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Hello So I was reading the news this morning and
I stumbled across an article in the Chicago Tribune from 1999
in which it was describing the precautions the US and Russia were taking in the event
of wait for it
the Y2K bug Man did that take me back
I was in mid high school at the time of Y2K so I remember it all fairly well
The years of hype and build-up, the sensationalist media telling us about how our VCRs were going
to explode and our clock radios would rise up in our
sleep and kill us all More serious media raising questions about
how our financial system would continue especially with people who are like 100 years
early on their loan payments or how militaries couldn't function anymore
As usual with these kind of end-of-days scenarios it was a huge kerfuffle about absolutely nothing.
I think baout the worst thing I heard of happening was a guy who was charged 100 years worth
of late fees because the system thought he brought the movie back in 1901.
Not that that was even a problem because the people realised at the shop that he couldn't
have had the movie for 100 years. Anyway, this kind of build-up and then nothing
is kind of broadly representative of all apocalypses and armageddons that have ever been predicted
ever, you know, kind of by definition. Because we're still here, right?
So why do people keep predicting world's end? And why do other people keep believing them?
Well, theres a lot of reasons and it depend on who you talk to as to which is most important
But I'm going to give you three, starting with Sampling Bias
In our everyday experience of the world we're subject to a fairly large sampling bias by
what our physical senses can touch, see, hear, smell, and basically absorb
from the world. Now, of course, we've created all sorts of
content delivery systems to try and get more of that information to us
and that works fairly well, but it's also biased.
So we tend to see what's most parochial to us and our particular lives.
So, for instance, when a few of our friends and perhaps us have had a couple of experiences
of crime recently we tend to think that the crime rate has risen,
even if it has dropped overall. When we hear about violence constantly, in
the newspapers, on the radio, on the TV we tend to think that violence is on the rise
Even thought there's good evidence that we're actually living in the most peaceful time,
ever, in human history I'll put a link to Stephen Pinker's book which
argues this quite successfully in the dooblydoo Anyway, this sampling bias, especially when
coupled with a pessimistic world view, tends to provide us with all
the evidence we need to think the world is getting worse and worse and worse
this is why every generation thinks that the younger generation is so immoral or they have
such a bad work ethic or they're so bad in some other way
you know, the "back in my day" argument Number 2:
some people like the idea that theyre not in control.
If a future can be predetermined and an apocalypse predicted, then fate's in control - you're
no longer responsible for your own actions You don't have that weight on your shoulders
anymore. Maybe you're not as successful as you'd like
to be, perhaps you feel like a failure, it's not just your fault with this world view
fate at least has some hand in it Similarly, it works the other way as well,
and this is a huge theme in popular culture This idea that you're special, that you're
the one, that you've been chosen It appears in everything - look at all the
superhero movies recently, not to mention the comics, and books
but it's not just superheros Harry Potter, Twilight, Star Wars, they're
all following this idea that somebody is selected. Are you a Jedi? Have you been selected to
feel and wield the force? A lot of people like ot believe that theres
a plan, once we would've called it a divine plan,
but that has kind of fallen out of favour recently - although a lot of people still
do now we tend to put it down to fate or "the
universe" Three: release
some people don't like their lives or they don't like the state that the world's in.
For some people, the apocalypse would be a kind of release, a chance to wipe the slate
clean and start again This is especially the case if we think about
non-total apocalypses like a zombie apocalypse has anybody noticed how popular they are these
days? The idea of starting with a clean - or perhaps
slightly bloodied and brain-eating - slate is very appealing to a lot of people. Maybe
you can't imagine what you can do to change the world the way it is
You're too small and it's too big, right? But if everything were to be wiped clean,
think of the difference you could make then think of the chances you'd have.
The problem with these three views on apocalypses is that non of them really think the consequences
all the way through I mean, for starters, billions of people would
die Now a lot of the time we've just objectified
people in our minds and are like - well, doesn't matter.
They're just sheep right? They're all corrupt anyway right? They're all trying to selfishly
get their own way. But people aren't objects, they're not sheep,
they're not all inherently corrupt and they're not all trying to tread us down.
People are people, in every way as real as you and me. Feeling exactly the same things.
They all feel the same way you do about the people closest to them.
Everything is as real to them as it is for you, even if you don't agree with them.
Even if you don't agree with what they think and what their stance is.
One of the most important things any of us can do on any given day is try to imagine
people wholly, to really try and empathise with them,
to understand what they're thinking as they're thinking it. That doesn't mean you have to
agree with them And I agree, the more you disagree with someone,
the harder it is, but that only makes it all the more important.
It is difficult, and it's impossible to fully understand the way somebody else feels and
thinks all you ever know is a sliver of somebody,
the side they let the world see. But your happiness and their happiness depends
on both of you trying, because it's only through empathising that we can live with each other,
and it's only through empathising that we can body with each other.
So, the number 1s: The people who think that things are getting worse and worse.
Please realise that people have always thought that things are getting worse and worse, but
in fact things have gotten better and they continue to get better
To group 2, the ones who would like fate to be in control:
while it's harder and it hurts more when things don't go right, in the long run it'll be more
rewarding for you if you take responsibility for your own actions
and attempt to take control of your life and guide it in the direction you want it.
and to the number 3s, those ones looking for release: you don't have to wait for some apocalypse
or the afterlife to set you free you're currently living the one and only life
that we know with any certainty that we have, so live it!
Make the most of it and make the most of other people
because we find the most happiness in life when we understand and are understood by those
people who are important to us. Toodles!