The user manual for my blog: why and how I write (and how to read my texts)
22.7.2024
„If you drill deep enough you will find water anywhere“ - My father Tomaso Lardelli (geologist)
The way we see the world determines how we act in it. And as humankind seems to be stuck in a destructive endless loop today, I think it is essential to search for alternative explanations of our observations, of all the data we collect.
I do this not with the intention to create a new truth (which - of course - necessarily generates new constraints) but to shatter a well established and generally accepted old view.
My hope ist, that this allows us to see the world in a different way which also opens options to act differently and also - most importantly - to think in new directions: not knowing means freedom for the mind. Every aspect of a subject which is unknown offers an additional degree of freedom for the process of discovering novel solutions (and therefore for making dreams come true). It opens new possibilities for creation and change.
My preferred drilling sites are somehow competing with established large water utilities from which I believe that they pump particularly dirty water out of the ground. I drill somewhere else to show that there could be water too. Possibly much cleaner water. If I really find some, I’m not interested in building a shiny water utility at the site. I simply walk away and start to drill somewhere else.
Therefore, the only thing you will get when you read here are dirty drilling holes with a handful of muddy water at the bottom. If this disappoints you, I’m sorry: my strengths simply don’t allow me to do more.
If we now have, let’s say, two different interpretations of our observations. According to which one should we act? You could say „the one which is more likely“. This seems logical but I think it is wrong: the more unlikely one could offer far better options for humankind. And it might be true! Therefore the smart thing to do is to test the better option in any case. If it is flawed, then we will find out soon. Or in other words: we should always take some short term risks if it gives us a chance to improve our wellbeing on the long run.
Sometimes friends tell me that the spot where I’m currently drilling happens to be exactly on their nerve. And that it really hurts them. I think this pain comes from fears, that I might find dirty water: interpretations which sound convincing but are actually wrong. Yes, this is - of course - absolutely possible. But does it mean that we are not allowed to drill there? I think rather not. Not incomplete or even wrong knowledge is the problem but people getting stuck with it because they start to believe (and today they are unfortunately mostly taught to to do this).
A flawed idea becomes only dangerous if we deny ourselves to abandon it.
And: yes, the truth can be inconvenient, but a clearer picture from it is always better than a foggy one. Imagine a field which is know to contain a mine. Now if the (almost) exact location of the mine is known, we can simply build a small fence around the spot and still use 99% of the field. If we don’t know anything about the location of the mine the whole field becomes useless.
Therefore: yes I will continue drilling on your nerve spot. I’m very sorry for your pain. Consider me your dentist helping you out with a foul tooth (don't worry, I will charge you only very little).
If you have already read some of my texts, you will have noticed their annoyingly poor quality. There are several reasons for this. First of all I have a rather lazy nature.
The second reason is, that there are so many promising spots for drilling that it is hard for me to waste too much time on a single one. I feel like the fox who managed to break into the henhouse: it’s just too good to be true, so many topics that I’m tempted to just kill them all (and then fall asleep without having eaten any of them).
And the third, a bit embarrassing reason, is: I never managed to understand English punctuation rules, no matter how hard I tried. Therefore, the commas are missing or worse. Sorry for this too. I’m sure you are smart enough to add them (wrong in your way) in your mind.
But my sloppy stile of working also has a positive side: it makes it very difficult for you to make a guru out of me. And to become a guru is one of my worst nightmares. So if you, while reading one of my posts, think along the lines of „True, It is interesting what he is tinkering here, but he does it so poorly that it really annoys me. I think I could do this better! I’ll put this on the side and use my Saturday afternoon to come up with something superior.“ then this is for me the best possible outcome! Write me how poor my texts are (including your suggestions for improvements - I'll publish them!) and make me really really happy.
I consequently avoid sentences of the form „It is possible that XXX might be true“ and the like. I always simply write „XXX is true“. Always. Because it declutters my texts considerably as otherwise I would have to add such a clause to every single sentence I write. And I even think that every single sentence of non-fiction text should have been written like this. That it cannot be „the“ truth is simply implied! This is so clear that I really should not need to mention it!
If you say now „OK, but nobody else on this planet does that“ then I say: in this case, I insist that I'm doing it properly and everybody else the wrong way.
And if you tell me „OK, but I would like to know how likely your results are, so I can decide what I should believe and what not“.
What? You really like this sentences where the author starts with „My rival X’s theory is most unlikely“ and continues with „but my results undoubtedly show that….“?
When people use all this „might,could,maybe,possibly,likely“ words, they don't use them because they are humble or they kindly allow your brain to save some glucose. No, they use them because it allows them to manipulate you (usually they are not aware of this but still).
If you want to believe, for God’s sake, go to church! And if you happen to be an atheist then go playing „Super Mario Bros“ and please please never read again: your reading will do more damage than good by cluttering your mind with useless beliefs.
To say it loud and clear now: to estimate the likelihood of truth is only (!) your damn job!
Therefore if you think while reading my texts „this guy is so overconfident, all this might be wrong“ this is exactly how I like it. It will motivate you to use your brain. It will lure you into helping me drilling instead of standing at the edge of the drilling hole and watching me do all the hard work alone.
Recently a good friend got really angry about one of my texts. He explained me that my ideas could be very damaging in case they were wrong. And after reading my text carefully again, I realized that he was right. Sometimes knowledge can be dual-use: it could be a nice building block for a future paradise (what I mainly tend to look for) but also a weapon in the fucked up world we live in today.
But should we stop to make useful inventions only because they can be used in the wrong way? Is it not time now to finally change the way we live together instead?
Sometimes, when I mention an alternative idea about something to a friend, I get a „what are you talking? Everybody knows that this is not true!“. Then I know that I have spotted one of the really huge mammoths. The kind of mammoth which can feed whole humankind if we could hunt it down together.
And this is how I choose the topics for my posts. To throw the first spear. What are you standing over there and watching? Do you really think I can do this alone? The mammoth is now wounded and angry. Help me! Join the hunt!
