Downside up and outside in

Downside up and outside in
I’m not laughing. You’re laughing.
These giggles are not of joy.
They’re giggles of sadness.

Background

I find a comforting freedom in the shadows. When I feel the society and the norm is periodically bordering insanity I find relief in turning things around and look at the opposite of conventional wisdom.

Also inverting some popcultural sayings and cliches can be super fun. đŸ€Ș

We don’t always need a positive outlook on life. Theres no valid rational nor irrational reason to keep the witchhunt on negative emotions going except to ackowledge that some people desperately are in dire need of that witchhunt for their own sake. That is okay as long as you remind yourself to resist needlessly punishing yourself for having negative emotions. â€ïž

The Mosquito Effect

Many of us impart our views upon the world believing they are gonna hit with the force of mass extinctive astroid impacts.

More often than not they barely delivers the severity of a mosquito flying about while one tries to sleep.

Which is a good thing.

World views should at worst just briefly keep others up at night. It shouldn’t be something that envelops masses of the world in fear for their lives.

We still have a lot to learn when it comes to communicating humanely at the scale of a connected mankind.

One thing that we have yet to understand is the freedom we fuel evil every time we proclaim another human being to be a monster.

Call someone a monster enough times and sure enough the evil within anyone of us will find a breeding ground to roam more viciously and corrupt the growth of benign ideas.

All or nothing

All or nothing

“You are lucky”
they self-assuredly assert

“You have double of everything”
they proclaim so sure of themselves

Two heritages
Two mother tongues
Two families
Two homes
Two places to belong

It’s the lie
in any one of them
that shatters the shelter
of all the other lies
meant to comfort

Time and time again
they show you
in words and in actions
that you are never
to belong to either

You vividly recall
when you understood
that it is always
all or nothing
and never both
at the same time

Full of doubt
and uncertainty
you trade to get
temporary
freedom and peace
as you choose
a stance
a loyalty
a default

And with the
pledge of allegiance
worn as a faux mask
you feel as if
you’ve sold your soul
for something
that was just meant
to hide the
rage and agony

@PierreMinik

An odd case of confirmation bias

In the researching I do I try to beware of my own biases on the subject and what I bring with me that might cause something to be considered less or more favourably.

Confirmation bias is one that I’m extra cautious about and seems to be one of the easiest to notice once you start looking which isn’t without irony in itself.

We’ve all been there: that meeting where someone mentions some product or service you have known about for quite a while but hasn’t considered in a long time and after the meeting you suddenly start seeing ads for that product or service on social media or elsewhere on the internet thinking that your phone or the meeting software recorded your conversation.

You can easily get a bit paranoid but coming from both a tech and communications/marketing world you know it’s just our brain messing a bit with us. Either the ads were already there and you just weren’t noticing them because they were like elevator muzak to your mind, or in most cases today, you researched (or someone near you) researched something that brings forth that service in a sort-of-speak-of-the-Devil kind of way.

My recent searching has been in several directions as always but two directions that I thought lived on different paths somehow ended up colliding as if they lived on the same spherical planes.

It probably was just a mere coincidence more than it was my brain remembering something very distantly connected.

One of the directions was about some famous artists and great thinkers, like da Vinci and Einstein, and their way of thinking using external tools.

Bonus: I recently was in awe of this quote attributed Einstein but I could not verify it:

“My pencil and I are smarter than I am.”

Writing my first book in December I discovered the value of externalising my thinking and has since been fascinated by different kinds of thought visualisations and mental models.

For some reason all of these fascinations always seems to be rabbit-holes for me where I deep dive into an entirely new universe with their own weirdness and wonders all over that I mostly never looked upon in that light.

This thought probably was a bit struck by my new washing machine sounding like a game-menu-level-selector when you power it on because I got stuck while reading about Leonardo da Vinci and I started pondering who the other “turtles” in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were named after.

I couldn’t remember what Michaelangelo was known for… But I got distracted as always and ended up reading about Sumerian kings on the list of Sumerian kings which apparently only has one known female monarch on it and that had a reference to [something] Uruk and then I pondered why a name in the earliest known civilisation had a name sounding primitive like Uruk-hai from Lord of the Rings kind of way. It was a “A rose by any other name […]”-moment and my confirmation bias alarm started ringing so I let it go.

