No B.S Friday: How complex are you, really?
I don’t mind killing ants.
I mean, I’m not out there killing them for amusement or anything.
But you know, sometimes they get into the pantry, and you just got to do what you gotta do.
But I don’t feel bad about it.
First, there’s a school of thought that says individual ants aren’t individual entities – no more than your cells aren’t individual entities.
Each ant is just a cell of a larger super-organism.
In that way, killing ants is like trimming the hair of your head.
But also, at the end of the day, ants are just chemical robots.
Marvellous, miraculous chemical robots, but still robots. They respond to chemical incentives, moment to moment.
There’s no problem solving. There’s no cognition.
(I was reading about some ants the other day where if you spray them with ‘dead ant smell’, they will pick themselves up and take themselves over to the dead ant pile and just sit there.)
So in that way, they’re sort of just robots – little mechanisms following the commands of chemical “If… then…” protocols.
(Which is still incredible. Don’t get me wrong. It’s a wonder.)
But I’m not shedding a tear for these little clone robots getting into my peanut butter.
Now let’s talk about humans. Humans are not ants. Humans are different.
And they’re different because… well… Um… They make art and complain about society. .?
And I’m letting you in on one of the secrets of my world view here.
At the end of the day, the difference between us and ants is one of complexity, not of kind.
We too are chemical robots, following our own biological “If… then…” commands.
“If hungry, stick tasty thing in mouth.”
Now we like to flatter ourselves and tell us that there’s a lot more going on than there is. We think it’s reason. But it’s generally not.
It’s just protocols adapted to the incredibly complex realities of social life.
“If the people who can provide me with safety and resources are sad, then make them happy.”
Now I know some of you are going to resist this idea. (Such predictable robots.) But it’s actually essential that you acknowledge your true nature.
Because if you do, you will realise that it is actually easy to hack your own biology, and set yourself up with habits and systems that create the outcomes you want.
And if you don’t, then you will fall victim to every marketing agency or con artist who knows how humans actually work.
(Marketing is literally the science of pushing the human robot’s buttons without them knowing about it.)
It’s a tough reality to face. We want to believe that we are special, unique expressions of love and soul.
But we’re not. We’re fleshy robots with primitive operating systems.
Real growth only happens after you accept this.
And begin to work with it.
JG.