Tell me about when things are arbitrary and people think their choice isn't...

As an adjunct to my last blog post: United We Stand: Bridging America's Divides...

A talk my son had this week with an AI:

Tell me about when things are arbitrary and people think their choice isn't.

AI:

Ah, the fascinating world of human decision-making! There are many instances where people believe their choices are based on solid reasoning, but in reality, they might be more arbitrary than they think. Here are a few examples:

1. Brand Loyalty

People often stick to certain brands, believing they offer superior quality or value. However, studies have shown that brand loyalty can be influenced by arbitrary factors like advertising, packaging, or even the order in which they encountered the brands.

2. Voting Behavior

Voters might think their political choices are based on careful consideration of policies and candidates. Yet, research suggests that many voters are influenced by factors like a candidate's appearance, name recognition, or even the weather on election day.

3. Consumer Choices

When shopping, people might believe they are making rational decisions based on price and quality. However, factors like product placement, store layout, and even background music can subtly influence their choices.

4. Personal Preferences

People often have strong preferences for things like food, music, or hobbies. While they might think these preferences are deeply personal, they can be shaped by arbitrary factors like cultural exposure, peer influence, or even random experiences.

5. Risk Perception

Individuals often believe they are making rational decisions about risk, such as in financial investments or health behaviors. However, cognitive biases like the availability heuristic (relying on immediate examples that come to mind) can lead to arbitrary risk assessments.

6. Social Conformity

People might think they are making independent choices, but social conformity can play a significant role. The desire to fit in or be accepted by a group can lead to decisions that are more about social dynamics than personal preference.

In many cases, our brains are wired to seek patterns and make quick decisions, which can lead to arbitrary influences creeping in. It's a reminder of the complexity and sometimes unpredictability of human behavior.

Ever noticed any of these in your own life?

What's the name for a political viewpoint that includes both liberalism and conservativism situationally instead of just one or the other.

The political viewpoint you're describing is often referred to as "centrism" or "moderate". Centrists or moderates tend to adopt positions from both liberal and conservative ideologies, depending on the issue at hand. They aim to find a balance between the two extremes, advocating for pragmatic and practical solutions rather than strictly adhering to one ideology.

Centrism can vary widely, as it depends on the specific context and the individual's personal beliefs. Some centrists might lean more towards liberal policies on social issues while favoring conservative approaches to economic matters, or vice versa.

It's a flexible and situational approach to politics, focusing on what works best for a given situation rather than sticking to a rigid ideological framework. Does this align with what you had in mind?

How do you compare progressive and moderate in relation to these political points?

Progressives and moderates often differ in their approach to political issues, even if they might share some common goals. Here's a comparison:

Progressives

• Social Issues: Progressives typically advocate for rapid and significant changes to address social inequalities. They support policies like universal healthcare, free college education, and strong environmental regulations.

• Economic Policies: They often favor higher taxes on the wealthy and large corporations to fund social programs and reduce income inequality.

• Government Role: Progressives believe in a more active government role in regulating the economy and providing social services.

• Change: They push for transformative changes and are often seen as more radical in their approach.

Moderates

• Social Issues: Moderates tend to support incremental changes and seek a balance between progressive and conservative views. They might support some social programs but prefer more gradual implementation.

• Economic Policies: They often advocate for a balanced approach, supporting both market-driven solutions and some level of government intervention.

• Government Role: Moderates believe in a limited but effective government role, focusing on practical and achievable solutions.

• Change: They prefer pragmatic and incremental changes, aiming to find common ground between different political ideologies.

In essence, progressives are more likely to push for bold and sweeping reforms, while moderates seek a middle path, balancing progressive and conservative ideas to achieve practical solutions. This situational approach allows moderates to adapt their views based on the specific issue at hand, rather than adhering strictly to one ideology.

 Compiled with the aid of AI

Seeking death, destruction, murder...or, what?

What exactly is it most of us seek in life? We all seek bliss in our lives really, don't you think? Not death, not destruction, not murder, but happiness, joy...bliss, in our lives. We want to be happy. To the point that in the US Declaration of Independence the "Pursuit of Happiness" is even mentioned:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."

Of late there are many who think it is high time we dissolve our government and create a new one because of that passage. Yes, our government has issues. But strangely, it is those who seem most unhappy with our "big government" who would like to change it and make it just what they are railing against. To make a government where they are happy but most of the rest of us are not.

The Republican party has had many problems of late, bu it looks like they may finally be getting it, that they have been broken for a long time and it is not so much out government, as it is their party and the miserable things they have been perpetrating upon the United States and then delusionally thinking it is someone else who is doing it to them. They have exhibited delusions of grandeur and paranoia for so long they have finally imploded.

But that's not what I'm here to talk about. I'm here to point out that much of our misery can be self generated and self corrected. Much like the Republican party and it's ultra conservative lost sheep who have been driving the clown car over there when everyone knows, sheep can't drive.

