Our Fantasies of Cause and Effect

Our Fantasies of Cause and Effect

We tell each other stories.  Did you know that the foundational story of human psychology is Cause and Effect?  Yes, cause and effect is just a story!  Read on for your enlightened enjoyment.  Challenge yourself and your illusions of common sense and you will be more powerful - more enlightened.  Knowledge is power.

You walk into the front door.  Your hand instinctively feels for the wall.  It is dark.  You grope.  The wall - it is still there.  Cold.  Slick.  Finger bump!  Then, you feel it.  You feel the light switch.  You flip the switch.  The light goes on instantly.

This makes perfect sense to us.  Flip a switch, then a light goes on.  Flipping of the switch causes the light to go on.  We do not ever say,  “The light going on causes the flipping of a switch.”  This last statement sounds a bit bizarre to us.  It violates our sense of cause and effect.  It violates our sense of timing where effect always follows cause in our minds - pull the trigger, then gun fires - never “The gun fires and then causes the trigger to be pulled.”

So, what does all this mean for us - we smart people?  You are smart, right?  So, follow me on this adventure into one of our most basic assumptions, and how it may shock us to know that these assumptions are build upon an edifice of sand, styrofoam, and warped plastic trash you may find on the cozy corner of a busy beach in the swamps of Vietnam.  (Where the bloody hell did that image come from???!!!!)

His name is David.  David Hume.  David Hume blasted to shrapnel, smoke and ashes all of our notions of cause and effect.  What did he do and why should we smart people care?  Partially, the answer implies that we have a lot more control of our lives through the use of our minds that we think we have.  We will get back to this point later.  For now, let us examine the foundations of cause and effect in a simple way so anyone can understand.

We perceive a series of sensations.  We perceive a flying brick.  We perceive a glass window.  We perceive the brick strike the window.  We perceive the shattering of the window.  We perceive a broken window.  Thus, a flying brick is followed by a broken window.  We say that  the flying brick caused the broken window.  

What did we perceive?  We perceived a series of sensations followed by other sensations.  Nothing intrinsically forces us to link these sensations.  We cannot even be sure that our memories accurately recall any sensations.  Can we be sure of any sensation we do not experience now?  Our sense impressions are always changing.  What makes us so sure of cause and effect?  The answer, my smart people: nothing.

What is cause and effect, and why is it such a core part of our thinking?  Can we think in any other way?  The answer: no.  Why?

When humans speak to each other in any way, everything is based upon the structure of a story - a narrative.  Stories and narratives have a specific flow, a structure, a way of going from point A to point B in an expected sequence and structure.  What is cause an effect?  It is the foundational form of a story.  It is the simplest story possible.  I flipped the switch and then the light came on.  That is a very simple story.  I showed him the finger (The Bird) and he got pissed off.  Another story.  The scientist applied a voltage, and then, current flowed in the circuit, and the light came on.  Another story, in the same eternal structure.  

We may pause here and ask  the question about Truth.  Does not science tell us what really is going on?  Well, no.  Science largely explains cause and effect, and any observation is based upon a series of sensations, like any other observing.  Our conclusions based upon observations is a story of cause and effect.  

Thus, even science is based upon a story.  Like the Bible.  Like astrology.  Like Shakespeare.  We have a deep human need to have stories - cause and effect.  When we feel we have figured out cause and effect of a particular instance, we feel that we have control over our world.  Perhaps this is an illusion, but we humans cannot live without explanations - stories - cause and effect.  

What does this mean practically?  Let me tell you this, my smart friends: this means power.  It means power over your life.  How?  You can capture any narrative, and then you can change it at will.  Create a new story.  Create a new explanation.  Create a new narrative.  Your life, your reputation, what people know about you, what people say about you - all this is a story.  And, you have the ability to influence and even completely change the narrative.  This is your power.  When you learn the rules of telling stories, and explaining things and cause and effect, you can change the narrative of any story.  This is why during a “scandal” in politics and reporting, political thought leaders put so much emphasis on “controlling the narrative.”  When you control the narrative, you are in control - serious control.  

