The essay format is great for fully-formed thoughts, but I have plenty of thoughts that don’t meet that standard. Still, they’re clogging up the noggin, so I have to get them out somehow – hence this format.
The Curse of Relative Assessment
I’m sure you’ve heard the old saying that “the grass is always greener on the other side”, with the moral being that people never see what’s good about their situation, and only see what’s good about others’ situations. It also shows, however, that people like to reason relatively – not by taking objective measures, but by comparing. While this is usually the more useful form of reasoning, the fact is that sometimes, an objective lens is needed. Whether that is because of changing circumstances or excessive expectations, it helps to do it both ways to recalibrate.
Example: “GDP grew 4% compared to 6% last year” vs. “GDP growth slows by 33% this year”.
The first formulation is absolute or objective, and shows that there is still growth – the second implies disaster, even if it isn’t. Still, the first instinct is to hop to a comparison, which can cause undue stress.
Old Habits are Hard to Break
Those who were locked down in the COVID-19 pandemic quickly learned this one first-hand.
Almost overnight, a majority of the world population was locked at home, with only essential workers and errands allowed. Socializing, non-essential work, hobbies, everything moved online, accelerating the trend of gadget reliance and the movement towards screen-based socialization, rather than person-based socialization. Mass consumption of media, online classes and meetings, and everything becoming a digital service quickly pushed us away from the habits of meatspace.
Eventually, though, we went right back to meatspace, many with different businesses than they used to. Netflix has taken business from movie theatres, delivery services from in-restaurant dining, and video calls from actual meetings. With everyone moving online, online presences followed. Things people formerly had as hobbies now became their job, as they found a market during the inside time. Work, where possible, has moved to a hybrid model.
Despite this, in my opinion, less has changed than we thought.
A huge wave of revenge tourism swamped the airline industry after the pandemic, with many likely getting free content for the online presence. Traffic is as bad as ever as people move hither and tither, going out to meet friends, family, and lovers in a flurry of activity. People are working out of their homes, often exchanging their corporate jobs for hobbies. Health and family are now far higher on the list of priorities, no longer being taken for granted for high pay and achievement. Things, frankly, seem to have gone back to how they were, albeit more expensive than before.
Old habits truly die hard.
Defining Freedom
You know, I’ve never been able to come up with my own definition of freedom. While the dictionary definitions are fairly clear, there are plenty of counterpoints I can raise as mediating factors. Would following one’s desires without restraint be considered freedom, or only slavery to desire? Could a man freely give up his own rights and responsibilities and become a slave? I assume this is permissible in smaller doses, as in contracts binding one to follow their own word, but to give up or entrust the rights may be a bridge too far for some.
The closest thing I can think of is that freedom is the state of path independence – a state of being where past actions do not constrain future actions. This is a very broad stroke, and there are definitely questions of both achievability and whether it is good. The human body itself has needs and ideas, so being able to choose things– anything at all, be it your job, your culture, your nationality, your residence, your sex, your gender, your way of life, and ultimately your body, is an expression of freedom. Choosing not to do these things, as well, is an expression of freedom. There is no preference for one over the other, all are equally valid choices.
It strikes me as being against our programming, since even in the case of pure path independence, personal preferences and ideas, embedded in the consciousness, will be the only things dictating what we do. Can we handle that much power? Can we truly say we are free from our desires? Where does the freedom stop?
I wonder if people sometimes have a hard time deciding because they believe in their freedom, and therefore evaluate such a large number of choices and find it difficult to make an actual choice – a massive, accidental dose of analysis paralysis. In those situations, it is perhaps better to artificially restrict the number of choices one has, in order to enable us to make a choice at all.