Things I think I think

It's been a while since I did one of these.. Just like the times we live in, these are mostly incoherent thoughts. Feedback is always appreciated.. 

• Writing is my getaway from the rest of the world, something I do for myself to step away from all the push and pull of the universe. So, I could say that I am writing this to get away from all that's happening in the world right now.. So I should try and avoid any mention of it throughout the post. Unfortunately right now everyone is thinking about it, it is what everyone is talking about anyway, so I'd be a fool to not write about it either. 

• Somewhere in the era of populism, I feel that expertise has been sacrificed. It is my belief, that an expert owes her allegiance to her field and the truth, no matter how uncomfortable it is. In this era, the one who is great at what she does is generally not the one in the ears of the person we have chosen to make a decision. Rather it is the person who says whatever it is that the decision maker wants to hear. Maybe if this had happened about 12-15 years ago, we would have been better off. 

 

• Growing up, we were always told that this was a world where you were better off providing an honest assessment, instead of a convenient one. That world barely exists any more. What remains is that there's very little humility floating around. There are always limits to what we know and what we can do, and the person who accepts these limitations is generally sidelined for the one with the "can-do" attitude, because that's the convenient option. If this is how things used to forever, then I am surprised  humanity has lasted this long. 

 

• It also bothers me too much that the people who matter have way too much invested in the status quo, materially and emotionally, that instead of focusing on what is right, their entire focus seems to be how quickly we can get back to normal. If you go back through recorded history, be it financially, climatically, technologically or ethically, this current era is probably the anomaly. Thus, what is this normal that we seek, and is that really a normal we want? Or is it time to come to an understanding of what is the normal that works for most? If that is to happen, can it happen in an era where trust on each other is almost zero?

 

• The fact is that at this point, I don't know what exactly I think about it. My normal mode used to be to take precautions about things, and then leave the rest to probabilities. And till now, for the most part, probabilities have been on my side. Or at least that has been my default mode. Stuff is what happened to other people. That was till my dad passed away. The circumstances of that event were of such low probability, that I have tempered my "take all precautions, and ride the wave" philosophy. 

Since then, as you can probably tell from this post, I don't know what to think anymore. I did manage to make an entire post without actually mentioning it, didn't I?