Saturday 19 May 2018

star-bellied sneetch

I’d venture that the internet will already have moved beyond this one virulent moment to the next that that makes us reinstate our tribalism and appeal to objective reality, and perhaps the Yanny/Laurel debate (more on auditory hallucinations here) is like anything else in wide circulation and is meant to glean data off us dum-dums, but it probably does bear repeating what we know of the architecture of choice and anticipation (more on suggestibility here) that might limn our decisions in one seemingly irreconcilable way over another.
Our perceptions and memories can drive wedges between groups of people who process the same ploy or appeal in vastly different ways—usually without great consequence like that dress (plus the science behind it) or how one remembers the Berenstein Bears (called the Mandela Affect), but rather than make us cower in doubt of the sturdiness of our senses, we should rather be willing to question our basic assumptions and cultivate more empathy—especially when the stakes are complex and demand attention and effort. One can hear either Yanny or Laurel because the synthesised voice is saying both and neither and one should not let illusion assume and assign membership, including one’s own affiliation.