It literally took an Einstein to proffer the words: “We can’t solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
Alfred Nobel, who by his own account digested philosophy “more efficiently than food,” is another recognised name to many. Even if they’re not entirely sure of anything other than the coveted prize that made its mark more than a century ago. Recipients are those deemed to have bestowed the greatest benefit to humankind in their respective fields — which are somehow limited to physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature and peace.
So if you don’t do any of those things you won’t even get a look in. Despite anything earth-shatteringly sensational you may achieve in say, ridding the world of narcissists. Or convincing parents that disposable nappies are disposable only to them, since our heaving, dry retching planet has to deal with each remnant for 500 years.
Disposable Thinking
Let’s hone in on that, as it was ‘fantastic plastic’ ’50s thinking that devised the very idea of them. Essentially for road trips and holidays so you could tick off your bucket list without a bucket. The way we think about them now isn’t actually different — it’s incompatible.
In the tedious two or three years of toilet training, it takes around 6,000 disposable nappies for one kid to be disposed of nappies forever. It’s maths that people lugging bulky packs home from the supermarket every week never appear to do, as they fork out thousands for the convenience. Were you ever forced to reduce all that waste into almost nothing in your own living space, you quite simply couldn’t: you’d opt for a few dozen washables and a lidded bucket.
The too-posh-to-wash idea that using disposables is ‘cleaner’ must have something to do with the cute character prints. The only way it does hold weight, is if dumping chemical compound-wrapped tiny tot and toddler turds into global landfill swerves the definition entirely; replete with high-pitched squealing Warner Bros sound effects.
The Global Reach of Rubbish
The crude truth is that you’ll even find utterly ‘undisposable’ disposable nappies in South Sudan. A place you’d think political, economic and climate upheaval were more than enough shit to deal with. You’d probably also assume an environment like that isn’t conducive to narcissism — when in fact the opposite is true.
Historically, Montenegro has also had its fair share of turmoil. It’s conjecture that narcissists popped up and nestled in there as well; but what we do know is that it wasn’t much of a gamble for Procter & Gamble because ‘Pampers’ most definitely did.
Curiously, while both these countries have crap-artists and artily wrapped crap, what you most assuredly will never find in either, is a Nobel prize winner.
Unless it suddenly became 1965.
Nobel Moments in Time
Literary prize winner Ivo Andrić would be found in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia with his wife; specifically in the coastal town of Herceg Novi. There, befitting the particular form, rhythm and style of his astounding feat of The Bridge on the Drina, Andrić would indeed be in Montenegro, living a peaceful, happiness-filled life.
Who knows? Maybe time travel is possible, if the three 2022 physics Nobel laureates pulled their collective finger out.
Quantum Weirdness
Their individual quantum mechanics experiments earned them the gold medal, and about three hundred grand a piece. No matter how beautifully ironic for a physicist to not have the space and time, it’s not like they’re each living in a bedsit juggling a couple of part-time jobs and a permanent cleaning shift.
What’s truly bizarre about the outlandishness of quantum science is the absolute acceptance that it’s weird: even by those who actually understand it.
Alain Aspect, John Clauser and Anton Zeilinger shared the 2022 win for independently discovering that when multiple tiny particles are in some sense linked, what happens to one determines what happens to the others. Even when they are separated by large distances.
This scientific theory is the result of groundbreaking entangled photon experiments conducted by Aspect; with Zeilinger showing that entanglement can ‘teleport’ information between linked particles. Clauser proved that the universe isn’t “locally real” — in that it doesn’t work on the principle that events in one location can only be influenced by local factors.
When a scientist determines the particular state of a particle, all the others ‘entangled’ with it instantaneously take on the same modality — even in another galaxy. Clauser said, “I have no understanding of how it works, but entanglement appears to be very real.”
This special state of particle ‘entanglement’ can’t be explained by the usual laws of physics, and has consequently opened an Escher door into an entirely new field of quantum information.
