Grapes of Wrath & Mercy

10 meditations on linguist regression to the mean.

Greetings, internet friends! I’ve been ruminating/festering/creeping myself out over this idea for a while and did not post it last week because my thinking was not yet baked enough to share (Is any thinking ever TRULY done though? A question for another day, I suppose).

But I cannot escape the idea that words AND numbers are all just variables (stand-ins, understudies, puppets, ghosts) for slivers of what we assume is reality (“no duh,” say the linguistic illuminati).

But it’s a sticky-scary thought that we communicate in merely fractal marks and unclear grunts. Wheeeee: linguistics!

Regression to the mean, as a concept, SOMEHOW works in both numerical and verbal examples. I drew it as a hypothesis. And again, to try to break it. But it kept working! It’s freaky how well it kept working!

So here’s where I am with this concept, an idea that makes me itchy all over and afraid for democracy:

Meditation 1: WHY ARE WE DOING THESE THINGS?

Meditation 2: HOW DO WE LEARN HOW TO BE?

Meditation 3: WHAT WILL IT TAKE TO REALLY CHANGE US?

Meditation 4: HOW DO WE LEARN OUR TRUE PLACE ANYWHERE?

Meditation 5: WHY IS UNDER THE RADAR SUCH A SAFE PLACE TO BE?

Meditation 6: IS IT THE STRENGTH OF OUR TEAM OR HOW STRONGLY WE FEEL WE BELONG ON IT THAT GIVES IT VALUE?

Meditation 7: WHAT IS THE REAL GAME WE ARE PLAYING AND WHY ARE THE POINTS ASSUMED TO BE DOLLARS?

Meditation 8: WHO AND WHAT ARE ANY ONF US RESPONSIBLE FOR?

Meditation 9: AREN’T WE ALL CANCELLED OUT BY OTHER PEOPLE AND SITUATIONS? AND IF SO, WHY BOTHER?

Meditation 10: IF GOOD CAN NEVER BE ABSOLUTE, HOW DO WE EVALUATE OURSELVES?

Thanks for hanging out here as I scratch this nonsense into Plato’s cave’s wall. <3