Belly Button Lint

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Tag: perception

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    Revealing the new ideal

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    1–2 minutes

    There are moments in political history and even scientific thought when an “ideal” takes hold of a population, such as Reaganomics or identity politics. For 30 or 40 years, this ideal seems to explain who we are to ourselves, how strong or weak we are, and how we identify with the dream. Yet, eventually, the contradictions within it become increasingly unsustainable. A new ideal presents itself, forcing a break and allowing us to reestablish our identity with fresh attachment points.

    Consider that this dispensation was always there; we were simply captured by an ideology that kept us blind to alternative options.

    The process of disagreement to acceptance is a slow revelation, an enlightenment process of increased sight. And seeing is believing; thus, political action -symbolic warfare- begins until it too crumbles when our gleeful, shiny ideal impacts reality, becoming tarnished, used, and dingy.

    From here, our alienation converts us back to seeking, looking for new words that align with our emotional vision of self. And magically, the cause was always there, merely waiting to be revealed and foisted high.

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    Intensity: Quantity vs Magnitude

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    1–2 minutes

    Henri Bergson reminds us that intensity, particularly in feelings, is less about measurable quantity and more about qualitative magnitude.

    Emotions (feelings) resist precise calculation; they unfold as experiences shaped by perception, memory, and context. While we can measure stress hormones or neural activity, these fail to capture the totality of intensity: the combination of variables in context amplifying each other.

    Our tendency toward availability bias skews this even further, as the present moment overshadows past incidents. Reflection and detachment may help recalibrate our sense of proportion, but to focus on any one event is to empower it beyond measure.

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    The Image Bias

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    1–2 minutes

    A question I have repeatedly heard about Trump or Biden is: “But how does it look? Can you see that person in charge?”

    This usually appears when you have gently dissuaded or countered a few hyperbolic statements with opposing facts. When we run out of reason and facts we appeal to aesthetics: what you believe is how you feel about the image.

    Attacking the image is a root instinct to attack the symbol: if the person does not appear presidential/fatherly/powerful, it insults my aesthetic pride.

    Despite our layers of logic obfuscating core motivations, we are very visual and socialized animals reacting to appearances far more strongly than we know.

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    symbolic to particular

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    1–2 minutes

    Watch the arguments move between symbolic and particular traits: we love the art but abhor the person, OR we love what he/she stands for, so we will excuse their character flaws.

    For instance, when America’s hopes are pinned symbolically on Trump or Biden, we wish for the symbol to overcome personal flaws. (In essence, every universal symbol/signifier is empty and needs to be filled, fleshed out, but the alignment cannot be perfect.)

    To disparage a symbol, we debase the concrete, particular individual’s specific traits, showing the hypocrisy between the symbol and the flesh. Yet, when we must argue for our side, we ignore the specific human and resort to the aligned characteristics.

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    Representative Democracy: The monarch

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    1–2 minutes

    A second argument against representative democracy is the bureaucratic management that blocks change and disperses accountability. Meanwhile, the benefit of a monarch is that they should care deeply and be attentive lest their head be removed.

    While power can operate behind the monarch, having a singular figurehead allows for a lightning rod and scapegoat; people crave a visible leader and target, not invisible functionaries. However, the risk of notoriety (becoming the figurehead) is rewarded with perceived power converted to real power: the monarch can tyrannically dismiss the puppeteers. This should force a tremulous alliance of mutual use and disdain.

    The positive and negative aspects are long-term stability and a deft reliance on appearances to simulate balance and care, something democracy attempted to circumvent and yet has increasingly embodied.

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    The reverse uncanny Valley

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    1–2 minutes

    Benjamin Bratton speaks of the reversal of the “uncanny valley.”

    The uncanny valley is when an artificial construct gets very close to looking or behaving as human; its proximity to the real thing is precisely why it becomes more disturbing, even evoking horror or disgust.

    As technology gets better and creates informational duplicates of us (digital persona) we now become disturbed when we see ourselves through the eyes of technology.

    Our digital double, the data construct, is perhaps too accurate to stomach; not a replicant of a human, but data’s exact portrayal stripped of our context and self-deception.

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    Expanding The Real

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    1–2 minutes

    What if every time we refer to “reality,” it creates a perspective shift? (We must determine our frame for perception to engage in contemplation.)

    This means we can no longer fully comprehend what is in front of us and are limited to appearances, which are further determined by our perspectival position. This means actual reality is ungraspable, shifting “reality” into a symbolic stand-in, i.e., The Real.

    The issue becomes not what you are looking at but the position(s) from which you consider.

    This implies that, retroactively, things previously dismissed offer new insights as you gain perspectives over time, implying that The Real draws closer to its namesake as we expand.

    This means we gain understanding not from closure or singularity but from excessive multiplicity of positionality.

    (This is possibly very incorrect.)

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    Prior Understanding

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    1–2 minutes

    Before we understood the science of harmonics, we instinctively knew about octaves. For example, the note of A was recognized with two common octaves before we named it. Using science, we confirmed our perception: we discovered the halving of octave frequencies (880 Hz to 440 Hz).

    This embodied knowledge -our body as a tuning fork- can pick up on realities beyond our mental cognition, yet it does not make these realities mystical. What does seem magical, indeed mysterious, is the ability of notes in sequence to create an altered state in humans.

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    identification double-down

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    1–2 minutes

    We all have certain traits that we identify with, such as intelligence or kindness. However, we may feel the need to exaggerate and elevate these traits to appear more special and deserving than we actually are.

    This may involve engaging in gray morality (hedging) to gain an advantage. For instance, we may believe that we deserve more time off, special consideration, or forgiveness when in thee wrong.

    Ultimately, this behavior is driven by our insecurities, which in turn creates situations that are not secure.

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    Liberalism ouroboros

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    1–2 minutes

    The original liberal progressive future insisted that any traits of circumstance, race, or geography would cease to meaningfully matter: your biology and ethnicity would be interesting or compelling, but essentially “meaningless.”

    Your character and humanity would matter to such a degree that traits you could not control would not control you.

    Yet, seen structurally, and then post-structurally, the environment determines your/our reactions, and “proper character” is proliferated by the powerful, and others’ reaction to you shapes you. Thus your character is made by appearances and normalcy: externally, not internally, despite your vaunted subjective, phenomenal truth.

    The initial argument of liberalism releases abstract logic to counter uncontrollable factors, which was circled back into dependence on uncontrollable factors (the luck of birth traits and location) as primary motivating signifiers; that is, labels rehung after a brief dream of freedom.

    Dumb dependence is easier to signify, so freedom consumes itself and yet still calls itself liberal.