Saturday, November 18, 2017

On point


That's also why, if we were to consider the unusual project of creating a robot that could cry at the movies, we would have to do something apparently rather cruel. We would have to ensure this robot knew all about suffering, for it's only against a background of pain that beautiful scenes in films become deeply moving rather than merely nice.

Thursday, November 16, 2017

A bit of masochism keeps you going

How often do you have the urge to run away? So desperate to skip the following seconds, minutes, hours, days, or years because the moment is getting too unbearable?

The sudden absence of someone dear. The emptiness getting louder.
Unintentionally break something unmendable and being left with guilt and the dread of uncertainty; the few horrible seconds before someone either shout at you or being big and forgive you, which in both you'll be helpless and vulnerable.
Feeling an embarrassment overflowing your body after saying something wrong to a group of people you want to impress. Or worse, tongue-tied and blanked mind in front of them. Their looks and smirks keep playing in your mind for years.
Being so overwhelmed by all the things you have to do you barely get any sleep at all. 
The endless redoing of mundane things that will get you nowhere. 
Being in a physically painful state, every inch of your body starts to give out one by one you don't even know whether you can make it anymore. 

But you will. You made it this far, despite the knocks and kicks life throws at you generously. Sometimes the urges to escape, to press a fast-forward button in these scenarios are inevitable. But we humans grow over these painful edge-of-the-blade moments. Choking, gasping, flailing. Washed over by sweat, blood, and tears. The fast-forward button we desperately want to own is a curse; a life without these moments is a life not worth living.