Imagining the Mundane
A heuristic is a mental shortcut, and one of my most commonly used heuristics is to imagine the most boring, conventional, mundane version of something before making any decisions about it.
When deciding on a new home base—a rental apartment, for instance—it’s tempting to envision a version of my life that is optimal and heightened before mentally placing it in that space and deciding whether it’s the right fit.
Yes, there’s a chance that I will use all that extra square-footage, and there’s a chance that I’ll utilize all those built-in appliances and devices that make the space seem especially luxurious and impressive.
But there’s also a chance that I won’t.
I may end up paying for gobs of extras space that I don’t use—rooms that I never even step foot in—and each of those high-end appliances may become just one more thing to clean, maintain, and periodically consider learning how to use before once again realizing I don’t have any real use for it.
I find that this approach helps me temper my initial burst of perhaps-unwarranted enthusiasm about some new whatever by diluting my default impression with a dose of alternative thinking.
It may be that I actually do make use of those fancy built-in gadgets, and do make use of all that extra space; but if I didn’t, would the flat still be worth the money I would be paying for it?
If I did not live up to expectations predicated on an imaginary version of my lifestyle, and assumptions made about what a future version of myself would prioritize and value, would I regret signing that rental agreement?
Maybe, maybe not.
There’s a chance that having extra space and those snazzy devices would add something significant to my life.
There’s also a chance that such accoutrements would add nothing, or would add a little something, but not so much that it justifies the inflated rental cost.
Making such decisions without first considering alternative, less-fun-to-think-about potentialities seems imprudent to me.
Failing to imagine the many possible mundane outcomes means I’m more likely to make decisions based on knee-jerk, emotional reflexes rather than an honest assessment of how things might actually turn out.
This mental shortcut is not perfect, and it won’t always paint an accurate picture of things. But I find it’s a useful perspective when thinking about apartments I might rent, projects I might start, tools I might use, and relationships I might invest in.
It helps me round out my initial, gut-driven sense of something with a plausible counter-narrative that helps me see more of what I’m considering as I attempt to imagine the outcomes that might stem from my decision.
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Projects
Brain Lenses: Foveal Vision & Enclothed Cognition
Let’s Know Things: Food Delivery Apps
Yesterday’s Newsletter: Nayib Bukele, War Crimes, New Sanctions
Curiosity Weekly: March 2, 2021
Other: We are still far from done with this pandemic, but there’s enough light on the horizon that I’m beginning to think about next steps in a more concrete way, and it’s exciting and strange and I don’t know how much stock to put in anything I’m coming up with, yet.
Part of this next-step thinking is related to the public speaking I usually do: something that tends to bring in a not-insignificant portion of my income each year, and something that I truly enjoy, in part because of how it differs from other communication mediums, and in part because it generally allows me to meet the folks on the other end of my work more directly.
I’ve been keeping tabs on online variations of this, and will still dabble in the coming months, but I’m truly looking forward to a day when we can safely do in-person events again—perhaps augmented by some of the tools that we’ve come to know a bit better during this lockdown. The idea of being able to give in-person talks with an online component is particularly compelling to me, as it would allow folks who can’t show up or who don’t want to show up for whatever reason, to participate; and I think that would be neat.
Interesting & Useful
Some neat things to click:
Astrophysicists Re-Imagine World Map(a more accurate map projection)
A New Way to Trace the History of Sci-Fi’s Made-Up Words(and here is the dictionary itself)
How to Escape the Confines of Time and Space According to the CIA(such a fascinating realm of inquiry)
How To Fall 35,000 Feet and Survive(I sincerely hope none of us ever need this advice)
Arkadia Zoomquilt(this style of animated art always impresses me)
Researchers Explore Using Light To Levitate Discs In the Mesosphere(science!)
Scientists Achieve Real-Time Communication With Lucid Dreamers in Breakthrough(another slightly woo but still very interesting realm of inquiry)
Outro
I am optimistic about our pandemic outlook, but it’s worth remembering that just as the pandemic itself has been uneven in terms of who’s experiencing the worst of it, so too will the pandemic “end” be unevenly distributed. And that’s unfortunate on both a humanistic level, and because only handling things in pockets leaves everyone more vulnerable to mutations and other potential threat vectors.
So while there’s some very impressive work happening in this space at the moment, and while that innovation and distribution of innovation is worth celebrating, it’s important to remember that estimates say that people in some parts of the world won’t have access to the same vaccines and treatments at the necessary scale for things to return to “normal” until 2023.
This is worth keeping in mind as we imagine new ways to organize and utilize the tools we have available moving forward, but also as we refine our mental models about the world and how things work in it, today—and how we might tweak things to achieve better outcomes for more people, more of the time.
Are you seeing any changes, in pandemic-life or life in general, in your neck of the woods? Making any personal plans, or taking on any new projects?
You can say hello and/or submit an awkward selfie at colin@exilelifestyle.com or by responding to this email.
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