Mind Bubbles
I used this idea to create character profiles for my book.
The notion is that people have a core set of beliefs about reality. Around that core, there is a “bubble” that filters external information. The world may validate the core or diverge from it. For some people, the filter lets most things through; for other people, the bubble distorts information, so it conforms with the core. As a result, people may exist in very different universes—with different physics and different histories. This could explain a lot.
How did I come by this bizarre idea? I looked around.
Many years ago, there was a TV show called “Gilligan’s Island.” When it went off the air, newspapers reported certain government offices were inundated with letters saying, in effect, “We must find Gilligan!” and “The government isn’t doing enough!” and “We know he and his crew are still out there.”
So, that’s one data point.
Then there was a conspiracy theory about how the moon landings were faked. For this group of folks, human history is very different.
And what about the “Flat Earthers?” For them, the physics of the Earth and the universe diverge from what we learned in school or read in scientific papers.
There were people who examined aerial photographs of the Washington, DC mall during the Obama and Trump inaugurations and declared that the Trump crowd was obviously larger—even though the photo objectively showed fewer people.
And there were some folks who drank or injected themselves with Clorox because the President of the U.S. suggested it could cure COVID-19. The President’s purported facts conformed to some people’s belief that the President could never be wrong.
Mind bubbles are a literary conceit. I’m just sayin’.
John Morrison is the author of:
The Perfection of Fish
Website: https://vorpelword.com
The notion is that people have a core set of beliefs about reality. Around that core, there is a “bubble” that filters external information. The world may validate the core or diverge from it. For some people, the filter lets most things through; for other people, the bubble distorts information, so it conforms with the core. As a result, people may exist in very different universes—with different physics and different histories. This could explain a lot.
How did I come by this bizarre idea? I looked around.
Many years ago, there was a TV show called “Gilligan’s Island.” When it went off the air, newspapers reported certain government offices were inundated with letters saying, in effect, “We must find Gilligan!” and “The government isn’t doing enough!” and “We know he and his crew are still out there.”
So, that’s one data point.
Then there was a conspiracy theory about how the moon landings were faked. For this group of folks, human history is very different.
And what about the “Flat Earthers?” For them, the physics of the Earth and the universe diverge from what we learned in school or read in scientific papers.
There were people who examined aerial photographs of the Washington, DC mall during the Obama and Trump inaugurations and declared that the Trump crowd was obviously larger—even though the photo objectively showed fewer people.
And there were some folks who drank or injected themselves with Clorox because the President of the U.S. suggested it could cure COVID-19. The President’s purported facts conformed to some people’s belief that the President could never be wrong.
Mind bubbles are a literary conceit. I’m just sayin’.
John Morrison is the author of:
The Perfection of Fish
Website: https://vorpelword.com
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