There is a strange feeling while flying in a plane. It’s like being inside a separate world where time has stopped. That the outside world could have collapsed due to an apocalyptic event, and we wouldn’t know. I don’t know how the idea behind Schrödinger’s Cat in a Box came to mind, but this feels weirdly similar. It’s as if anything that happens inside the plane and the outside world is totally separate, independent even.

It’s strangely nice not having internet; the short online detox reminds us of when it didn’t exist only a few years ago. The irony is that I’m writing this all out on a smartphone, but at least flight mode is switched on. 

What’s even more strange is the dynamic between strangers on a plane. Why does talking to people in travel vehicles feel so taboo, especially in planes? It’s like an unwritten rule that everyone agrees, apart from the occasional older generations. 

I’ve been in both situations – wanting to be left alone in peace and, at times, bored enough to enjoy a conversation. Maybe the only difference is the seat I am in. Being in the middle seat right now, sleep is out of the question. So anything that can keep me entertained is better than being stuck with nowhere to go. 

The plane is my world now. Would people be happier if this no-talk taboo did not exist? Do people want silence, or do they fear boring or imposing on another person? Strangely, politeness is probably the actual killer. Because if we knew people would answer honestly to the simple question -” How do you enjoy plane conversations with strangers?” It would solve most problems. But we all know that such a question is unlikely to be answered honestly due to politeness. The natural way to attempt to gauge conversational enthusiasm is if they respond with longer answers or ask questions back. Even then, you can never be sure if it’s not out of some societal compulsion to be polite. 

People say that social media has ruined personal connections. What was supposed to connect us has disconnected us. But photographs of the underground trains in London from the early days suggest otherwise. People were reading the newspaper alone, with little interaction. How can it be that sometimes we can be so social with others, including strangers, and at times we hate the idea of catching eye contact with the person in front of us? 

Humans are so logically illogical that it creates an exciting movie about humanity’s history. If I were a god or even some superspecies able to program consciousness and universes, I would probably make such wild possibilities too. Who would want a predictable world – that gets boring quick. The chance that the world is a few red buttons away from annihilation while many people happily stroll along their days is crazy. 

I’m reading a fascinating book about travelling through countries that are isolated internally with little knowledge of how the outside world operates and little free press. It’s a constant reminder of how malleable humans are. We can adapt to any situation. People say cockroaches are indestructible, but humans are the biggest cockroach on Earth, just a tad prettier. The ability of the human mind to seek solutions for survival is beyond impressive. It’s almost a curse, given that mental problems are highest in countries with less urgent needs to be worried about. Humanity’s next most significant challenge to solve is how to engineer our own psyche to survive in a world where we don’t have many serious problems. 

How would humans function if robots replaced most jobs and we were free to do as we wish every day because all our basic needs were met? Would we travel and marvel at the world, or would we all lock ourselves in a room, choosing to stay in some virtual dimensions where problems do exist to solve.

And what even happens if we became so smart that we could beat death and the vastness of space. If we populate all the infinite planets in the universe, what then? It might seem ridiculous to think of conquering space, but if we find a way to time warp to travel distances, and beat the effects of old age and disease, then it won’t be too long before we fill every corner of the universe. 

How strange would it be if we did that and found no other planets with life? Would we then be more or less likely to believe that a god exists? Or maybe we indeed are a simulation.

Would we try to reverse the effects of entropy to stop our eventual extinction or rebirth of the universe? Or is that part of the cycle – reaching a point of godlike and then starting all over again. 

Our human minds have theories on souls and multiple lives, but what if it goes further than that, and we have lived for infinite cycles of universes. Would that be a soul prison?