{"id":25,"date":"2014-03-30T13:46:40","date_gmt":"2014-03-30T17:46:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mydot02.com\/?p=25"},"modified":"2022-04-03T08:30:35","modified_gmt":"2022-04-03T12:30:35","slug":"why-you-think-what-i-do-is-stupid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mydot02.com\/?p=25","title":{"rendered":"Why You Think What I Do Is Stupid"},"content":{"rendered":"

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens<\/em><\/p>\n

Bright copper kettles with warm woolen mittens<\/em><\/p>\n

Brown paper packages tied up with strings<\/em><\/p>\n

These are a few of my favorite things<\/em><\/p>\n

Really? A drippy wet flower, a high maintenance cooking utensil and an anonymous package waiting to be swarmed by the airport bomb squad? These are someone\u2019s favorite things?<\/p>\n

They must be to someone, sometime. (And apparently to Rodgers and Hammerstein<\/a> in 1959.) At least a few hundred million listeners over the last half century have found the list plausible, no matter how stupid I think it may be.<\/p>\n

How a list of favorite things can be judged differently isn\u2019t tough to understand. Finding middle ground on items of taste, style and personal grooming habits is possible. I hate dogs, you hate cats. No big deal, we\u2019ll adopt a rat.<\/p>\n

When differing opinions, however, involve the actions of one person that impact another, things get messy. Emotions erupt, entitlements are claimed, and suddenly my action seems overtly stupid to you, no matter how reasonable it seems to me.<\/p>\n

How can perfectly reasonable people be such experts at doing perfectly unreasonable things? In other words, why do you think what I do is stupid? I believe assumed intent is the likely culprit. When we observe someone\u2019s action, we assume their intent to be the same intent we would need to cause the same action. The same process is used when reverse engineering an app.<\/p>\n

Reverse engineering an app re-creates the code (or script) responsible for the app\u2019s action. It typically involves skill, guessing and luck. Reverse engineering the script of a predictable digital processor is tough, so assuming an accurate script of a human brain must be nearly impossible.<\/p>\n

Nearly.<\/p>\n

A good first step in reverse engineering an app is to identify and break down actions that repeat, then find the catalyst for the repetition. The result is a few lines of action code followed by a branch of logic.<\/p>\n

Using this process on much of the repetitive human behavior I\u2019ve observed, I come up with this generic, low-level script:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \n

    Get what I think I want.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  2. \n

    Do I want what I\u2019ve got?<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  3. \n

    if<\/em> no then<\/em> go back to step 1.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  4. \n

    Enjoy life.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The logic of this script is prickly. If you don\u2019t identify your wants until step #3, you\u2019re liable to get stuck in an endless loop.<\/p>\n

    Now, may I introduce you to my friend John, the endless loop?<\/p>\n

    When John was a college senior, on the night of his 22nd birthday, he had way too much to drink and ended up having a hot time with a hot sophomore with a hot first name. He remembers his handsomeness and irresistibility rising exponentially with his increased blood alcohol level. He remembers how good it felt to be attractive. He remembers the pride he felt as he strutted from the bar with his bounty. That\u2019s about all he remembers.<\/p>\n

    John is now a poorly preserved 59 year old workaholic who watches prime time TV at bars near college campuses. He thinks he wants to take home a hot sophomore, so he drinks. He imagines himself becoming more funny and handsome so he has another. He wants to be desired by the clutch of college age hotties across the bar so he has another.<\/p>\n

    John\u2019s script has worked a few times since the first. Years ago it worked thanks to John\u2019s collegiate youth. Now it occasionally works thanks to a stranger\u2019s collegiate pity.<\/p>\n

    John thinks he wants to take home a sophomore. He lives the endless loop. If he would explore what he really wants, he would discover a desire to feel good and to be proud. But the further he teeters toward his sophomoric (literally and literarily) ambition, the further he gets from feeling good and being proud. Endless loop.<\/p>\n

    Socrates<\/a> advised to \u201cKnow thyself.\u201d That goes a long way to ending this loop. With it, the edited version of the low-level script becomes:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. \n

      Find what you really want. \u201cKnow thyself.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

    2. \n

      Don\u2019t skip step #1. Struggle with it, if necessary.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

    3. \n

      Get what you want.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

    4. \n

      Enjoy life.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Am I a simpleton to think that finding contentment in life starts and ends with truly knowing what you want? Is every gulp of the alcoholic and every punch of the abuser and every curse of the offender and every [stupid act] of the [person who doesn\u2019t know what they really want] just a wrong move at step one? An endless loop in the low-level script?<\/p>\n

      My best guess is yes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens Bright copper kettles with warm woolen mittens Brown paper packages tied up with strings These are a few of my favorite things Really? A drippy wet flower, a high maintenance cooking utensil and … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mydot02.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mydot02.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mydot02.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mydot02.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mydot02.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.mydot02.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32,"href":"https:\/\/www.mydot02.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25\/revisions\/32"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mydot02.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mydot02.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mydot02.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}