The human mind is a bizarre machine. It craves constant stimulation to feel alive. We think it stops when we sleep, but it just shifts gears, continuing its restless marathon in our dreams.

The tech giants figured this out long ago, turning our mental restlessness into a multi-billion dollar empire. YouTube started with three guys, Google saw the goldmine, and eventually, the Alphabet empire was born. Now, we have Gemini—an AI built for the masses. AI is no longer a sci-fi trope; it’s the new world order. We pour billions into this "certain uncertainty," cheering as we drift along the current they’ve created. History shows we’ve always been wired this way: the faces change, but the sheep-like devotion remains the same.

We’re taught balance—Yin and Yang, good and evil. But as humans, we’ve never actually learned how to be free. From day one, we are conditioned to conform, to stay within the lines, and to belong to a tribe. We divided ourselves into nations because we couldn't understand each other’s tongues. We claim to believe in God, but which God? And more importantly, why do we kill each other over the answer?

Look at the collision between Iran and the U.S. From a Western lens, it’s a battle of good versus evil. Who in their right mind cries for death just because someone doesn't share their faith? Is God truly insane enough to command the slaughter of the "different"?

Until mid-2025, I was a stubborn man. A married one, too. Then, I did something some might call "brave": I tried to live in my wife’s shoes. I analyzed my own actions through the filter of her life, her struggles, and her perspective. The results were... devastating. Let’s just say I realized exactly how much of an egoist I had been.

Now, imagine if I had been born in Iran instead of Korea. At ten years old in Korea, my world was alleyway baseball, using old calendar pages as toilet paper, and the simple joy of snacking on silkworm larvae. Pure, nostalgic memories. But a 10-year-old in Iran? From birth, he is marinated in a culture of hatred toward the "infidels." Now, those same people are dropping missiles on his neighborhood. What goes through that child’s mind?

The images seared into a child's brain become the skeletal structure of their lifelong beliefs. I have a friend who joined the Gwangju Uprising in 1980; decades later, he is still a fierce devotee of that movement. If early trauma shapes us forever, what becomes of that Iranian boy? Will he ever unlearn his hatred for Americans? Who knows.

Call me the Devil’s Advocate. I believe the Iranian ideology is flawed, and I think Trump is doing what should have been done long ago. But where do we witness all this? On YouTube. We click on clickbait thumbnails—fake, sensationalist garbage designed to farm views. The more we click, the richer they get.

How shallow have we become? A flash of skin, a bit of scandal, and we swarm like flies. It’s human nature, whether we like it or not. We are all YouTube addicts now, with no exit sign in sight. We’ve let the algorithms of greed hijack our consciousness. We are slaves to the scroll.

No matter how much history we study, we are currently living inside the history book. We won't truly understand the cost of this era until it has passed us by. For now, we just... drift.