The sad truth is that most of us will eventually stop trying. When encountering obstacles, encumbered by prejudice and ill-advised, most of us will desist. Granted, some of us will be strong-willed enough to march on, stubborn enough to persevere, and determined to carry on towards our goals despite the world’s efforts to confine us to our boxes.

A system isn’t healthy when it allows the few to break through its unfairness and lack of support. A healthy system challenges its assumptions constantly. It’s the only way it won’t be at the expense of those who survive it but at the service of those who inhabit it.

Unhealthy systems

Studies have found that many of the men who openly hate women – and one in twenty actually hurt them – hate themselves just as much. That is the problem with hate: it hardly ever stops where we direct it.

Metastasising hate

These days, I struggle to make confident statements such as, ‘I like this’ or ‘I don’t like that’. The more perspective I gain, the more evident it appears that I can only be certain about how something makes me feel at a particular moment.

Sadly, the world is ruled by those who are confident. Those enamoured by doubts are doomed to entertain thoughts that could make the world a better place while being inexorably dragged down the pan by those too busy leading to do much thinking.

One of my favourite song lyrics goes, ‘There’s a blind man looking for a shadow of doubt’. If only we could put such a person in charge of anything!

For a shadow of doubt

Most consequences are unintended. It tracks: we can only control a tiny portion of what surrounds us.

Indeed, control is so scarce we consider it sacred. We hold it so dear that we lose focus. We act in accordance with what we can control and thus obviate most of the world.

When we keep making excuses for our behaviour, the consequences of our actions may not have been intended, but they were probably avoidable.

Consequences, unintended and avoidable

Learning to discern between when to persevere and quit is one of the most valuable skills we can ever acquire. The reasons to choose one over the other are often not the reasons we should listen to: we either stick with something because we’ve already invested so heavily in it or give up because we’re broken, burned out and can’t take it anymore.

Intelligence will guide us in navigating a crisis. Wisdom will prevent us from getting into the crisis in the first place.

Intelligence and wisdom in persevering and quitting

A colleague who is feeling under the weather tells me they need sleep. The AI-powered messaging app we use to communicate suggests three possible replies: “I understand what you’re saying”, “Me too!” and “I get that”. We don't want AI to be part of this area, especially such a half-arsed implementation.

If I ever use prompts to reply to a colleague, I'll have become the type of person I wouldn’t want to work with. I use AI every day for work and personal projects alike. It is a groundbreaking tool. However, if I ever take advantage of it to deny my friends, family and partner the empathy and authenticity that forged our relationships, I will no longer be worthy of them.

Once again, the problem isn’t that intelligence is becoming more artificial, but that we keep finding reasons not to make it more emotional. Here's the prompt I wish to get one day: “Humans, know your place.”

Martian Thoughts

Unhealthy systems

Metastasising hate

For a shadow of doubt

Consequences, unintended and avoidable

Intelligence and wisdom in persevering and quitting

Know your place