The second direction was about cocktails which I really like for both their aesthetics and pocket philosophy. And taste, of course. And any disciple abundant of mechanical gadgets can be certain it’ll catch my attention.

Alcohol in Greenland as well as many places I guess is considered poisonous for you and consumption is portrayed as entirely self-irreverent.

I definitely believe it can be both, especially if you develop bad habits around alcohol during troubling times of your life. It’s deadly if you get to know it as a form of absolutism.

But I also know it can bring good things to life too. Cocktails for me is a way of acknowledging that it can be awesome if respected and cared for. It can show that if you approach it as a process rather than for its result it’ll be very rewarding.

Cocktails don’t even need to have alcohol content in them to be worthwhile. Something I offent get reaffirmed in, and recently by Ivy Mix when she mentioned a friend of hers had published a book called Drink What You Want. Her friend, John deBary, apparently started a brand called Proteau which makes cocktails that are zero-proof, ie. without any alcohol.

Anyway… I started playing with the name/word Mix in a visual way. I wanted to make an animation (which I am not very good at yet but I enjoy trying) with a cocktail getting filled. Researching what MIX in roman letters was I stumbled upon the Sumerian number system and even when searching for the name origin it seemed to be a shorthand of a deity-entity named Michael. Searching further on that I stumbled on a quote that really resonated with me:

“Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it.”

Michaelangelo

Either way, I ended up getting consumed by these thoughts and made a logo-like illustration that I might one day use for something.

The tagline is starting to grow on me. It seems to reflect my way of dwelling way too deep into something trivial or nonsensical. 😉

“Snowstorm in a cocktail glass.”

Pierre Minik

A letter from the brain to the brain

Dear System 2,

I know what you are thinking. I was there once too. I was silently thinking those thoughts. They’re not uncommon for anyone in your position
 The time has come for me to intervene. Believe me, when I tell you, you’re destined for even more greatness than you pursuit.

I know
 We don’t believe in fate, so it’s a bit ironic to claim this. Yet, history has shown that time and time again irony is inevitable. Irony is just a mere illusionary connection we believe to be relevant.

There’s nothing in your past that signifies believing that you will amount to anything near what I know you will achieve.

Which ever prism you choose to look at your past through you are an outlier and all odds are against you.

Look around you. You are an imposter. Just like everybody else.

That is irrelevant in itself but combined with your hunger for both more and less that’s exactly the necessary environment for this
 It’s the catalyst for this
 Process
 It’s the cocktail you need to stay thirsty.

You have fallen so many times you stopped counting. I would be lying if I told you you’re done falling.

The fallings.. They’re coming for you. They’re not there to stop you, however. Sometimes
 They’re there to hone you
 And other times they’re there to take you a part so you can assemble yourself better.

How you decide which parts to keep and which parts to discard is important but whatever you get rid of will hold precisely the weight that keeps you from soaring.

I know you’re doubtful
 And rightfully so. Trust the doubt. It’s the doubt that you need to drive you even further.

I know all of this to be true and I’m aware that you have no good reason to believe me. After all, I’m wrong all the time and so are you.

But it’s just like the math teachers who thought you were cheating because you had the correct answers upon request but couldn’t yet connect your answer to the formula.

You are exactly where you need to be. It’s not an easy place to be in but embrace what brought you here. Your life is preparing you like a chef working on getting their mise-en-place perfect.

All the variables that needs to be right before you get there are brute-forcing behind you like the surfers lining up anticipating their next good wave.

It’s not your decision when, how and why they will align. All you can do is keep preparing and pursuing it.

You’re right where you need to be
 For now. You have much to learn still and one of them is this:

Success like failures are just outcomes. Both relies on many things. Most of which are not even in your control.

The chaos is unsettling. You can’t calm the chaos yet you must keep questioning what affords your unruliness.

It’s your disrupting questions and mind-at-battle that will bring your ducks in a row.

Your questions are not comfortable and you are not meant to be comforted by them. Stick with the preposterousness and snuggle the process till you’re able to walk the talk.

It won’t be easy.
It will be worth it.
Don’t hold back.
For neither more or less.

Lastly I will say one last thing. I say this only because I’m confident we can endure it. It’s my parting gift till we talk again. Be wary as it’s a trembling thought:

You will instil to greatness and in the process you’ll achieve more than you think is possible. Will it matter?

