The world is what it is. You think it’s messed up? You must have the wrong perspective. Here, take your medicine, everything will make sense around the corner. don’t worry we’ve got this covered.
This is “The” Zeitgeist of Scientific Dread. The wisdom of today’s scientific understanding about what occurs in the accidental psychonaut’s head.
We all have our place and our destination mapped out by the laws which govern us, of science. Of course, some of these laws are not as neutral as the title suggests but are apparatus built by the murky workings of those above.
But that is not science! I’ll presume you’re crying, or mumbling or has just popped into your head, as you gently seethe at what I suggest, a conspiratorial grimace leering in and threatening to make us dishonest. But worry not, this is no empty promise of some simple explanation as to how this world spins, just an assumption that maybe it doesn’t have to be grounded in violence.
Because what does the survival of the fittest really suggest when we’re each stumbling around making everything up in our heads? It’s taken as gospel, so we punch down when we’re furious to distinguish our superior egos. Are we hoping it’ll give us release like the sounds of witches screaming must have done in years previous? Each theory we encounter shapes some of our reality, but we’re not machines that can be plugged into a formula. We’ve got more to work out. Even if we’re destined for some quandary, perpetually perplexed. Perhaps there’s a better solution than pretending. Maybe I should be more polite and find out what’s happening in your life.
After all, you haven’t introduced me to your friend. Newton? who? Fine, I’ll let his ideas in the cauldron but let us have some other ingredients. Something’s going on, going wrong, I don’t particularly want to respect the gravity of the situation when it beckons us into some uncomfortable position. I already told you the clock’s broken. Sure, we’re not falling off this rock but that doesn’t conclude the matter of everything, it doesn’t follow that from a falling apple we suddenly found ourselves on the cusp of all knowledge.
Take that worm out of your ear and drown it in a bottle of tequila. Quick, take a bite of this lemon, and we can stop wasting memory on why you’re looking so sour.
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Sorry, feeling hungover? Well, that’ll be the implosion of your delusions. Not pleasant, right, to lose that blanket of security and find your assumptions stripped down. And that’s just an abstraction, only circumstantially impacting what’s occurring, but sorry scientist you behaved abominably. Such certainty is not allowed here. It’s not by pretending that you get an understanding, now look, we can have a conversation. But first off you trot and drown in the unexpected. It might do you some good. Have fun and make sure to send a postcard.