That's a straight line. There is
nothing more artificial in the universe, and it doesn't even really
exist. The line above appears to be straight, but only to within the
tolerances of our eyes to resolve the variation of the pixels on the
screen which you are viewing this on. It's also subject to the
curvature of spacetime, which we can't see because we're being curved
by it as well.
But it's important to us. The universe
itself doesn't even contain the idea of a straight line. Everything
radiates, follows the curve of space, or is fractally complex on some
level or another. Spheres (well, oblate spheroids), ellipses,
spirals, globs, blobs and randomness, all over the place.
But a straight line? Nowhere to be
found (except before a punchline, ba-dum-bum).
The closest thing you can find anywhere
that isn't made by a person is the horizon. Even the apparently
smooth lines at the edges of crystals fall apart into fuzziness when
you look at all closely at them.
So why are we obsessed with straight
lines? Straight lines, right angles, parallels and perpendiculars,
grids and honeycombs, regularity, predictability, orderliness... none
of it natural, and not all of it really useful.
So maybe it's the alarm triggers we're
trying to turn off. A straight line must be artificial, and if it's
one we put there, then it can't possibly be a threat. The right
angles remind us that we're in a human space, and that, along with
other cues, tell us that we're safe.
The chaotic, the spherical, the curved,
the fractal, that's nature. The straight line is strictly human.
Maybe it's time to find some kind of
balance between the two. To allow some of those curves and strange
shapes to come back into our lives, to let ourselves be natural
humans, instead of just humans.
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