How can we change human nature? There's an effect called the 'speed wobble' which affects motorcyclists and skate boarders. It's when you start going too fast and start wobbling so bad that you risk crashing and is extremely difficult to overcome. The thing about it is, it's not based on the board or the bike. It's not the speed. It's all in your head. You lean a little too far one way, and then your brain freaks out and tries to compensate the other way, but since you're full of adrenaline it overcompensates. So, then you overcompensate the other way. Soon you're wobbling all over the place and if you don't stop, you might just crash and burn. To stop the brain from doing that is nearly impossible. That's what it feels like as we head into what might be the next world war. Everyone who's pushing for it is doing it because they fear insecurity, but what they're doing is going to make everything far more insecure. Everyone who isn't paying attention needs to, but they don't want to. How do you get pro-war people to become pro-peace? How do you get pro-peace people to start taking it as seriously as they would a war?
as a motorcyclist I could refer to another driving metaphor (which also applies to the vile four-wheelers), namely the "tunnel vision" you get when you are running very fast, you know better than me. It's the moment when all the reality around you turns into a blur of images and you can only focus on one point in front of you.
The metaphor is self-explanatory and matches the "speed wobble" theory, I would say.
Hello, I just stumbled upon your Substack (via The Tarnished Gloriole). This piece resonated with me: I live in a remote guesthouse in the Brazilian mountain range Mantiqueira, spend a lot of time in our garden (also listening to podcasts, music), and it sometimes feels like I'm watching political changes across the globe from a very far off place. The lack of critical thinking is shocking, especially when I spend time in social media. But I do wonder if it's always been that way and we just notice it more now because of the excessive amount of people online (whereas before we had more of a top down filter and didn't hear as many voices through traditional media.) In any case, I think you are right that many don't seem to care, and many don't know what to do anymore.
Hello, thank you for your appreciation and comment.
This article of mine is actually outside the topics I usually cover, however I couldn't help but address the subject. The situation here in Europe has deteriorated even further, and there are now indeed winds of war... Yet consciences don't seem to stir at all: when it's going well, people come out of their shells only to give in to resignation and fatalism.
Who knows, maybe the beautiful place where you reside could be a true refuge from the world, and not just a threatened hortus conclusus...
It does seem quite inevitable.
How can we change human nature? There's an effect called the 'speed wobble' which affects motorcyclists and skate boarders. It's when you start going too fast and start wobbling so bad that you risk crashing and is extremely difficult to overcome. The thing about it is, it's not based on the board or the bike. It's not the speed. It's all in your head. You lean a little too far one way, and then your brain freaks out and tries to compensate the other way, but since you're full of adrenaline it overcompensates. So, then you overcompensate the other way. Soon you're wobbling all over the place and if you don't stop, you might just crash and burn. To stop the brain from doing that is nearly impossible. That's what it feels like as we head into what might be the next world war. Everyone who's pushing for it is doing it because they fear insecurity, but what they're doing is going to make everything far more insecure. Everyone who isn't paying attention needs to, but they don't want to. How do you get pro-war people to become pro-peace? How do you get pro-peace people to start taking it as seriously as they would a war?
Well dear Ninja,
as a motorcyclist I could refer to another driving metaphor (which also applies to the vile four-wheelers), namely the "tunnel vision" you get when you are running very fast, you know better than me. It's the moment when all the reality around you turns into a blur of images and you can only focus on one point in front of you.
The metaphor is self-explanatory and matches the "speed wobble" theory, I would say.
:)
Hello, I just stumbled upon your Substack (via The Tarnished Gloriole). This piece resonated with me: I live in a remote guesthouse in the Brazilian mountain range Mantiqueira, spend a lot of time in our garden (also listening to podcasts, music), and it sometimes feels like I'm watching political changes across the globe from a very far off place. The lack of critical thinking is shocking, especially when I spend time in social media. But I do wonder if it's always been that way and we just notice it more now because of the excessive amount of people online (whereas before we had more of a top down filter and didn't hear as many voices through traditional media.) In any case, I think you are right that many don't seem to care, and many don't know what to do anymore.
Hello, thank you for your appreciation and comment.
This article of mine is actually outside the topics I usually cover, however I couldn't help but address the subject. The situation here in Europe has deteriorated even further, and there are now indeed winds of war... Yet consciences don't seem to stir at all: when it's going well, people come out of their shells only to give in to resignation and fatalism.
Who knows, maybe the beautiful place where you reside could be a true refuge from the world, and not just a threatened hortus conclusus...