Discontent seems to be a side effect of modern life. We contemplate what it is about modern society that could cause this general malaise. Where have we gone wrong? How have we miscalculated in our supposedly well-meaning attempts at creating a more comfortable lifestyle for modern humans?

There is likely a more sinister explanation. It would seem unlikely that an exerted effort would be made to create a more contented and satisfied society if that resulted in a society of individuals who felt less compelled to buy every next device or service that held out the promise of easing their woes. In fact, one should expect that an aggressively capitalistic system would produce a society that is less content and therefore has a voracious appetite for any product or service that offers even the remotest hope of easing their pains.

In a society where financial success is overwhelmingly the value that most validates an individual, does it not seem inevitable that success and discontent would go hand in hand? It seems logical that those individuals with the greatest predisposition to discontent and the least likely to be satisfied would also be the individuals most driven to constantly questing for that elusive thing that would bring them happiness. Such individuals would be seen as highly ambitious and, if they had already racked up many accomlishments on their quest for contentment, would likely also be seen as highly successful amongst their peers - regardless of whether they were actually happy or not.

It seems almost as if there is a direct correlation between success level and discontent. Most people would accept that wealthy and successful people are certainly not immune to psychological illness, but how many people have the insight that the successful may, by their very nature, be even more predisposed to dissatisfaction than some hardworking rural peasant living a relatively simple and uncomplicated life? How is it that rich people can never quite get enough? How much wealth does one really need in order to be content? Can one not retire comfortably on a few million dollars wisely invested? What then drives some people to continue on to reap billions of dollars in wealth by exploiting the masses and the Earth's resources?

There may be a selection pressure at work in modern life that is now active in the evolution of our genetic makeup. Placed in a context that places such pressures on the individual to "succeed", those with a genetic makeup that predisposes the individual to not being able to withstand such pressure may actually be driven to suicide, while others with a genetic makeup that predisposes the individual to striving may actually become a template by which the rest of society is measured.

The benefit to industry in culling from the gene pool all those who cannot stand to live with persistent discontent is that the society that arises from such a selection process is one that can sustain persistent craving and yearning - yearning that can be answered by a steady stream of products and services that promise to quell those cravings.

Placed under immense pressure and subjected to extreme anxiety, most species of animal are triggered to increase procreation. This is a natural reaction to a perceived environmental threat. Humans, having largely conquered the traditional environmental threats faced by most other animals, are now subjected to new artificial threats manufactured to stress the species - in this instance by other members of the very same species. Reproduction, in this case, may be more than merely an instinctive reaction to a state of duress, but may also provide a sense of meaning and purpose that comforts the individual who is faced with overwhelming discontent.

Children reared in response to discontent and in such households - steeped in discontent and stressed by having many offspring to support - may themselves grow up anxious and discontented -- thereby feeding a veritable army of desperately unhappy consumers who will eagerly lap up all the offerings put before them by an industry headed by similarly discontented, yet otherwise super successful hyper achievers, who have learned the art of harnessing the power of discontent to power their own futile quest for contentment.

This smells an awful lot like a vicious cycle and the kind of thing that mass population die-offs are made of. Procreation becomes a positive feedback loop, exactly the worst imaginable response that further fuels the very crisis that spurred the procreation surge to begin with. If there is anything in a person's genetic makeup that makes them more inclined to reach to procreation as a means of consolation and a source of spiritual comfort, then this trait may be multiplied through their offspring. Thus, ironically, discontent may increase the chances of survival of those whose genes predispose them to responding to it by procreation.

On the opposite end of the spectrum from the massive and ever procreating Idiot Class is the more elite and less in number Winner Class - the class of people who serve as the template by which all are measured, and by which all in the Idiot Class, therefore, fail to measure up. The Winner Class procreates in a more discriminating manner. However, having ten times fewer offspring is more than made up for by each of those offspring having more than ten times the appetite for consuming the planet's resources. The failure of those in the Idiot Class to measure up to the standards set by the Winner Class becomes the very fuel that feeds and supports the existence of the Winner Class.

We should not forage around for miscellaneous isolated causes when we analyze the malaise that afflicts our overconsuming society, but should instead view discontent as an expected outcome of a system dynamic that has emerged. Discontent is no coincidence, no strange malady that has unexpectedly descended upon us to afflict us without provocation or the complicity of our kind. Rather, discontent is to be the expected outcome of a system that stands so much to gain from maintaining discontent at the very highest degree to which our society can tolerate it.