Trigger Question #159:
Once upon a time, people believed that the earth is flat. Then cameras flew into space and proved that the earth was round. Except, apparently, those photos were fake. Because no people and no cameras have ever made it into space. So there you have it. Earth is flat again.
Come on, people. It’s time to admit that certainty does not exist. Well, maybe for a brief second or two. And then Earth moves again.
Which is why humans like us have always found it fun to go from certainty to uncertainty and back again. Some of us see facts where proof is invisible. Or we believe wholeheartedly in that which has others in two minds.
To top it all, nothing stays concrete in an annoyingly changing world. Not even concrete. Which is why I find it so strange, and often amusing, when someone jumps, with no fear or hesitation, straight to certainty.
Me? I prefer to start with a dollop of ambivalence and work myself to a position of jittery certainty. But then, I am an economist by formal education. And you know how economists like to express themselves. “On the one hand… And on the other hand…”
Which is why I define ambivalence as “on the one hand, on the other hand, back and forth.”
There’s an interesting law about ambivalence. It states that “a body at rest remains at rest, or, if in motion, remains in motion at a constant velocity unless acted on by a net external force.” Oh, that’s right. It’s Newton’s First Law of Motion.
It means you will remain certain (at rest), or ambivalent (in motion), unless something changes your mind.
But here’s the thing about ambivalence. It cannot continue indefinitely. That would be perpetual motion, and we already know that perpetual motion cannot exist. Because of friction. Eventually, friction will bring your ambivalence to a stop.
Friction? Yes, as irritation or exhaustion. Your ambivalence will irritate your colleagues to demand you pick a hand. On the other hand, your back-and-forth will finally exhaust you into picking a hand, any hand.
And that’s how ambivalence will magically make you certain.
Welcome to my side of the nonsense divide.
. . .