Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the former.
— Albert Einstein
Setting aside what lies beyond our planet, we have millions of species across plant and animal life that is simply astounding. Nature works from the most minute denominator to build micro-organisms that cohesively create larger bodies that coexist within a single ecosystem. This synergy of life is deep and vast; if any one link in the chain is broken, Nature adapts itself to re-orient the chain such that the Flow of Life continues.
Nature chooses to expand itself …
For a Universe of this scale, it wouldn’t have been an impossible feat for Nature to construct an ecological system that had just a limited set of life-forms to sustain a living system, what scientists often refer to as a Minimal Viable System. Yet despite all odds, Nature chooses to expand itself. If one species suffers, it re-adjusts itself to manifest a new one, often at the microbial scale and then gradually to a larger life form. It pours energy into every sentient being regardless of its significance on the planet. It heals what is hurt and restores the cycle. Nature had a choice, to be finite and limited within a specific boundary under controlled conditions without any deviation from the stipulated boundary; but it chose to be infinite.
Normalization is a computing term that refers to a state in which a system has no redundancies. All relationships between the system’s components are clearly defined with no transitive dependencies. This is a state in which every element and cog in the system is accounted, documented and validated. Every element must have a identifier that can be used to detect its place in the system with its intended purpose for being there.
A normalized system functions like clock-work not because it is adaptive, but because it has a rigid enclosure that demarcates what is allowed to enter and when it does, then where it must reside. Such a system panics when it observes an anomaly, or an element that has a unique signature that does not conform with the blueprint that has been predefined. The relationships between elements in such a system is driven by a functional hierarchy. If under any circumstance, the relationship is challenged, then the dependent element is nullified to restore the system integrity.
There now exists two worlds on our planet — the Nature’s world and our very own Man-Made world. Our world is driven by a normalized state of being. The modern human mind has become a normalized structure. It is becoming uneasy with diversity, variation and mystery. Our concrete, hierarchical jungle needs to categorize and classify everything. We want to ‘patternize’ everything, from the stock market to grocery vegetables, we try to define every molecule so that it has the right fit in our man-made construct. Once the modern mind senses a deviation, it enters a state of panic and fear-filled confusion. We collect vast amounts data at a macro-scale and then apply computational models to arrive at a pattern that can explain how it may, rather should behave, in the near future. Variables that alter the course of a model are examined and if found unstable are quickly isolated. We have forgotten that we are descendants of a de-normalized universe.
The modern human mind has become a normalized structure
Artificial Intelligence is the epitome of a normalized system. With AI, mankind will be able to create highly efficient normalized structures across all domains — finance, real-estate, food, education and healthcare. Man would have the power to define qualifiers and rules within the system that permit a select few and reject the rest. Behind the mask of liberty, we are becoming conformists to a system that is creating a massive database of filters to sort and classify everything. This is soon going to be the root cause for heightened levels of tension between nations, all because we are sharpening an instrument that cannot fathom infinity — our mind.
I do not mean to denounce scientific advancements or technological breakthroughs. However through these inventions, we are alienating our innate sensitivity to foster well-being and harmony instead using it to selectively re-organize the world we share.
Nature exists in a de-normalized space. By saying this, I refer to de-normalized as a state of abundant variety — in both form and color. Until the modern mind absorbs this aspect of Nature, we shall only suffer under the weight of our own creation. We continue to normalize our outlook, our behavior and our culture into test-tube models. As a result, we are diverting our attention towards building a highly efficient normalized super-system rather than embracing the nature of Nature itself.
Thanks for reading
