Will recently emailed me and proposed a new Rule:
this will be called the ten-of-everything rule and it goes as follows:
“there are at least ten of everything.”
it does not refer to unicorns, although that would be nice. rather, it refers to people who know in their hearts that they have seen and touched a unicorn and are willing to say so under oath. it also refers to the swift boat veterans for truth.
the corollary to the ten-of-everything rule is the probably-only- like-10 rule, which states:
“…but there are probably only like ten, though.”
TOE and POLT for short.
when properly invoked, TOE and POLT work together to protect us against the consequences of our brains not being able to conceptualize of a world with 6.5 billion individuals and the complex web of relationships, infrastructure and events that that entails. we conceive of the pool of possibilities as being much smaller than it actually is. the gravest consequence of this is that we automatically assume that any unexpected phenomenon that suddenly arises is both (1) unique and (2) important. skilled craftsmen have already learned how to manipulate us via this cognitive illusion, but the radical refinement of technology such as aggregation allows this manipulation to reach dangerous levels. the only reasonable response is to cultivate a reactive attitude that marginalizes everything. grunge theorists in the late 20th century were making strides toward realizing this goal before the movement was infiltrated and assimilated.
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