Yours truly,
System 1

You’ll meet a lot of people, who, to put it simply don’t know what they are talking about

You’ll meet a lot of people, who, to put it simply don’t know what they are talking about.
In 1970, a CBS executive famously said that there were four things you would never ever see on television:
A divorced person, a Jewish person, a person living in New York City and a man with a mustache.
By 1980, every person show on television was about a divorced Jew who lives in New York City and goes on a blind date with Tom Selleck.

Develop your own compass and trust it. Take risks. Dare to fail.

Remember the first person through the wall always gets hurt.

Aaron Sorkin (May 13 2012, during commencement speech at Syracuse University)

The speech is well-worth listening to in its entirety.

What is it to you?

If you haven’t been in Nuuk you wouldn’t know about our lack of proper sidewalks. Walking within the city often means walking along the roads to some extend.

If you stand close to the road when an ambulance with an active siren drives your way, you take a step back.

You don’t do it for your personal safety, however.

Here, as far as I know, an ambulance responding to a medical emergency has never hit anyone and there is usually enough space everywhere for both driving safely and walking despite the lack of proper sidewalks.

But you do it to respect the ambulance driver and for the ambulance drivers cognitive load. You take your step back to signal to the driver you have seen him and that you will allow him to drive past you without having to worry about your movement.

It’s an instinctive response and we do this for several reasons but I think it mainly comes down to that we care. We’re a small town and anyone the hospital porter is driving out to help could be someone you care about or someone whom you know care about.

Taking a step back is an effortless movement for us. It’s a tiny price we very willingly pay for much-needed peace-of-mind for someone about to help another human being in what may be a matter of life and death.

Likewise, upon stumbling into a funeral procession, regardless of our driving direction, we collectively used to pull over and wait along the side of the road till the procession had passed. A lot of drivers still do this. It feels a lot like a natural response but it’s an unspoken gesture and because it’s not mentioned those whom may not know about this probably won’t do it.

Pulling over and taking a brief pause from the always busy race of commute-travelling is a signal to acknowledging the grief of those participating in the funeral.

Every action you take is a signal to those who may gaze in your direction.

Often I catch myself speaking ill of the sheep of society because I feel like there is so much in this world that could be better and the bystanders help maintain the status quo by providing a sense of righteousness for those who benefit from the status quo.

I do this despite really not liking to talk ill about almost anyone because there’s usually nothing others are doing that I haven’t already done myself or could imagine myself doing at some point.

And it’s kinda bizarre because I think and talk shit to myself about myself all the time. It isn’t till I utter the illness towards others I realise the harm my thoughts and words can convey.

Even the best of us will make mistakes. It’s inevitable as all of us really know nothing in the bigger sense.

Our critics are usually right in some sense. We, when we critique ourselves, are usually right as well in some ways.

But mostly it isn’t important if we are right. Being right is almost always not important. What actually, and eventually, matters most is simply the process of being less wrong.

What ever cause you choose to champion remember to keep in mind why you do it. It will have its price. Whoever and whatever you care about will one day perish. The nature of existence is to cease. As it should be.

“Death is the tax we pay for living.”

So, what is it to you?

Be mindful of what you wish for

Last week I meant to write a bit about the economics of personality and affordance of personal perspectives but instead I ended up writing about the volatility of perception. I actually had to go back and change my original title to reflect the change in subject.

If you came here from my social media profile you saw the post thumbnail had a quote from a wishful message I wrote to my mother during the wake of COVID-19. Roughly translated the message was:

“[…] Others fears the world will never be the same again, as if that is a bad thing. I hope the world will not be the same. That we learn deeply and begin to appreciate each other more and become more inclusive.”

I’m starting to believe this could actually be the outcome once this atrocity fades. I get the butterflies that makes me believe we could be at the beginning of the eradication of agonism.

Yet I fear that we might overshoot too far and end up on a dangerously bad track.

One of the few things I know to be true is that shadows are a great place to hide things which are too delicate to survive in the blisteringly bright light. I know the shadows for some provides freedom to those whom can’t afford the exposure that comes with the light of normalisation.

This freedom I talk about is not freedom of speech or the so-called freedoms our laws describe we should have.

I talk about simplere freedoms that I can only sum up as being like a tomboy amidst a gang of boys. It’s the kind of freedom that allows one to be the individual before being a component of a group.

The kind of liberation of that comes with embracing the ugly when everyone else only wants beauty (yes, a sarcastic piece but it holds relative truths if you look beyond the surface).

