New chapter of Noir: Penumbral is up.

Something a friend just said struck a chord.

“With every bad storm there comes a rainbow.”

And I’ve just realized it isn’t that with every storm there comes the rainbow.  It’s that after the storm, we need to look for the rainbow.  The rainbow’s always there.  We’re just poised to notice it.  And it’s all the brighter and more beautiful for it.

For only a man who has wished for death knows what it truly is to live.

Best.  Sleep.  Ever.

Sure thing.

Awaken now, to a new world, or an old world as the case may be.  As Lien says, “Same shit, different day.”  And that’s what’s really important, in the end, that the world doesn’t change in a day.  Everything slowly moves onward, like debris on a river with no course leading out to… something.

It’s the something that’s important.  But not to us, because we’ll end up there anyhow.  The something isn’t quite as important as we believe because – eventually – we’ll all end up in our somethings, doing our somethings, and then it’s same shit, different day, because time went on and we never saw it coming.

But life is good.  Good and strange and simple and complex and mysterious and plain and painful and colorful and joyful… but all of this is good, because all of this is life.  With no mystery there is no tomorrow, with no pain there is no happiness when there is joy.

So awaken, now, and wax poetic, about a million different things and how your insides sing of a time when harmony and peace were one.  Of sleep and beauty and everything that’s come before and after, because you know in just one instant that no matter what has come it cannot stop your reaching something, because it is there to be reached.

So let go, let go of your tragedies, of all the bad bits, because it’s baggage you don’t need.  It’s the land of doing-as-you-please.  No worries allowed, the staff doesn’t take responsibilities for what happens to you or your belongings while in your stay in the land of do-as-you-please.

Just smile and wake up, warrior.  Remember your fight.

I love you, but why do you love the law?
‘Tis plain for all to see that she’s a whore
Whom the righteous have no need to woo
And villians screw, then studiously ignore.
-from V for Vendetta

And on that note… its B for Bunny

And silently await their cue, but the frozen mask just smiles…

Ah, human stupidity, a subject which I am certain we are all familiar with, some of us more intimately than others.  It is a vexing topic which has caused this humble wordsmith to falter on many an occasion, being both victim and subject to stupidity at many times.  But I will not today speak of the stupidity of which we all fall victim to.  I do not wish to wax philosophical on why it is we trip and fall at the most innoportune moment (the answer being, of course, that it is the most innoportune moment.)

No, today I speak of a greater stupidity.  The type of stupidity that deserves a mention in the Darwin awards, not necessarily because they lead to the exclusion of an individual from the gene pool, but because it serves as a warning to others to keep certain individuals from procreating.

(Of course, the sad truth is it never works this way.  The smart people, it seems, have ceased wanting children, while the idiots keep breeding for lack of something better to watch on television.)

Before tackling the subject, let us first define the term.  Stupidity.  I refer to here as the practice of doing wholly inadvisable things, failing to pay heed to common sense, societal and moral values, and the advice of one’s – oftentimes wiser – peers.  I do not necessarily believe that doing any of the above three is directly a “stupid” act, but certainly disregarding the aforementioned criteria certainly does lead in to some pretty stupid things.

And the result of doing something stupid is always negative.  Someone inevitably ends up hurt.  I am willing to bet, in fact, that as a direct result of something stupid;, nobody ever profits.  Inadvertently, perhaps, but never directly.

So, if there is no profit involved, why do people do stupid things?

This question relies, of course, on the idea that people will always work using the Greedy Algorithm.  That is, people will always work to benefit themselves, primarily.  I understand that this is something of a basic algorithm, and therefore a flawed assumption, but because this particular gedankenexperiment doesn’t rely on it, I feel I can make it safely.

I posit that people do stupid things out of ignorance.  They simply have no preconception that what they are going to do is stupid.  But this begs the question, how do people know one way or the other if what they will do is stupid?  It presupposes that people will always act with some ammount of foreknowledge, when that isn’t the case 90% of the time.  It takes a truly patient, skilled, and analytical mind to first presume an outcome and then act on it in any given every day situation.  I can’t imagine that people actually think that way.

Therefore, it cannot be said that people do stupid things out of ignorance, because people do everything; out of ignorance.  True, the ignorance doesn’t help, but I don’t believe it really hinders all that much.

Primarily because people do have some idea of the result of their actions.  It’s called common sense.  Most people know that if you stick a metal rod into an electric outlet, you’re gonna get shocked (it’s not electrocuted unless you die.)  Common sense is a value judgment which allows us to determine whether or not doing something is a Good idea or a Bad idea.  Forsooth, some situations fall outside Common Sense ideas.  But most don’t, and many a stupid idea seem to be those that could have been resolved with a wee bit judicious use of common sense.

Lack of forethought maybe?

Perhaps, but is forethought really that expensive a process?  Does the equation ELECTRICITY + WIRE + YOU = BAD really take that much memory?  It’s a possibility, but there are other, more promising, rationales.

Self-Destruction.

It’s no secret that, in modern society, suicide is largely seen as a viable – if somewhat dramatic – option.  Now, personally I believe suicide to be one of the stupid things we are discussing, but there are a few others Stupid Things that live in the same street but have a different address.

All of these Stupid Things are commited because the individual in question is following a flawed version of the Greedy Algorithm.  Understand that I don’t mean they aren’t following the Greedy Algorithm, it is still the same thought process, just flawed.  It is flawed because the individual in question wants some specific thing to end.  It is still a selfish (me first, me second, me third) thought process.  However, because of the overriding flaw in the algorithm (the cessation of an activity by any means necessary, emphasized portion being the flaw) the person believes that the payoff (the Stupid Thing, or the results of the Stupid Thing) outweigh the risks (the Stupid Thing, or that which needs to be done in order to accomplish the Stupid Thing.)

Haste.

Haste does, indeed, make waste.  Sometimes we’re just not thinking straight, and a person ends up doing stupid things.  Once again, it’s the greedy algorithm at work.  And once again, a flaw enters the equation.  In this situation, one is in such a hurry to accomplish;, they entirely forget that they must accomplish well in order for the greedy algorithm to be fully satisfied.

Once again, the flaw leads the individual to believe that the immediate pay off is better than the costs involved.

So from the above two examples, we see that stupidity is achieved primarily when there is a flaw in the Greedy Algorithm.

Now, I’m certain there are other situations, but I tire of the subject and I just don’t have time.  Perhaps one day I shall return to it, but for now, I will leave you with those thoughts.