The Theory of Infinite Variety
N.B.: I’m experimenting with writing for output, not originality. Nothing below is original to me, it’s cobbled together as I wander the internet and connect dots.
I didn’t set any sort of intention to write again in 2020, but I’ve been going through a bunch of my old notes and decided to surface some of it on this newsletter for fun.
The current frame for understanding reality is unproductive.
Here’s the current frame: you got your men, your gays, your transgenders, whites, hispanics. There’s all these categories and you’re in one of them.
What happens when you’re in a world of categories and you sort people into them? Well, you resort to feeling like you’re on a team.
What is the automatic, biological reaction to being on a team? You want your team to win.
Here’s a new frame: every human is infinitely different than another. There’s an infinite variety of humans.
A classic argument by white supremacists follows this general logic: white people are awesome because they invented a lot of good stuff. What’s wrong with this argument? Well — the racists didn’t do shit! You can’t take credit in strangers just because they share your DNA. That’s not a thing — but yet, we all seem to do it.
N.B.: All this is a simple corollary to the evolution of complexity: 2 dolphins are more different than 2 bees are more different than 2 atoms.
Here’s one of the most positive sounding things that’s actually a huge negative: “I’m proud to be X.” Taking pride in your team or group. Proud to be a man. It’s the worst thing you could ever say.
If you want to make the world a better place…stop taking pride in the accomplishments of strangers. When Edison invented the lightbulb, I don’t get credit because I’m white. It doesn’t work that way. We are all infinitely different people with infinitely different capabilities. The fact that some people, who are not me, did some impressive things — how do I take credit for that?
Everybody is infinitely different. Would you be reading this if the things I said were the things you were already thinking? No. The entire reason any “white male” is reading me is because the things I’m writing will not be the things they’re thinking. That’s the whole point.
You have to reject your own category to get to the next level. You have to reject pride in your group. Pride in your group is just stupid. Pride in your group is counterproductive because it forces you to be in your group…and then you’re going to start taking credit for stranger’s accomplishments. And you start thinking with labels by putting other people in boxes. Stop.
Notice that you can reach the same progressive conclusions about rights without putting people in categories. Take LGBTQ for example. Then just take the people identifying as L. They’re all infinitely different. We all deserve equal rights because we’re all infinitely different.