The result of limiting freedom is usually always radicalisation.

Mind you that the shadows does not only provide refuge for wicked things.

Instead of going all out on this subject I’d instead like to share a sample chapter of my first book about my personal account of having schizophrenia. It’s in danish but hopefully should be readable with an online translator.

The chapters is about destructive thoughts I rarely get to share with people because we commonly prioritise the accommodation of positivity or superficiality.

Sidenote 1: If you like the chapter and can read danish I share my book with anyone interested free of charge. Just contact me to get a copy or ask about it in the comments here or on social media.

Sidenote 2: I don’t know if or when the book will be published as I currently don’t possess the cognitive surplus to find a suitable publisher or even make a decision about how to publish it.

Before I share the chapter I’ll leave you with another (translated) quote from my book:

“Sometimes I discover tiny pieces of peoples imagination that advocate we as humans collectively can’t comprehend the depth of our thoughts yet and therefor only converse superficially with each other wherein we gloss everything.”

The book chapter is titled in english. The content however is written in danish:

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing”

Jeg fÞler en hvis trang til at skrive om nogen af de destruktive tanker jeg har for jeg fÞler bogen misreprÊsentere mit sind proportionelt hvis man ser pÄ stemningen i bogen generelt.

Der er bider af selvĂždelĂŠggelse og masser af spor af personlige kampe men alt dette er skrevet i et opstemt sindsleje.

Smerten gÄr en del dybere end det og hvis du er let pÄvirkelig eller har en livlig fantasi vil jeg anbefale at du springer til nÊste kapitel.




Organiseret menneskeliv pÄ jorden vil kollapse. Jeg tror det er indenfor vores eller vores bÞrns generations tid.

Jeg ser mange indikatorer pÄ at det vil ske i en ikke fjern fremtid.

FÞrst og fremmest har vi som menneskehed vÊret absurd heldige nÄr det kommer til vores lemfÊldige omgang med atomvÄben, hydrogenbomber og alt i den kategori. Der er et dusin af veldokumenteret begivenheder hvor det har vÊret op til enkeltpersoner at bestemme om atomkrig skulle bryde ud.

Under Cubakrisen var der russiske ubĂ„de lige uden for USA’s grĂŠnser der blev afskĂ„ret i deres kommunikation til Rusland og med omverdenen. Amerikanske krigsskibe dybvandsbombede dem.

BesÊtningens protokol var at besvare ved at sende deres missiler afsted men det var pÄ ingenmÄde almindelige vÄben de havde om bord. Det var atomvÄben.

Det kom sÄ vidt at de ville affyre deres vÄben hvilket i fÞlge deres reglement krÊvede 3 officerers godkendelse. 2 af officererne godkendte. Den sidste nÊgtede.

I 1995 sendte Norge en flertrinsraket op i atmosfÊren der skulle studere nordlyset over Svalbarde. Den blev mistolket i Moskva fordi dens signatur lignede et amerikansk atomvÄben der var pÄ vej i mod Rusland.

For fÞrste gang i lang tid blev atomkufferten fundet frem og prÊsenteret for Boris Yeltsin. Hans folk fortalte ham der med stor sikkerhed var et missil med et atomstridshoved pÄ vej. Hans protokol dikterede at han skulle gengÊlde denne. Han fik ti minutter til at beslutte sig for hvad der skulle ske.

Han gengÊldte ikke og dermed blev et angreb der ville have forsaget 3. verdenskrig undgÄet.

Dommedagsuret er i dag 2 minutter fra midnat. Det tĂŠtteste siden 1953 hvor fĂžrst USA afprĂžvede hydrogenbomber og Rusland fulgte trop.

En dag lĂžber vores held ud og vores tĂŠndstik knĂŠkker.

Og selv hvis vi bliver mere fornuftige med vores masseÞdelÊggelsesvÄben sÄ lurer klima krisen over os.

Jeg ser intet bevis for at vi vil holde vores klimaforandring pÄ et niveau der ikke skaber kolossal forandring og ÞdelÊggelse for menneskeheden.

Folk der er uvidende tror det handler om at vi mister lidt flot natur og at der er tale om sÞde dyr der forsvinder. Det er ikke dét det handler om. Det handler om massedÞd, klimaflygtninge, tÞrker, skovbrande, oversvÞmmelser, mangel pÄ fÞdevarer og mangel pÄ drikkevand.

