Curse of Sisyphus

The curse of Sisyphus comes from an ancient Greek tale where Zeus punished Sisyphus for cheating death twice. Zeus forces Sisyphus to roll an immense boulder up a hill only for it to roll down every time it neared the top, repeating this action for eternity (figure 1).

Figure 1. Sisyphus pushing the boulder for eternity.

The Sisyphus curse is when this is applied to real life. I.e. a situation where there is an illusion of progress however no progress is actually made. For instance running up an escalator, it feels as if you are making progress however, the floor beneath you is moving negating any actual upward movement.

In the real world, studies have shown that there is a down regulation of pleasure as people gain more income. Figure 2 shows how much people make Vs how much people say they need, year on year. Other than a manager promising a bonus, the human mind itself plays trick to keep you pursuant of a goal. There are engrained neurochemical pathways which have been specifically created for this purpose.

Figure 2. What we make vs what we say we need year on year.

Computer games

Video game development sits aside from the movie and tv industry as it is not a passive activity. Games create a new world and set new parameters everytime a new game is created. These are made by computer game designers to be addictive, so that you will keep playing. Candy crush uses colours and skilling up to make sure gamers come back for more.

The computer game industry is become more efficient in hijacking your attention. As you play, you are more often than not connected to their server giving them in depth analytical data on what techniques work to retain your attention. This what they know what works and can tweak it in later editions of the games. This is fine, however proprietary data pools have been created each owned by a different corporate entity. These entities do not share their information. Unlike the medical sector which peer reviews and openly publishes, proprietary data is locked inside of different corporation data pools. If these entities were to share and compare notes, work together analysis from games could bring a greater understanding of how humans operate.