I have come to accept the research telephone. Yeah, my understanding of the actual research is filtered through countless interlocking individuals and who knows how many narrative frameworks. The best I can do, without just getting a degree in the field, is to try to sample as many of these narrative interpretations as possible.

When I see the point made that we believe science like a new religion, I cannot help but see the glimmer of truth in that interpretation. Ok, sure, fine by me. I trust the mechanism of passive-aggressive peer review more than any holy text or hierarchy of clergy.

Most of what the study is proposing would be a modest decrease in living standards in developed countries, for a drastic increase in living standards everywhere else. It’s not asking you to give up luxury, only for the rate of new luxury to decrease slightly as surplus is more evenly distributed.

Cursed to look into the great mysteries of existence with a mind high tuned for pattern recognition and projecting familiar narratives.

Is that something beyond our current understanding? No, no, it’s just a familiar desktop environment. But fuck you if you project a name and a face into the unknown. That’s backwards and primitive!

When researchers say “observe” they actually mean “measure”. And when you’re working with sub-atomic particles, “measure” isn’t some passive activity. It’s an active thing. When you measure small particles you are applying some force upon them, changing them in some way from how they would otherwise act.

Imagine if you were tasked with measuring traffic on the other side of the planet, but you had no cameras. The only tool you had was a gigantic 30 ton, satellite-networked pendulum swinging across the highway. The only way you know if there are cars on the highway is if the pendulum thwacks into one of them. That’s quantum particle physics… I think.