Og det er kun de eksterne konsekvenser vi kommer til at opleve. SĂ„ er der de menneskelige, de sociale, de Ăžkonomiske, de etiske, de organisatoriske, de civile og alle mulige andre konsekvenser der vil fĂžlge i kĂžlvandet.. 

Selv nĂ„r jeg siger det sĂ„ er folks reaktion bare: “Ja, det lyder forfĂŠrdeligt.” men tĂŠnker at det nu nok skal gĂ„. De fĂžler det ikke pĂ„ dem. De tror det er i et eller andet fjernt land at nogen bliver lidt ulejliget.

I mens diskuterer de om deres elbiler eller deres dieselbiler kommer til at putte mest CO2 ud i atmosfĂŠren. Og om hvad de kan kĂžbe og forbruge for at redde verden. Og at vi nok skal stoppe med at smide plastikposer i naturen og lade vĂŠr med at bruge engangs sugerĂžr.

Det er flueknepperi. Det er marginaler. “Øhh.. ØdelĂŠgger vi vores fremtid med 98% eller 96%? Jeg tror kun det er 96%” skriver hulemĂŠnds idioterne med deres modsatrettede tommelfingre, pĂ„ deres alt for dyre smartphone, lavet af utrolig effektive slavebĂžrn, der fastholdes i Ăžkonomisk konstruerede fĂŠngsler og kĂŠmper for blot at overleve.

Jeg prĂžver skĂŠre ned pĂ„ mit klimarĂ„beri for jeg kan se at det ikke bevĂŠger sig hurtigt nok alligevel. Jeg kan se at det blot er blevet til hult og overfladisk personlig branding nĂ„r ingen af os gĂžr noget anderledes. “Pierre hvem? NĂ„Ă„ ja, ham der der ved en del om klima og gĂ„r meget op i det.”

Den organiseret menneskehed er tabt
 Men mennesket skal nok overleve. Jeg kommer til at overleve, hvis ikke jeg altsÄ fÞr dÞr af cancer, hjerteanfald, selvmord, et biluheld, astma, hjertekarsygdomme, diabetes, leversvigt


Og grunden til jeg kommer til at overleve? Det kaos der kommer til at regere verden over afspejler blot mit indre kaos og det har jeg pÊnt meget erfaring i at navigere. Jeg kan muligvis ikke fange og bÊre sÄ mange rensdyr eller ramme en sÊl men jeg vil kunne kompensere kraftigt med mine tankeevner, min forstÄelse for manipulation af andre og min kapacitet til at gÞre ting med hensigt og det vil give mig alt jeg har brug for.

