Every morning, before I go school, I pick up one of three books, The Almanack of Naval Ravikant, Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, or Letters on Ethics by Seneca, depending on how much time I have, and I flip to a random page. I read the first thing my eyes fall on and reflect on it while driving to school.

This morning, I picked up The Almanack of Naval Ravikant. I flipped to a random page and read “There are no permanent solutions in a dynamic system.” This phrase is widely applicable. For example, economic policies must constantly be re-iterated to adjust for flux in micro and macro factors such as inflation rates, unemployment, consumer demand, or geo-political change. Software must be adapted to keep up with new technology, consumer demand, or cyber-security needs. Since the world is a dynamic system in every way, constantly changing and evolving, a system that is set in place with no way to adapt, is highly likely to fail.

Apart from its technical and practical applications, this quote also reminded me of our mortality. We are part of a dynamic system which holds no special place in its heart for us. Thus, we are not permanent. Nothing that we know or love is permanent. It is all to be turned to dust one day. All that is a seemingly meaningful collection of atoms today will return to a dispersed set of atoms, whether that’s 100, 1000, or 5 million years from now when the sun explodes. This quote was a stark reminder of our cosmic insignificance. A beautiful thing to think about on my drive to school on a Friday morning.