Like it or not, seeking our bliss is all any of us really do in life. We just don't always realize it. Of course some of us do seek the opposite and revel in misery. But typically it's the same thing, their bliss meter has just gotten thrown into reverse somehow.

If you seek the opposite of what everyone else seeks, it's really just the flip side, isn't it? It's easy to just GO in the other direction, to seek the polar opposite of something. It's like pilots who find they are flying a plane upside down believing they are flying it upside right. They completely ignore their instruments to the contrary and fly right into the ground. Only realizing they have been wrong the moment they see the ground entering their cockpit windows.

Seeking your own direction is hard and all the more enjoyable a journey, even when you are seeking the wrong thing. Besides, some of us just need therapy.

The trouble with all this is this and only this. Finding bliss is a nearly impossible task. Maintaining it mostly IS impossible.

If you seek the bliss of doing any one thing, there will always be another thing that counters it in some way for you and so you although you will get your bliss, it will become corrupted, even before you begin.

That's the nature of being a human being.

One could say that we can never be happy. But it's better to say that we can. Don't you think? And yet, it's always a challenge.

One needs to find positive patterns and appreciate those and simply put off, or if need be, ignore the negative. Because life is what you make it. If you choose to see the positive and the beautiful you will stat to notice that more. If you choose to notice the negative and the ugly, then that is what you will feel there is more of in your life.

Have you heard about he number 23 enigma? As it is stated: "23 Enigma is the belief that all incidents and events associated with number 23 (e.g. which happened on the 23rd of any month) are somehow tied into a centuries-old plan, possibly, devised by THEM."

In reality it's all about pattern recognition. What's does that have to to with life, or bliss? You will stat to see what you choose to see around you and in life. If your life is truly so miserable that you find this impossible, it is one of two things. Your life truly is that horrible and there are millions around the world living that reality right now. Or, you refuse to consciously do what you need to do.

If your life is that miserable you may need to evoke change, leave your life, make massive changes, move, whatever it takes. For some there is nothing to be done and to those you have my condolences and there is nothing I can or perhaps you can, do about it.

I'm referring here however to those who can do something for most of the world is in a situation where something positive can be done. We just choose not to see it, or we do not have the option of being able to see it. Sometimes you can see change simply by walking over the top of the next hill to see what you've never seen before. But many times it is all in your head and those are the ones I'm talking to here.

What do you want to make of your life, after all?

Make it be the best it can be.

Which isn't to say that you should ignore the bad or do nothing about it. Or simply choose to not see it. Surely if there is something you can do to eliminate the bad in your life, do it. It's worth the effort although that may be a ways down the road for you from the point of that change being initiated.

Still it is to say that however things are, it is all about how you choose to make them appear to yourself within what you have to work with.

Start to smile even if you don't want to. Project to others a happiness that is infectious. Stat to look for the good around you. Start to appreciate what is good and beautiful. I used to commute daily, two hours from home to work, two hours on the way back in the afternoon. I had to drive, bus, ferry and walk.

It was getting me down after some years of this. It occurred to me one day to consider the good I might be missing. So I made up my mind to start paying attention and nearly immediately I started to see good all around me. Forms and shapes in buildings and nature that were truly beautiful. People doing things for one another, strangers helping each other, people doing a kindness that no one noticed, little things sometimes that in observing had big repercussions on me.

Oddly, that was all it took for me and suddenly my commute started to be a more enjoyable thing. I still wanted out of my commute. I wanted four hours a day back that I could be spending on my own things or with my family. Eventually I achieved that desire. But during the miserable times of still commuting I found a way to make it livable and more beautiful.

You can also find patterns in your day and break with them. When you notice that you focus on something in certain situations, find those things and make a conscious effort to break your concentration on those times and consider what is in that situation that has a positive influence on you.

Start to notice things you never notice be it the actions of an insect, a bird, a beam of sunlight, a wind blowing a piece of trash around in an interesting pattern, whatever you can find that fascinates you. Notice those things in daily life that fascinate you, that make you curious outside of the daily routine you live through, exist through, survive through each day.

There is an unending wealth of beauty, of the curious, the intriguing, that surrounds us everyday, in every moment and we tend to ignore 99% of all those things. We have to in order to pay attention to what we think is important. If you are a firefighter and you do this, you could die, o people around you could die. So take that into consideration.

Notice what you should be noticing when you should be noticing it.

It can be done. Consider... if you are miserable, just how much of that is your own doing and how much of the time you can actually do something about it.

Go forth and live your bliss. It may not be he bliss you want, but it may be a bliss the universe is offering you at that moment. Don't ignore it. Appreciate it. Revel in it. Use it. Use it to you advantage.

It may all be more "doable" than it seems. Bliss, surrounds us, if we will just let it in and if we truly want it.