Looney Tunes Logic
Think about that for a moment. Somewhere, there are answers.
Could quantum mechanics potentially solve the pervasive perplexities of saturation point solipsism and crappy nappies? Maybe we’ll resort to dynamite. Thanks to Alfred Nobel, it’s an on hand, tried-and-true method for moving things right out of the way. As a demanding and impatient species, we love blowing things up to fix them.
There’s a suspicion that the Wile E. Coyote method of Road Runner problem solving is now an integral part of a world leader secret handbook. The superior skill set he’s convinced he has comprises of nothing but doubling down, setting large, shiny traps and forgetting the aim. A self-proclaimed, improbably super genius IQ of 207 is momentarily applied to critical thinking that’s clearly on life support.
Over and over, ol’ overconfident Wile never innovates, he just elaborates. Inevitably another Acme rope is cut; another Acme fuse sparked up. Impervious to crushing and explosive injury, even burnt to a crisp in a puff of smoke, he rises again. Obsessed, determined, and never achieving what he sets out to do.
Narcissism, AI, and Storytelling
Is he narcissistic? Very likely. Between chucking down a school bag and setting the table sometime in 1969, could Warner Bros have planted the seed of dynamite as the quick fix for everything – even ridding the world of eight flavours of narcissism?
That answer is in itself, narcissistic. As a coping mechanism the Acme Corporation would sell it in giant sized, re-hydratable, spring loaded and magnetised.
Parallels between Looney Tunes animation cels and our cellular loony tune behaviour are vast. Every global crisis should have the falling pitch of a slide whistle and the crash of a cymbal sound in our collective head. Things happen because of us, and despite us. And then there are the things we make up.
We have Wile E. Coyote because of our incredible ability to invent stories about things that don’t exist.
He is capable of absolutely nothing; yet we witness his chaos and durability. Universally understood, he’s considered somewhat inventive and clumsy. Arrogance consistently undermines any analytical ability.
While objectively he’s not true, he is a tiny particle entangled in the shared stories that shape our existence. We imagined him and gave him form. He’s artificial; he has intelligence. He’s emblematic of our ability to create and adhere to shared fictional narratives. Gods, myths, nations, money: scaffolds for the large scale, human co-operation we have.
The only thing that changes it is the adaptation of new beliefs.
As humans, we have forever sought knowledge, and rely on the stories we tell in order to make sense of the world. Communication shaped our history, and drives our future. It is as integral as content optimization strategies in the New Media Age. Progress always was, and always will be inevitable.
Accepting Peculiarities, Guiding Progress
If there’s one certainty in humankind, it is its immense power. Without it, we would never have made it here, putting up with obnoxious narcissists and odious nappies. It’s unfortunate but necessary to reach a level of acceptance for many peculiarities we’ve created on our planet.
It’s as impossible to stop technological advancement as it for Alfred Nobel to uninvent the dynamite with which Wile E. perpetually blows himself up to re-emerge. The innovation evolution that brought us the same AI that balances creativity and efficiency for writers, carries the potential for humans to transcend biological limitations. Without question, the existence of artificial intelligence presupposes radical transformation in how we live, who we are, and the future we have.
As Einstein said, thinking the same way we did before isn’t going to get us anywhere. For context, even modern digital marketing insights remind us that evolving perspectives matter as much as technological progress.
AI has the exponential capacity to teach itself everything there is to know. Beyond all we can imagine. Acknowledging and accepting that is scary because it’s the most provocative, compelling thing we’ve ever created: like watching a hyper super uber baby grow up. Our focus has to be discernment. Guiding and managing AI so we’ll be well looked after in our new age old age.
Thinking Differently
It’s said that there is no failure; only feedback. And if it turns out that feedback is the falling pitch of a slide whistle and the clash of a cymbal, we may very well re-emerge. Entangled in another galaxy, thinking very, very differently. Not scared. Immensely powerful. Eternally fascinated.