squeezing the excluded middle

A basic rule of logic is that what isn't true is false and what isn't false is true. There is no in-between land. There is no 'middle'. Hence the 'law of the excluded middle' which states that things that aren't black are white and vice versa. Of course lots of people have opposed this and come up with various fuzzy and grey ways of having a 'not quite black or white' middle. The problem is these methods aren't as versatile or powerful, the 'middle' absorbs all the difficult to solve problems and there they sink as if in a marsh.

When you go with a system of black/white you create lots of nice paradoxes- one of the most common being the Cretan: All Cretans are liars, I am a Cretan (so I must be a liar, which means I'm not a Cretan etc).

But away from rigorous B+W systems there are varying degrees of 'middle' out there being used in explanations. The more you squeeze the middle, the more you emphasise contrast rather than varying shades, the more 'surprising' the results (ie. paradoxical) you can achieve. The more surprising the results the more attention you get.

It's been shown that 'experts' who are asked for their over view give more extreme answers than similar experts asked to provide varying scenarios and explanations of features. When you set a 'grey agenda' you tend to educate people in greyness. Which is a good thing. People start looking for subtle differences rather than gross and surprising ones. You evolve from an attention culture to a connoisseur culture.

surviving or thriving?

When you're surviving you have nothing good at days end except the not inconsiderable fact that you achieved your goals for the day. When you're thriving you have more to report as you took the time to cradle a few things and get a better look at them. Too much surviving and not enough thriving is bad for the brain, which needs feeding with new stuff, fiercely looked at and learned deeply.

status and attention

People confuse status with social standing. You can have dustmen who play high status (head high, never ask permission) and CEOs and lords who play low status (ask permission, apologise). Status is a just a way of playing a role- and the easiest way to fix the style in your mind is to ask what level of permission does the role play assume? Roughly speaking, the cluster of behaviours that seem to go with never asking permission means you are playing high status; what seems to go with asking permission is low status play.

People may instinctively like the idea of playing 'high status' (which is the way to think about it, rather than 'being' high status) yet not everyone does? Why?

Because we play the status level that gets us the most attention. The most meaning both quantity and quality. Playing low status may guarantee far more attention in many situations. On the other hand, a bit of lordly isolation may be a low price to pay for some damn good boot licking...

what's the point of jealousy?

Negative emotions exist for reason, like pain. When someone has the rare condition of not feeling pain they usually injure themselves all the time. Pain is the body's fairly dim but effective way of shouting at us: "Hey, fix this can't you?" Negative emotions have always seemed highly pointless to me, but then, they too have a necessary role. If you feel one- envy, jealousy, rage, then this is an emotional message that something is out of kilter. This was well known in the past but such knowledge easily transforms, through mass teaching, into merely a 'ban' on such thoughts. People pretend to themselves they don't have them. Or flagellate themselves for being evil. In fact, of course, we all have negative emotions. The Buddhist response- to simply observe the emotion and let it pass is only half the story. The other half is to realise what the appearance of that emotion means to your overall balance. Feeling envious? Let it pass and then examine whether your daily activity is aligned with your more general or higher goals. It is said that a weak man desires to hear only the failings of a strong man. Wishing others ill is another sign suggesting an internal reorganisation is required. Negative emotions are unpleasant for a good reason- there are there to help us shift our everyday operating procedure, nothing more.

gamify or painify

If you have something to do which isn't that enticing- such as a tough exercise routine- it pays to gamify it with fun and rewards. But if it can't be gamified you can painify it. This means you can play tough guy as you 'tough it out' and go through the pain barrier(s) with flying colours. Feels good afterwards. Both strategies work.

hear me on the radio

I appeared on monocle radio last year talking about the Nile. I'm at the end of the show so you can fast forward if you like using the handy button at the bottom of the screen...

 http://monocle.com/radio/shows/the-monocle-weekly/208/

progress and freedom

'Progress without the promise of freedom is no blessing.'

Peter Drucker