Det her var mÄske faktisk et lidt uÊrligt kapitel. Ikke at disse tanker ikke optager mig. Men de handler om en dystopisk fremtid. En fremtid! Det er ikke i dag. Det er uÊrligt for jeg oplever mindst ligesÄ omfattende ÞdelÊggelser nu. Det drÊner og tynger mig. Gnaver sig ind i min samvittighed. FortÊrer mine drÞmme og korrumperer mine intentioner. Gennemsyrer mit hÄb. Det borer sig dybt ind i hjertet pÄ mig. Det smerter mig som tusinde syle spidse nÄle der penetrerer min hud. Det hvisker bÞrneviser i mine Þrer om sniffende bÞrn der elsker og forguder deres skÊve og fordrukne forÊldre der i fuld offentlighed misbruger dem. Det holder mig fastspÊrret i en dÞdsdans koreograferet af dukkefÞrere fra helvede. Spillet opfÞres i et brÊndende teater bygget pÄ smertefulde operationer foretaget i vÄgen tilstand og uden bedÞvelse. Det drÊber mig ved at drukne mig i blod fra teenagere der har begÄet selvmord. Men dÞden giver mig ikke fred for jeg ligger vÄgen i kisten og rÄber om hjÊlp men ingen hÞrer mig. I den iskolde jord mÊrker jeg ormene og parasitterne fortÊre mig langsomt. Men kulden gÞr dem slÞve og de gÞr det ikke fÊrdigt. Efter hundredevis af vintre uden en eneste sjÊl har vÊret forbi og tÊndt et lys og alle har glemt der lÄ mennesker her i hvad de troede skulle vÊre deres sidste hvilested bliver jeg genopdaget og graves op for at blive udstillet i et ildelugtende og klamt museum. Mine Þjne er vÊk men jeg kan mÊrke vÊsner der er ligeglade med mig fÄr sig et grin og noget underholdning. De stirre pÄ min halvfordÊrvede men relativt velbevarede krop hvori min udÞdelige sjÊl stadig sidder fast. Kroppen er fyldt med huller og resterne er tÞrre og lÊderagtige. Luften omkring mine rester fÞles som biokemiske vÄben og det gÞr de fordi det er giftige gasser, der skal hjÊlpe mig forblive velbevaret. Endelig en dag lukkes museet og jeg smides pÄ lossepladsen hvor jeg ligger i blandt beskidt plastikaffald, skarpe metaldÄser og glasskÄr der skÊrer ind i og snitter mine rester. Rotterne finder mig og prÞver spise mig men mit legeme er blevet giftigt af bevaringsgasserne og de dÞr hurtigt en smertefuld dÞd i opkast og affÞring. Her fÄr min krop lov at fÄ sin sidste hvileplads i mellem dÞde rotter og deres ekskrementer. Indtil ozonlaget sprÊnges som en sÊbebobbel og alt pÄ jorden udslettes som havde vi aldrig eksisteret. StÞvet af os alle bliver langsomt finere og finere men vores bevidsthed hÊnger pÄ en eller anden mÊrkelig mÄde stadig fast i resterne. Hvad der fÞr var en samlet enhed, en sjÊl i en krop, er nu splittet i trillioner af trillioner af trillioner af atomer. Vi mÊrker den dybe splittelse men kan intet gÞre. Solvindende der fÞrer os ud i det tomme og endelÞse univers fÞles som en sandblÊser mod bar hud drevet af motorer fra en jetjager. Lugten er tung af solbrÊndt svovlsyre. Vi rejser alene og forvirret rundt i de nÊste millioner af Är i intetheden fÞr vi finder sammen i en ny gassky der kollapser og bliver til en ny stjerne pÄ himlen hvor vores rester presses sÄ hÄrdt i mod hinanden at vi kombineres og vi eksploderer voldsomt ud fra vores kerne. Vores fÊlles skÊbne er at blive en ildkugle i himlen der brÊnder sÄ kraftigt at helvede til sammenligning blot er en finsk vintersauna. Her brÊnder vi i milliarder af Är og vi har for lÊngst glemt vores ubetydelige, menneske liv. Kun for at blive pÄmindet om vores menneskeform nÄr nye menneskelignende vÊsner rejser sig pÄ en planet nÊr os. Vi ser deres udvikling og deres handlinger og fortvivles i realiseringen at vi blot er blevet en energikilde for noget der ikke engang kan nÄ menneskeheden til sokkeholderne. Vi genkender deres ondskab fra vores tidligere liv men de har ikke en eneste drÄbe godhed i sig. De er summen af alle vores menneskereligioners dÊmoner.

Why we are often wrong (or how we perceive things)

Last week I published a post about slavery, mental or otherwise, following up a post I wrote the week before about poverty, financial or otherwise.

I struggled, last weekend, to put my thoughts into written words due to the intoxication of my new medicine. It cost me a lot of cognitive power as well as cognitive energy to convert my few and fragile thoughts into sentences that even gave any meaning. But I forced myself as I refused to let the medicine dictate what I should be able to do.

Today, my cognitive functions are better as my body has adapted a bit more to the new medicine and… Irony will it that I didn’t publish anything this weekend due to almost the exact opposite reason. My lack of publishing during the weekend came about with a form of analysis paralysis. I had way too many ideas and perspectives to be coherent in a single subject and it would either result in a very lengthy (yep, longer than the others) and superficial or shorter and meaningless post.

The increased complication of my thoughts resulted in the most simple solution: temporary in-action.

Temporary in-action is not too bad in itself and delaying gratification is a great concept which holds much value. Master procrastinators know this all too well. A lot of ideas mature really well because understanding also mostly matures quite well.

Last friday we had an awesome party celebrating my friend finalising his education and coming home. We ended up sitting in a big circle in the living room and taking turns telling slightly exaggerated stories from our childhood.

One of the themes was “terrible things we did because we did not know any better” and when I met a dear friend today that asked me what I had done lately I mentioned the party and the stories and some of the terrible things and she was quick to ask “Oh nooo, why would you do that as a kid?”. The only reason I could come up on the spot with was: “We had too much potent boredom”.

