The Clock in the Mirror
The second hand of the clock in the mirror traverses the clock’s face in exactly one minute, but “counterclockwise”. Part of what it tells you is true, part is not. And that’s like so much in life.
The mirror has no agenda. It’s not trying to deceive us or gain an advantage, it’s just telling us what it sees. But in mirrorworld, left is right and right is left. Welcome to Through the Looking Glass. If we accept the mirror’s information at face value, the blame for the deception is on us, the mirror is innocent.
When we proceed on untested information we need to understand that we do so at our own risk. In an age of Artificial Intelligence, we so often accept AI’s output as gospel truth, making fools of ourselves, or worse.
We make significant purchases and commitments based upon the ego-stroking assertions of salespeople who have their own agendas, which are not necessarily aligned with our own. The young man who tells a pretty girl “I love you” may not have the same agenda she does.
Sometimes communication misfires simply because, like the mirror, the speaker sees the world differently than the listener. But sometimes the communication misfires on purpose because the speaker has something to gain from encouraging you to think entirely about what your fantasies, not what he will deliver. Many a tear has been shed because of that lacuna.
As if that weren’t bad enough, even our own senses can’t be entirely trusted. In one of my talks I pass out various sheets upon which are printed various squares and squiggles which, after a moment’s staring, begin to dance or swirl before the eyes. The truth is that the final arbiter of perception is the brain, not the sense organs. The brain gives us its interpretation of what our sensory receptors tell it, often to our chagrin.
What to do about all this? Well, make the brain work harder. Use the reasoning part of the brain, not just the sensory part. Challenge what we see, hear, feel, taste, or smell. Are there biases of reception or predisposition? Are the agendas of others afoot?
Whether the clock’s second hand goes this way or that is not a big deal in the greater scheme of things, but where a salesperson is stroking our ego and blowing on the flames of our fantasies, that’s a different story.
Things are not what they seem.