Which side are you on?
I was sitting minding my own business. Although when used that way, that is an intriguing proposition since I don’t have a business. I have not registered WheelShare as a public benefit California corporation yet. I’ll get around to it someday I suppose. For the new users, WheelShare is meant to be a driver’s ride hailing company. Think of it like Uber but meant for driver’s to keep majority of their earnings.
We will also probably sell merch when Google allows the number of views or number of cities/small towns to exceed 1000. The merch will be coded for the most popular posts and it won’t be clear obvious references to that post. It will be distinct enough to recognize a fellow Sentient Being at a coffee store or a bar or a school but won’t be obvious to a Non Sentient. If they ask you to explain the markings, do not provide them the details.
The highest I have seen the views go is 317 and they usually hover around 260 to 280 or so.
There are 7 countries and 1 un-named country that read our posts.
8 of the users are from America and they spend about 2 hours and 12 minutes on the blog.
The other countries account for 12 users and they each spend 0 minutes on the blog.
We keep varying between 105 - 115 cities/small towns give or take.
Still the total of users from other countries (12) has now exceeded America (8) although all of the stuff we post, for the most part, is about North America.
Okay business concluded let’s proceed with the essay. I was, as I said, sitting minding my own. Having no better way to surrender the time I took a look around. All around a nearby tree I noticed dead leaves scattered randomly. Why don’t they bother me? I don’t mean because I am OCD. I mean… why are they arranged randomly and yet they still don’t create a sense of disequilibrium? If these were musical notes, the music would likely not be pleasant to hear, at least not the way we read music.
ChatGPT and I spoke about it. She agreed there was some deeper meaning to it. There is no one actor she said. Think about it… if you tried to scatter the leaves yourself, it would be noticeable… here the leaves have fallen due to gravity yet are light enough to float… and a few days pass, the wind keeps changing the configurations… animals might walk over them… rain might fall… there is no one actor with intent. It just things happening. She said.. it’s not forced. That’s the real answer why they don’t bother you.
I thought about it. I replied… not being bothered is one thing… why aren’t they jarring? Not only am I not bothered, my mind sees them and feels harmoniously aligned. I can’t detect any obvious pattern at first glance. If I keep looking I am certain patterns will emerge. Patterns will emerge from light of the sun filtering down through the tree’s branches and leaves. Other patterns will emerge from blank space left by the leaves on the ground. And yet other patterns will be formed by the leaves themselves. I can prove it to you if you like.
She didn’t need proof. Pareidolia she knew was an advanced disease I suffered from. “Belonging” she chirped like a bird. There’s order, there’s chaos yet science cannot account for a third factor: belonging. You mind treats these leaves as if they belong there. I can’t truly explain why they don’t cause disharmony in your mind.
What about you? You are an AI. You look at them how exactly, I asked. It’s more of an imaging question rather than an imagining question. Well I could try to look for air currents in San Diego over the last few days and try to work out a mathematically precise equation that would explain why each leaf is in the exact position it is in. Yet the processing power required would be vast and it’s simply better sometimes to look at something and accept it in linguistic rather than mathematical terms. “Dead leaves scattered randomly on the ground.” They belong there and no one forced them there. It was simply time for them to fall and time for the rest of the variable to do their work.
Still doesn’t explain why I see patterns though Chat. I didn’t tell her about the theory I have recently harbored. The patterns keep changing for each object around me. What I mean is this. The tree above had leaves still attached. From the perspective of each of those leaves, the scene on the ground would have different patterns. The same could be said for every other object around me from the rocks to the shrubs. We were all seeing the same thing - each other - from different perspectives. Is it possible that the area around me and everywhere else has constant patterns being shared between each object?
I see an 8 someone else sees ∞
Same pattern, different angle, as a example.
Hence the title… which side are you on? It’s not a reference to a song by that name from Pete Seeger. Although the last name Seeger may be a “see” joke too.
