Final Report Blogpost

By: Gavin Brown

Question: What does it mean to grow up? Why should we?

Gavin: To me, growing up means a number of things. Growing up takes a long time, it's not just something that one decides to do. It starts from the moment we are born. We evolve, both physically, socially, and emotionally. Overtime, we hit certain goals. We get older. We learn to walk and talk. Eventually we're driving, going to school, getting a job, working on personal hobbies, and so much more. All of this is a part of growing up. We become more mature and find our place in society. This process can happen fairly quickly for some, and a long time for others. Some people never quite reach where they need to be. Growing up never stops, even for adults. We just consider a certain point of growing up to be good enough to work and live on your own. There's not a day that goes by where one doesn't grow up even a little. After all, it's very important to be grown up to a certain extent. Like I said earlier, we have to be matured enough to drive and work and live on our own. I believe we have an obligation to contribute to society what we can, and to do this requires a certain level of maturity. This level of maturity can only be found through what we call, "growing up".

Susan Neiman: Interesting perspective. To me, growing up in modern society is often thought of as losing our childlike wonder of the world. In order to become an adult, we have to throw away our dreams of what life could be, and be tethered down to a harsh reality. We go to jobs daily just looking forward to the weekend. Most of us work in a career we have no passion for just so that we can survive. We have to be like everyone else. Forget what you wanted to do. You have do go to school, then college, then a job like everyone else does. As a child, our main priority is doing what we want to do. We looked for what made us happy and did it. It's quite simple. However, in the real world, we struggle to find the time and funds to do what makes us happy. Despite all that, it is still possible to do what makes us happy and have hopes and dreams and grow up. The times have changed. No longer do we have to conform to what is seen as a "normal" life. We can search for what makes us happy, and find a job that exists in harmony with that. Basically, what I'm saying is that I disagree. We no longer have to "grow up" to contribute to society.

John Kaag: I somewhat agree with Susan. Growing up does not necessarily mean throwing away happiness. For example, as a child, I wanted to grow up to be able to enjoy philosophy daily. I found a job as a professor of philosophy. I now contribute to society by guiding young minds on a journey through philosophy as well as enjoying my profession.  The two are not mutually exclusive. I believe it is possible for anyone to find something that makes them happy and also not be dead weight to a society. So my answer to the second question, "why should we grow up?", is we shouldn't. Or at least we don't have to. I suggest you don't. After all, you'd be much happier if you didn't view the world as holding you back from all of your hopes and dreams. I suggest you change your paradigm. If you view the world as the thing standing in the way of your happiness, you won't be willing to actually contribute to it. I believe society would be better off if more people viewed "growing up" as a positive thing and not a negative one. 

Gavin: Very interesting, I'll have to try that!

So I guess it's all about what the person thinks makes life worth living.

Susan Neiman: Exactly. To me, what makes life worth living is doing what makes me happy. That would be philosophy and having conversations much like what we are doing now.

John Kaag: I agree. Do what makes you happy. If you do that, you can never go wrong. 

Gavin: This reminds me of the movie, "Big". It shows that we can function in society while still retaining our childlike wonder of the world. I'll have to keep this conversation in mind when deciding what profession I want to go into.