Inherent Vice (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2014)
Recently I mentioned the double slit experiment, but I didn't go into any detail, so for anyone who wishes to know, here are the deets:
Scientists wanted to know what was up with photons: were they particles, or waves? So they set up an experiment, and fired photons through a slit, one by one, to see what kind of pattern they made behind the slit. Lo and behold, they made a straight line, which means they had to be particles. Case closed. Time to crack out the Cuban cigars. But, just to be on the safe side, they decided to repeat the experiment by firing the photons through a double slit. If photons were particles, they'd make two straight lines, if they were waves, they'd make an interference pattern. Everyone was pretty sure what the outcome would be, but Scientists sure do love to double check things before lighting their Cubans. So they ran the experiment, and, frustratingly, they got an interference pattern. Meaning that photons were waves. God damn it. So they set everything up *again*, but this time they watched the photons closely to see how they were interfering with each other. And lo and behold, the photons formed two lines: meaning they were particles after all. Hell's bells. The outcome is infamous: we don't know whether photons are particles or waves, but we do know that the presence of an observer changes the outcome.
Which brings me on to The Bible. Or the Tanakh. You can choose. These are books that were written by dudes a long time ago. They tell stories that interrelate to each other for the first half, and then deviate for the second. Some people think these two books are fact, and some believe them to be fiction. But an entertaining possibility is to consider that they are whatever people want them to be.
That doesn't fly with you? Consider this: life is a hell of a thing, it's long (or short) and messy, and doesn't make a lot of sense. But to some people it makes perfect sense. They're able to navigate its intricacies by thinking about The Bible, or The Tanakh, all the time. People who believe in a thing have an overarching philosophy which enables them to navigate the madness of all of this stuff that we go through. Here's an example for you: I have a tree in my garden. I have no real idea where this tree came from, but at some point I'm going to have to deal with it, because...well, you know, it's a tree in my garden, and eventually it's going to grow to a point where it creates a problem. Somewhere in the back of my mind I've created a fiction whereby I planted that tree. Truthfully, I don't think that's the case. But I've somehow made it real. I can even remember doing it. Now, that never happened, I'm pretty sure of that, but the visual memory of me planting the tree is somehow preferable to the concept that it's all just chaos that I have to clean up at some stage. Anyway...
Maybe you're one of those people who doesn't buy the words of books written by dudes a long time ago. But you probably have your own systems of belief that enable you to get up in the morning, get your shoes on, and get out of the house. I mean, otherwise, what are you doing all this for? What I'm saying here is that whatever it is that allows you to make sense of everything is probably a good thing. To hell with the fact that you're probably seeing things which other people wouldn't see, or wouldn't notice. And sure, maybe you're making some aspects up in order to navigate these choppy waters, but whatever, you have a philosophy. And that's what you need.
The presence of the observer (that would be you) changes everything, and perhaps there's some kind of small or grand lie going on in there. But that's okay. After all, what choice do you have?
Scientists wanted to know what was up with photons: were they particles, or waves? So they set up an experiment, and fired photons through a slit, one by one, to see what kind of pattern they made behind the slit. Lo and behold, they made a straight line, which means they had to be particles. Case closed. Time to crack out the Cuban cigars. But, just to be on the safe side, they decided to repeat the experiment by firing the photons through a double slit. If photons were particles, they'd make two straight lines, if they were waves, they'd make an interference pattern. Everyone was pretty sure what the outcome would be, but Scientists sure do love to double check things before lighting their Cubans. So they ran the experiment, and, frustratingly, they got an interference pattern. Meaning that photons were waves. God damn it. So they set everything up *again*, but this time they watched the photons closely to see how they were interfering with each other. And lo and behold, the photons formed two lines: meaning they were particles after all. Hell's bells. The outcome is infamous: we don't know whether photons are particles or waves, but we do know that the presence of an observer changes the outcome.
Which brings me on to The Bible. Or the Tanakh. You can choose. These are books that were written by dudes a long time ago. They tell stories that interrelate to each other for the first half, and then deviate for the second. Some people think these two books are fact, and some believe them to be fiction. But an entertaining possibility is to consider that they are whatever people want them to be.
That doesn't fly with you? Consider this: life is a hell of a thing, it's long (or short) and messy, and doesn't make a lot of sense. But to some people it makes perfect sense. They're able to navigate its intricacies by thinking about The Bible, or The Tanakh, all the time. People who believe in a thing have an overarching philosophy which enables them to navigate the madness of all of this stuff that we go through. Here's an example for you: I have a tree in my garden. I have no real idea where this tree came from, but at some point I'm going to have to deal with it, because...well, you know, it's a tree in my garden, and eventually it's going to grow to a point where it creates a problem. Somewhere in the back of my mind I've created a fiction whereby I planted that tree. Truthfully, I don't think that's the case. But I've somehow made it real. I can even remember doing it. Now, that never happened, I'm pretty sure of that, but the visual memory of me planting the tree is somehow preferable to the concept that it's all just chaos that I have to clean up at some stage. Anyway...
Maybe you're one of those people who doesn't buy the words of books written by dudes a long time ago. But you probably have your own systems of belief that enable you to get up in the morning, get your shoes on, and get out of the house. I mean, otherwise, what are you doing all this for? What I'm saying here is that whatever it is that allows you to make sense of everything is probably a good thing. To hell with the fact that you're probably seeing things which other people wouldn't see, or wouldn't notice. And sure, maybe you're making some aspects up in order to navigate these choppy waters, but whatever, you have a philosophy. And that's what you need.
The presence of the observer (that would be you) changes everything, and perhaps there's some kind of small or grand lie going on in there. But that's okay. After all, what choice do you have?