Bowerbird #8: Insomniac Window Mosquito Coast

“Is it legitimate to turn to scientific discourse to find an image of the world that suits my view? If what I am attempting here attracts me, it is because I feel it might connect with a very old thread in the history of poetry.”

—Italo Calvino, Six Memos for the Next Millenium

Who wants a Universe we understand completely and utterly? It’s only the impetuous youth, those marginal figures without tenure or grants of their own, who properly appreciate the anomalies of the subatomic world. The surrealist poets believed that words, like atoms, were full of unlocked potential. However, this alone was never enough to explain our existence. While failing in the attempt to match the world, we discover structure, distinc­tion, the integrity and separateness of things. And the good news is that there is no inevitable end to this process. Combined with a couple of communication satellites you could have near instantaneous contact with almost any location. After that, however you divide it up is fair game.

Is there a point here? It’s hard to say. Sometimes solving a problem creates a new kind of thinking, sometimes the math itself is beautiful. We are moving away from a linear ‘code’ and towards something altogether more abstract, emergent and entangled. You probably don’t need a neuroscientist to tell you that sleep helps your brain absorb new information. If someone is already a marathon runner, asking them to walk an extra half-mile every day probably won’t do much for their fitness level.

And how are you feeling at present? People who are resuscitated from near death often report strange sensory phenomena, such as memories “flashing before their eyes.” Symptoms can include hallucinations, delusions, disordered thinking, movement disorders, social withdrawal and cognitive deficits. It’s a grand version of the convection that happens when you boil water in your teapot!