Strange thing ambition.Now I know there's no development without ambition. I know that believing in yourself, believing you can do it, is more than half way to achieving the nigh impossible. It's just it's never seemed that important to me. It always seemed to me that to be the best today was to doom yourself to being second best tomorrow and one day's glory never seemed to justify the cost. Just try your best and if someone's better, well, that's just life!
Looking at Sparky today made me even more certain that I am right. Sparky is supposed to go second in line down the chute during the 'performance'. First down is Stingo. As he leaves the chute, he pushes down hard right with his right wing and executes a complete corkscrew (a twist) to land belly down some forty metres away. Sparky is to perform the same manoeuvre only hard down left. But no, Sparky wants to go third. Only now he'll do two corkscrews!
Air is much less dense than the sea and our wings, while ideally suited to propelling us underwater, do not have the surface area to allow us to 'push' against the less dense air hard enough to induce the speed of rotation necessary to complete two complete turns. Sparky has been at it all day. He believes if he can do it in water, he can do it in air. He has landed on every part of his body except his belly! He must be black and blue under all that fat. And he has successfully demonstrated that two complete turns are not possible, however great your ambition; the laws of physics are against him. His only comment as dusk started to loom was, "Tomorrow's another day."
As I write this, I can see him through the window, propped up against Havelock and my egg. If Havelock moves, Sparky will fall over, rest assured! We'll try and make him see sense tomorrow. It's only a gag for the newbies, after all. Not worth killing yourself for, I would have thought.
Read a strange little short story this morning by Murakami. One of those tales where you have absolutely no idea what the author's driving at, not even the wrong idea, just no idea at all! Oh well, some you win and some you lose. That's why I watched Sparky fight his losing battle with his evolutionary heritage, however despairing it made one feel. As Sparky tumbled for the umpteenth time, I got to thinking about Darwin, Dawkins and a little bit further down the line, Daniel Dennett.
Now I've got a lot of time for Dan, although the books weigh heavy on the penguin in front. His application of evolutionary theory to the development of consciousness and freedom all seem quite sound to me. A lot better than a vague belief in a soul or something. I've got a lot of time for the 'multiple drafts' model of consciousness as well. Lots of competing 'drafts' going on in your head at the same time, all trying to come out, until one wins! Well as I was thinking this, what pops into my head? (Besides how nice a small fish would be.) I suddenly thought I knew what Murukami might have been driving at. I'm probably wrong but why seven hours later, when I wasn't thinking about it at all, did I arrive at a tentative solution? Multiple drafts?
Strange thing your brain, my brain too!
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