Wednesday 11 August 2010

Why does it always happen to me?

The examples are endless and we have all wondered about it many, many times in our lives in the past, and we will do it again and again in the future; you can be sure of that.

Something that disturbs as happens and we can't help it but wonder why is it always like that? Why the garbage can is always full when I want to empty just one more small thing inside? Why does the toast bread falls always on its upper side to the floor? Why has the bus arrived (and left) only half a minute before I arrived at the bus stop?

We think we see these patterns and, although the should follow a random pattern, they seem to not. Instead it seems as we're in a trail of bad luck...

Well, if you have understood my theory thus far, this phenomenon is very easy to explain: the answer of course is not that these situations are not random, it's that our perception is skewed...

You see everything that disturbs you creates feedback. Everything that does neither disturb you nor pleases you creates no feedback at all. No feedback equals no memory, no recollection of the fact...
So the half times that the glass of water is half-full, you don't get disturbed (you don't get delighted either to create positive feedback) so the phenomenon goes unnoticed. If your Selector was occupied with anything else at that given moment, you will act and not even realize it (the snail will take care of everything else).
The other half times that the glass is half-empty, you do get disturbed and this creates feedback and you will remember it. And since it has happened in the past as well (and the connections between the pattern and your DFs had been strengthened), the signal will dissipate less now, creating an even greater agitation of the driving force, a stronger driving pocket and a strong willingness to get rid of that phenomenon. When your Selector tries to deal with this situation, it does not have any recollection of the "good times". Your brain only remembers the things that displeased you, leading to the aforementioned perception.

All in all, we are hardwired to remember only the bad, in order to avoid them in the future, and play back all the good again and again until we're fed up with them and they turn invisible, they go unnoticed.