Recently, I have been dealing with my lack of employment and other gainful pursuits using two methods: finding a serenity and meaning in contemplating the intricate, yet still orderly structure of the universe, as evidenced by way the universe works, and occasionally letting my annoyance at the social conventions of the world through. These are not too separate issues, because in the same way that I wonder whether the universe's structures for creating matter and energy in various ways were not designed by a blind idiot God, I wonder at the clumsy structure of the way society makes structure and transforms energy.
In my mind, the structure of a star is a mirror for society. One of the basic promises of my society seems to be that through unfettered personal autonomy, people are able to find themselves boundless happiness and limitless energy. Traditionally, this bliss was phrased in terms of heterosexual, or heteronormative fulfillment, along with the economic ability to provide for a family. This to me matches up with hydrogen burning, the main process that main sequence stars used to provide energy. (Of course, this isn't quite a perfect analogy, since two protons would be more like a homosexual relationship, but please allow that). This process can on for a long, slow time as all the members of society have this promise held out before them, as they jiggle around and colide randomly. And for very long, the energy and stability that pairing up provides makes things more stable. But, in the long run, there is still that matter of wage slavery, and social repression, and quiet desperation, and the inevitability of that infinite black hole that is death. And so, the energy and structure provided by pairing up isn't enough anymore. And yet, personal autonomy and fulfillment of the self is the name of the game, so what do people turn to next? Societies dreams of libidinal fulfillment allow more pairing up, as free love and sexual promiscuity become acceptable. This is somewhat akin to stars going through the triple alpha process. Again, this is not an exact analogy, since I am not suggesting that three four way marriages actually come together for a key party. The main point is, different combinations have to be tried. And this allows people to believe, for a bit longer, that there random motions and seeking will satisfy them. This hope brings structure. But just as with a star, this energy gets used up. At this point, society starts doubting heterosexuality and even gender identity as keys to fulfillment. But the ways of providing social energy must still go along with the doctrine of personal autonomy. Society's acceptance of homosexuality and transgenderism are like the phases of alpha capture and carbon burning. And for those who keep up on the timeline, they know that each further step in burning provides less energy, and that as the star savagely burns its already used fuel, less and less time goes by. Finally, in its end states, the star burns silicon to form iron, beyond which no more energy can be gained. We can only imagine what type of psychosexual practices will become prevalent in the last days of our society, as it desperately tries to allow more and more behaviors under the illusion that such a thing will create happiness. In a billions-year old star, silicon burning takes only a few weeks, so we can imagine how short and frenetic the period of sexual liberation will be in our own society. And then, when everything else is done, and gravity and the inevitability of death and oblivion are inescapable, our social mores come crashing down on themselves and form a supernova. I can only imagine what will happen as our society's dreams of euphoria lead to an apocalyptic orgasm of fast neutron capture and heavy metal synthesis.