Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Thoughts on the Threshold of Real

So, I was driving into work this morning, listening to NPR, and conducting imaginary conversations/debates with friends of mine. (Fortunately, they weren't imaginary friends, because that would have just been strange.) I was contemplating the time spent engaged with or worrying about or being concerned about things that you can do nothing about, things that don't even really effect you.  (For example, except in an abstract sense, the economic troubles of a small town in Pennsylvania really have nothing to do with me, since I exist in a local economy (Silicon Valley) that is so far removed from small town Pennsylvania that any connection between the two is ephemeral - words on a radio station that set off a chain of thought).

 

That, in turn, got me thinking about where the threshold of reality lies. The only evidence I have for the existence of small town Pennsylvania is this - I've read about it in the newspapers, I've seen in on television, or I learned about it in school.  I have never had any direct experience with small town Pennsylvania.  I have no direct evidence it even exists, except as a "place people talk about".  So, what then is the threshold of real? Where is the line drawn?  How easy is it to slip between the real and the unreal?  I don't have any answers this morning. Just questions and thoughts about questions.

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