Thursday, July 19, 2007

Once again, Shida’s mature words have inspired me to write something quite the opposite. I guess you can call me either rebellious or childish, but it is actually just part of the great ultimate enlightenment.

Although I do not know the exact detail of Shida’s discussion, I have to say that obviously this kind of things are not a simple matter of probability, where if there is a greater than half chance of success it is attempted. After all, this is the mechanism which supposedly brought about human civilization and whatever little success it can boast. Humans, like all other beasts, was designed or (evolved for all you non believers out there) to be unable to make a logical choice when the problem comes down to questions of primal instinct such as in this case. Like the male praying mantis walking into certain death in its courtship, instinctively each individual would try his or best even though the chances of success might be slim. This way, it is ensured that the competition for mates is maintained at a high level, and the victors are true and worthy representations of the species’ elite individuals.

Of course, due to the level of human development some smart alec members of the species have already taken the matter into their own hands. Obviously this can mean only one thing. When individuals cease to put in their utmost efforts in their attempts to pass on their genes, the competition for genetically superior mates become lower and lower in profile, and the strongest might no longer be the victors simply because of the reason that they are not putting in their maximum efforts.

Slightly sidetracking a bit here, we realize how ironic it is, that humans want privilege and a different treatment compared to other beasts, yet when an innovation they don’t like pops up, they can quickly switch sides and call whatever that is an abomination of nature, or man playing god. This is apparent when discussing issues of reproduction. Humans can make use of contraceptives, family planning, and “logical choice” to refuse putting in the maximum effort into producing offspring, but when eugenics appears on the scene, a truly artificial version of evolution which can potentially serve the same purpose as natural selection, they immediately label it as artificial, man playing god, or discriminatory. If this goes on, the end result is inevitable. A slow, but gradual deterioration of the human gene pool, and this would eventually cause the human race to de-evolve back into a race of “culturally advanced” monkeys.

Really ingenious, when you think of it carefully, that when the human race can choose either to detach itself entirely from nature and decide what is best for, or follow strictly the laws of nature, it chooses to take the worse of both worlds and cause its own downfall.

Despite me having said all this, I know that most would ignore me, preferring continue in their own selfish ways, and since my core beliefs doesn’t have any problems with that kind of attitude, I shall look at the problem from your preferred angle of self-benefit. You will, of course, realize the answer is still the same.

In order for your friend to decide whether or not to show his feelings, it is really not important what is the absolute percentage possibility of success. You see what is more important, is obviously the relative probability of success at that instant in time, compared to if he were to wait longer, or if he decided to show his feelings earlier. You realize that this probability of success is a function of time, and hence even if there is only 1% chance of success at the moment, it would still be worth the risk if the remainder of the times the probability of success is 0%. In other words, if he thinks he can become a closer friend and raise his chances, he should wait, and if they is drift apart it is probably better to take the risk there and then. It is sort of like the stock market, really, you hold some stocks in your hand and you decide prices are too low, then the prices plunge the next day and you never ever get the chance to sell the stocks again.

What about the option of giving up altogether? Well, that is the kind of decision that can end up in hearts so heavy they seem to be tied down to lead bars. Like my own. A piece of advise for those who do not desire overwhelming sadness: take your chances and do what you want to do. It is better to try and be rejected and live with the regret of never having tried in the first place.

Shida, I think you shouldn’t place so much weight on your life, since the heaviest of consequences are but mere specks of dust compared to the infinite nothingness of the universe, which I remind you the molecules and charges that is you were once part of. At the end of it, as long as things might stick with us, it is but a mere lifetime, similarly insignificant in the endless eternity of time. In short too much pressure to make the right choices isn’t good; it ends up in things like depression you probably don’t want to be suffering from. Why, right and wrong wouldn’t exist at all if not for the folly of those mortal men who created them to fool others just as stupid.