Think about that for a moment.  What is a reinterpretation of the facts?  It is a story based upon the facts.  Do you like the story?  Does the story benefit you?  If it does not, you can learn to rewrite the narrative.  This, my smart friends is the ultimate power over your life.  You can rewrite your story.  The more plausible the story is the one that wins.  

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So, my friends - my smart friends - change your story and change your life.

Just do it.  Now.

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Freddy Martini

Quotes for Reflection

Quotes for Reflection

Man is condemned to be free; because once thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything he does.   —Jean Paul Sartre

How free do we feel?  When we face the existential condition, what is left?  Perhaps we fear there is nothing there, sometimes.  Then we are ready to rediscover ourselves.

Each day is a little life: every waking and rising a little birth, every fresh morning a little youth, every going to rest and sleep a little death.  —Arthur Schopenhauer

The liturgy of life - we reflect the universe in compact form.  Life is a sequence of little stories.  Each story has beginning and end: birth and death.

Man cannot do without beauty, and this is what our era pretends to want to disregard.   —Albert Camus

We all know that life, God, evolution - whatever you want to call it - exalts strength and beauty.  It kills weakness and ugliness.  Perhaps it is time we rediscovered the foundations of nature, and adjust our worldview accordingly.

The worst thing I can be is the same as everybody else. I hate that.  —Arnold Schwarzenegger

Fading into the wall like a wall flower - is this our fate?  Perhaps for most, but if you are driven, fading into the ocean is the most repulsive idea.  Be the gun - not the holster.

He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you.  —Friedrich Nietzsche

Your enemy is your partner.  To defeat your enemy, you will have to reflect his strategy, in part, in order to defeat him.  Remember this before engaging an enemy: you become like him.  Yin-Yang: things tend to become their opposites.  Opposites tend to reflect one another.

It doesn’t matter how many people don’t get it. What matters is how many people do... If you strive to do anything remotely interesting, just expect a small percentage of the population to always find a way to take it personally. F*ck ‘em. There are no statues erected to critics.  — Tim Ferris

Will you be part of the top 20% who have high expectations and standards?  If you are the average of the 5 people you spend time with, what will you do to change this if it is not working out for you?  Courage, it takes courage to say no.

Take time to deliberate, but when the time for action has arrived, stop thinking and go in.  —Napoleon Bonaparte

How often do we smart people get caught up in Analysis Paralysis?  We can look around and see successful people who are not very smart - not as smart as we are.  They simply think about a situation, decide, then take action.  They deal with the consequences as they come, and not as they figure them beforehand.  We men of both brains and action need to meditate on this truth a little more often than our action-oriented brothers.

I begin by taking. I shall find scholars later to demonstrate my perfect right.  —Frederick the Great

In the world of serious matters, arguments are nothing.  Action is everything.  You cannot build your reputation on what you plan to do, but on what you have already done.  Arguments happen after the action is already done.  Remember to understand clearly the concept of Fait Accompli.  Some actions cannot be reversed; those who understand this and wield their power at the precise point at the precise moment often win big, and hold their gains.

Kind-hearted people might of course think there was some ingenious way to disarm or defeat the enemy without too much bloodshed, and might imagine this is the true goal of the art of war. Pleasant as it sounds, it is a fallacy that must be exposed: War is such a dangerous business that mistakes that come from kindness are the very worst.  —Carl von Clausewitz

Tough decisions are tough to make.  If a decision must be made, and we hesitate, we violate the Virtue of Fortitude.  Being kind is not a virtue, but Fortitude is.  Charity has its place, but never at the expense of Fortitude.  Leaders are called to make tough decisions.  Do not become a leader unless you have this level of Fortitude.

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Freddy Martini