We've all had that exam. It looks easy at the onset because - hey! - it's multiple choice, so finding the right answer is more likely to happen than when you have to actually and fully spell it out. But then, when all the 4 or 5 possible versions of an answer start looking kind of like the same, with some insignificant exceptions to the untrained eye, what is to be done? Resort to random chance. Or, at least, that's what we think we're doing. Now, you see, the problem is that we've given up randomness so much in our lives that we cannot do it properly anymore. How many of you would circle an a) on your exam sheet if you knew for sure that the previous and the following answers were also a)? Not many I guess because let's face it, a) a) a) looks anything but random. The strange thing, nonetheless, is that it might very well be random.
One staple of capitalism and of our everyday lives is the attempt to eliminate randomness and to deliver services and products that perfectly match or are closely related to consumers' individual preferences and desires. I will not delve into how these preferences and desires are being formed and shaped. This is an independent question, worthy of its own separate space. For now, though, I will just take for granted the fact that consumers do have preferences and, moreover, that they know what these preferences are.
Currently, we are being surrounded by corporate chains which, in spite of big geographical distances, deliver almost the same products, the same quality of service and all in a similar environment. From food to clothing, from entertainment to finance and banking, you name it. There is always a store or a supermarket or a fast-food joint that you've never set foot in before, but, somehow, when you decide to, you already know what their offer is and what your pick is going to be.
Technological gadgets and applications are not strangers either in this fight against randomness. Take your search engine, for instance. The history of all your searches and clicks is not neutral and does have a say on whatever pops out on that first page, reinforcing the legacy of your past searches, and ultimately, of the person that you used to be. This tendency is even stronger when it comes to movie or book or any other product rating websites.
Have you ever wondered why, even if you have thousands of friends on Facebook, your news feed is always showing only some of these people's updates and never, if rarely, others'? It's the updates of those whose statuses or pics you've liked or commented on before, those whose profiles you've checked before or those whom you message more often. This is a sort of reinforcing loop because if you don't get a chance to like or comment on other friends' updates, you will probably never get them in your news feed. And how can you express your likes and comments if you don't see them to begin with?
Not only are our Facebook friends not random, but most of the people around us. Think about it! How many of your friends have you met in a totally random situation? Random situation meaning that you haven't been introduced by other mutual friends or haven't first encountered them in the environment you frequent the most (job, school, gym etc.). In my case, there is an honest but disappointing one. That's all!
This is the link to a random number generator: http://www.random.org/ There are plenty of random number, letter and name generators out there simply because our biases and personal experiences make us incapable of coming up with them ourselves. Who'd need these generators, you might ask? Well, to give you my example, I remember being extremely grateful to an excellent letter generator that helped me put together some Snellen charts. And there are many other examples in encrypting, coding and the like.
As a disclaimer, I'm not saying that eliminating randomness is bad in itself. No, definitely not. Many of our personal and collective achievements stem from this assurance of the predictable. What I'm trying to say, though, is that we should be aware of our relationship to random chance and, even if it's a good idea to try to minimize its effects, we should probably not give it up altogether. Why?
1. Random chance can be mind-opening.
2. By exposing ourselves to things we are not likely to encounter because they are so different from our beliefs and desires, random chance can strengthen our life principles.
3. We are not linear beings. Sometimes our preferences clash. So, in order to know what we really like better, we have to be exposed to more than one set of stimuli.
4. Random chance is fun! Really! Haven't you ever met that eccentric person, who's so different from you and whom you might not want to see (ever) again, but who made you laugh with tears?
Zen philosophy is most of the time right. One of the Zen tenets is to try to do something new everyday. I like the idea and, although I kind of fail at it, I challenge both you and myself to revive the grip of random chance by being or doing something different every now and then!
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