OP-ED #7 · Liviu Tudor, President and Founder of Genesis Property
Why do we measure life in money and status, even though these are not the natural criteria of human fulfillment? Why does the desire for belonging make us imitate celebrities? Why will the ego – as a defensive reaction to social pressure – disappear in the Age of Becoming?
Why do we measure life in money and status, even though these are not the natural criteria of human fulfillment? Why does the desire for belonging make us imitate celebrities? Why will the ego— as a defensive reaction to social pressure—disappear in the Age of Becoming?
At the center of the modern world’s psychological crisis are not work, technology, or everyday stress.
It is a flawed definition of success.
Society promotes an axis of achievement built on three pillars:
- money,
- professional status,
- fame.
This axis has nothing to do with real human fulfillment.
It is a historical deviation.
And yet, millions of people shape their lives around it, even though 99% can never reach these standards.
The result? Internal tension, a sense of failure, anxiety, depression.
An entire generation of corporate employees is not “tired of work.”
They are tired of the mismatch between each individual’s real potential and the demands of a system that asks for something different from what human nature offers.
The Age of Becoming completely changes this paradigm.
1. Why the current model of success is a historical anomaly
For hundreds of thousands of years, success meant:
- survival,
- cooperation,
- contribution to the group,
- raising children,
- social harmony.
Only in the last few centuries has success shifted toward:
- material accumulation,
- individual competition,
- hierarchical position,
- public recognition.
This is not a natural evolution, but the result of economic, industrial, and cultural transformations specific to a limited era.
Human nature is not built for today’s standards of success.
That is why this model inevitably produces psychological suffering.t for a path of personal evolution.
2. Why 99% of people cannot achieve “success” as defined by society
Society promotes an ideal that, statistically, almost no one can reach:
- very few can become millionaires,
- even fewer can become famous,
- and only a tiny minority can reach the top of corporate hierarchies.
The distribution curve of talent for money, fame, and status is extremely narrow.
Yet society sells these ideals to everyone.
This creates a devastating phenomenon:
most people feel inferior for failing to achieve something that was never realistically possible for them.
This is how deep emotional tension is born: “If others made it, why can’t I?”
Because, quite simply, that is not your talent.
It is not the individual’s fault. It is the model’s fault.
3. The desire for belonging and celebrity imitation: an evolutionary mechanism exploited by modern society
People do not imitate others because they are superficial.
They imitate because they are biologically wired to seek belonging.
In tribal groups, belonging meant survival.
Those who were rejected died.
Today, the brain functions the same way, but the dangers are symbolic:
- social rejection,
- loss of status,
- lack of validation.
Celebrities and elites become models because they symbolize “those accepted by the modern tribe.”
The problem is that imitation does not activate personal talent.
It suppresses it.
People do not want to be famous. They want to be accepted.
But they confuse the two.
4. How society develops the ego: a false identity built for validation
The ego, in a deep psychological sense, is not pride or vanity.
It is a mental construct built to obtain social validation.
The ego says:
- “I must appear a certain way.”
- “I must be perceived well.”
- “I must prove something.”
- “I must meet a standard.”
This mental entity consumes enormous energy.
People are not exhausted by who they truly are.
They are exhausted by the image society forces them to maintain.
The ego is a form of adaptation to a hostile and competitive social environment.
As long as success is defined externally, the ego is necessary.
That is why, in the modern world, the ego is hypertrophied.
Not because people are narcissistic, but because the world pushes them there.
5. Corporate employees are not tired of work. They are tired of the mismatch between talent and system.
A person can put in enormous effort in their area of natural talent without becoming exhausted.
But when forced to work against their nature, the result is:
- anxiety,
- demotivation,
- depression,
- burnout,
- self-disconnection.
True fatigue does not come from work itself, but from working outside one’s personal talent.
The corporate system was built for productivity, not for becoming.
That is why it produces structural suffering – predictable and scalable.
6. The Age of Becoming changes everything: success becomes internal, not external
In the Age of Becoming, success is redefined:
Not “How much do you earn?”,
but “Who do you become?”
Not “What job do you have?”,
but “How do you evolve?”
Not “What status do you hold?”,
but “What unique expression of your talent have you reached?”
It is the first era in which success becomes:
- personalized,
- authentic,
- internalized,
- organic.
Not everyone can achieve external success.
But everyone can achieve internal success.
Because it has no competitors. No social scale.
It is not compared to others. It is compared to yourself.
7. Why the ego will disappear in the Age of Becoming
The ego exists to satisfy society’s expectations.
If society changes its expectations, the ego loses its function.
In the Age of Becoming:
- people no longer compete for scarce resources,
- no longer compete for status,
- no longer compete for external validation,
- no longer imitate social models,
- no longer have to play imposed roles.
If success is no longer external, the ego becomes useless.
And without the ego, the authentic self emerges – not the social image, but the real person.
8. Why the ego will disappear in the Age of Becoming
AGI relieves people from:
- the pressure to earn money for survival,
- the pressure to compete for jobs,
- the pressure to fit into artificial social roles.
When AI becomes the infrastructure of survival and productivity,
people can become the infrastructure of personal evolution.
AGI offers what humans have never had before:
the ability to endlessly practice and refine personal talent.
- time,
- security,
- freedom,
- mentorship,
- the ability to endlessly practice and refine personal talent.
9. Conclusion: The Age of Becoming doesn’t just fix the economy. It heals the human psyche.
The current model of success is incompatible with human nature.
Its production of suffering is not an error—it is a direct consequence.
The Age of Becoming reverses everything:
- success becomes internal, not external,
- talent becomes the norm, not the exception,
- becoming becomes the goal, not competition,
- the ego dissolves,
- people become who they truly are, not what society demands.
This is the greatest gain of the future:
not technology, not efficiency, not automation,
but the recovery of human authenticity.
For the first time in the history of the species, people will have the freedom to live not to adapt to external standards, but to express themselves.
And perhaps that is the true definition of success.
Note: This article was produced with the assistance of artificial intelligence tools, which were used to structure and refine the content. The ideas and editorial responsibility belong to the author.
