Musings

Musings

DirtySciFiBuddha18 Comments

A scientifically sound model of reality states that billions of years ago, an extremely dense kernel of energy/matter expanded due to unknown causes, instantiated time and space (and thus causality), and through partially understood mechanisms like gravity and exploding stars, eventually gave rise to life on Earth.

This, to me, is nothing short of amazing.  McDonald’s is amazing.  Trees are amazing.  Reality TV is amazing.  Humans are amazing.  You get the point.

I used to dismiss certain phenomena as “boring,” but as I grow older I increasingly see boredom and monotony are a result of my limited perspective.

Because sometimes, I find it hard to believe that I exist at all.

18 thoughts on “Musings”

  3. The loss of awe due to the transition of “amazing” to “mundane” is, in my opinion, a normal trait. You get used to something. Its consistency and constant presence becomes “normal”. I think it has less to do with limited perspective so much as this trait of getting used to things.
    The catch…
    Getting used to something versus taking it for granted (even ignoring it) is the issue. Smart phones are a good example of amazing to mundane, and the fail is starting to take it for granted in spite of the dependency that many have developed for this type of device. It helps (might even be necessary) to remember how incredible/amazing smart phone technology really is. It helps (necessary?) to always consider the possibility of life without it some day. People get so “blah” about a device that can help you track and manage your entire “modern day human” life. How is that not amazing?!?!? Well ask your average “smart phone zombie”, and the response will likely be that it’s no big deal. REALLY?!?!? Take it away from him and see what happens

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    • You’re right, and I think there’s actually an evolutionary basis for the “negativity bias.” High error recognition and dissatisfaction will induce humans to capitalize on their greatest ability: the ability to manipulate the external environment. Now, paradoxically, much like many of our once-advantageous traits, it’s not always good, and must be channeled properly.

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    • It is an evolutionary advantage to have a high error/dissatisfaction rate, as it motivates us to capitalize on our greatest survival skill: manipulating the environment. However, ironically, in my modern day life, I must channel these once-useful traits in a proper manner, or they’ll become hindrances instead of tools.

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      • I believe this is reflected in such phenomena as the “intellectual dark web,” where there is a growing interest in the idea of clarifying intent and nuance through long-form dialogue. Complex problems require heightened awareness. If humanity survives far enough into the future where we face the imminent prospect of galactic collisions or some other cosmic cataclysm, we will have to manipulate our environment with a heretofore unprecedented level of awareness and maturity in order to stay alive.

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