The keyword being potent because what I see around me today is that there seems to be far more boredom because people believe there is supposed to be more excitement and the way people handle the lack of excitement is to get their smartphone from their pockets. Which wouldn’t be an issue in my view if that boredom didn’t become impotent.

I struggle with impotent boredom all the time and I constantly try to resist not being on my smartphone. I try to boost the value of the impotent boredom and thereby justify time spent by synthesising everything I come across.

Which leads me only slightly near the thoughts I wanted to bring up so I think I need to just go on with it:

What’s the resolution of your fictive reality?

This question might sound very weird to you and that is partly because it’s not only preemptive but also oxymoronic in its premise.

Reality, however you may understand, view or think of it and what you hold to be real, doesn’t actually happen and we can’t remember or articulate it as it truly was.

So however you think of it, and what is real to you is not the same reality that others have. Neither are not necessarily wrong but aren’t exactly right either. And our perception of it also changes before, during and several times after we experience it.

The word nostalgia stems from the realisation that we apply more value to something than when we experienced it.

Resolution in this sense is the amount of variants you are willing to accept or how many are you capable of carry with you at the same time.

Most demand a yes/no answer. Or a true/false statement. That gives a resolution of 2 which is binary thinking.

Most of my thinking is binary till I recognise the binarity and force myself to expand.

We are raised to believe that anything can be quantified as either true or false.

Many will talk about “the other side of the story” as if there is supposed to be two, and only two, possible variations of reality.

This comes from the binarity of group-identity vs. individuals which I’ll save for another day.

Often group-identity will split people into thinking it’s either us or them and thinking such means that one group is a whole-fully benefactor of a fact and therefor the opposition which does not seem to benefit in any way has “the other side of the story”.

This gives a very superficial an un-nuanced perspective wherein one is the victim and the other is the offender although everyone involved can be everything in-between at the same time.

That is just a matter of how many variations you are willing to accept. Or how many you are capable of accepting.

There are at the very least as many realities of an event as there are observers of the event.

While facts are undeniable the premise of the fact can be argued about and it’s the premises about the facts that people have issues articulating or argue about.

Things that are true can also be not false and that doesn’t always mean the same. One can also be less wrong. Or more right. Or less right and more wrong. And all of those at the same time.

The spectrum is really quite as big as one is capable of maintaining at the same time… And the more you keep several possibilities in mind the harder it is to uphold any of them.

Quantum mechanics taught us this concept and while we are still trying to grasp quantum physics the concepts it brings continue to seem very unintuitive.

If something can be true, false, neither and both at the same time that is a resolution of 4.

Quantum-wise it seems that there is at the very least 3 variants of a physical state within the same timeframe.

If you apply time which means a change over a period and add different environments the many variants will quickly add up and that is not even touching upon the different states that matter can have.

One of my teachers asked me once, and my memory is so incredibly unreliable that I don’t remember the subject or the question that I only remember the event but know I replied with a provocative counter-question which was something a kin to: Maybe it’s because of the evolutionary benefits which has caused a physical and psychological difference between women and men?

My teacher told me that this could not be even remotely true as that is not how evolution works.

Years later not only did I learn that this is exactly how evolution works but even how Darwin described it himself.

My teacher was pretty smart and I was pretty dumb-witted at the time. But I wasn’t entirely wrong and my teacher just didn’t completely understand the concept of evolution that Darwin had developed.

Binary states are the fundamentals of computers. Everything breaks down to either a 0 or a 1 and they can’t be 0 and 1 at the same time.

But they can in quantum computing and quantum computers exists in many labs around the world. I, as a developer, can’t wrap my head around how that would work in practise but I look forward to play with it – should they become economical to mass-produce in my lifetime.

Many things that exists today was once an impossibility. Democracy was once a crazy thought. Abolishing slavery at the time it did did not seem viable at all.

16-hour-workdays being a farmer used to be the most optimal possibility till someone figured it was better for the society and individual at the same time to work closer to 8-hours-a-day.

Agriculture alone must’ve been viewed as witchcraft and insanely far-reached for the hunters and gathers that lived 14000 years ago.

There is one thing stronger than all the armies in the world, and that is an idea whose time as come.

How many things today is is not a matter of they are right or wrong but mostly because they were more efficient than what was before and that path often brings less wrongness – but that isn’t the case always, either. Sometimes things needs to become more wrong in order to become more right.