COMPARISONS

this morning i have both watched the final episode of a series from denmark called Rita and finished the final chapter of a book titled This Life, by martin hagglund. I found one affective and effective, the other neither affective nor effective. 

the problem with books by academics is that their authors seem to have spent too much time reading books by academics and not enough time looking around. if mr hagglund had looked around much, one of the first things he would probably have deduced is that the universe is profoundly darwinian, profoundly ad hoc, and does not follow anyone’s preconceived notions but develops notions as a product of assembling itself, just as every organism within it does. the building instructions do not come first but are part of the construction and are a natural consequence of the act of building. 

that is not only the way life in the universe assembles itself, it is also the only way social changes occur. for anyone to become so enamored of their own ideas, a version of themselves, that they truly think they have written a directive for change — which is a spontaneous and continuing, neverending quality of cosmos — is folly. 

i will forget mr hagglund and his outdated notions soon, Rita not so soon. 

i hope to remember this lesson too.