ArticlesIt was late one night, and I was tired. I was brushing my teeth, looking at myself in the mirror, and pondering my life.
I have lived in a few cities, and I wondered if my current friends in Sydney would get on well with the friends I left behind in the last city.
After a bit of consideration, I concluded that I didn’t know – I couldn’t predict their likes and dislikes accurately enough.
In fact, it was that very unpredictability that was part of what made my friends interesting. If I could accurately predict what someone would like and dislike, that would make them too dull and predictable. I would not like such a person.
But, I heard my inner monologue interrupt, What about yourself? You just made a prediction about what you like and dislike. By your own argument, that makes you dull and predictable. Therefore, you don’t like yourself. Q.E.D.
I stared in the mirror for a bit longer, but try as I might, I couldn’t find a flaw in the argument. I decided it was time to go to bed.
Comment by Cassie on July 1, 2006
Hmmm… I think you’re overgeneralising again. I am sure that there is an element of predictability about these people who you think are unpredictable. You’re just giving more weight to the unpredictable part.
And if it really is the unpredictability that you like, does this mean the more you get to know a person, and hence the more you could predict what they would like and dislike, the more you dislike them?
I am also wondering about my predictability rating… (yes, I am aware that is very egocentric). I think I am pretty predictable, but I also think a lot of people are. Maybe it depends on what you’re predicting.
Comment by Alan Green on July 2, 2006
A trait that is desirable in a friend, isn’t nescessarily desirable in oneself. To mangle an old cliche, unpredictability is a nice place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there.
Comment by Alastair on July 2, 2006
By the same logic, didn’t you also predict that your blog’s regular readers would like this post and hence *we* are all dull and predictable?
Comment by Cassie on July 5, 2006
Maybe Julian’s leaving us behind and starting a new blog to get some new, unpredictable, more interesting readers…
Comment by Sunny on July 7, 2006
1) Q.E.D. is the best punch line, bar none.
2) Predictability is an interesting issue, or rather unpredictability. I think you’re separating this implicitly from randomness, because random behaviour is certainly not interesting. What’s the difference between randomness and predictability?
Think about music. Interesting music will be “unpredictable” in that it will do things that you cannot predict, but in order to stay interesting it must follow enough rules that you don’t feel like it’s impossible to follow. It’s a delicate balance between following rules (eg: using notes, instruments, etc. as they are expected) but then bending them or breaking them (playing out of beat, or choosing the “wrong” notes for a progression). It’s a game of rules and the rules are always changing.
Perhaps it’s the same with you. Maybe if you really thought about it you’d realise that you do like some dull and predictable people, hence breaking your own rule, hence surprising yourself and not being dull and predictable. In fact you could assert that you do like yourself, therefore you are unpredictable in that you can like dull people, which in turn implies that you are dull because you like yourself and you’re unpredictable, and so on.