missing the point.
Addiction
And this brings us to the next issue: addiction. As Stan points out, we get addicted to the dopamine hits of social media posts and various other things. This isn't because the illuminati is trying to control us, it's because businessmen will do what it takes to make money. If they find a way to keep you engaged and therefore increase their profits, they will do it. And us, being unaware of how it impacts us, will continue to do so happily unaware. What leader of a company doesn't try to find ways to market? If you think marketing is unethical, then you never should have bought the book. But without marketing, how would you ever have found the book?
Stan denounces the beast of marketing and human data collections while relying entirely upon it to sell his book. The ethics behind that are yours to decide. Those against slavery often also owned slaves. Those who built cars also rode horses. It takes time to make changes and we have to use the systems that exist. The only difference I see here, however, is it doesn't seem like Stan has another option, he's simply saying it's bad and they're all out to get you while literally doing all the same things. He's not wrong about the addictions. It affects us deeply and too many are unaware and have no idea how to avoid it. And it is indeed destroying the minds of our populace.
My thoughts concluding this chapter: "They" are not programming you. "They" are making choices to generate revenue just like Stan and everyone else in the world. And we, being unaware of the tactics, get sucked in on emotional highs. We can call foul all we want, but it won't change unless people change their priorities from making money to something else. What IS that something else? This is the question needing answered and the next is HOW to make it desired? It will probably be through media, marketing, and programming! Or, perhaps even more likely, through demonstration of a better way and sharing that way locally.
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