What is the purpose of life?

The Egg, a flash fiction story written by Andy Weir, offers a profound perspective on this age old question. If there is anything that can describe what The Quake City Portal is about, it can be found in this episode, and in stories just like The Egg.

I was deeply moved by this piece, seeing it first in video form, and then reading the story here. With so many aspects of life that fuel a divide among individuals, we need to share more stories that bring people together.

This is an essay I wrote inspired by this story, recorded in podcast form. The Egg sparked a deep dive into eye contact, my difficulties with it at times, and throughout my life. I wanted to answer the question I had - why is it (sometimes) hard to make eye contact?

Original music and score produced by The Quake City Portal.

Please read the story and accompanying video via the links below:

The Egg, by Andy Weir

The Egg, animated short story | Written by Andy Weir, Animations by Kurzgesagt - In a Nutshell

Notes | Mentions:

• Virtue, Aristotle
• The Four Noble Truths, Buddhism
• Friedrich Nietzsche | The Will to Power
• As seen “emblazoned on the bodies of butterflies, birds, snakes, fish and peacocks, whose eye-shaped patterns are thought to mimic the eyes of predators and thus induce an avoidance response” (Grumet, 1983).
• REM Sleep
• “override all other information should any of it conflict with the visual sense” (Freese, 1977)
• Ivan Ramen
• Hermann Hesse | Demian
• Emojis
• Chris Voss | Never Split the Difference
• Matt Ridley | The Rational Optimist
• Carl Jung
• Psychedelics