The Great Pretence

How civilisation ensures we jump at the same time to put chicken on my plate

What am I grateful for?
This food on my plate.

The intricate, fractal-like blossoming of the cauliflower.
The sprinkling of herbs & seasoning resting peacefully on top.
The soft crunch of cauliflower which welcomes you home.

Now onto the other plate. The main plate. (sorry cauli)

In the movies the chicken’s flavours would be whisping upwards and caught by the nostrils of the house doggo. It is gooooooooood. I am grateful for half roast chickens.

I am grateful for cognitive dissonance. Honestly. Some would call it “selective ignorance”. How could I enjoy it if I saw the pain behind its arriving on my plate?

And linked, I am grateful for modernity, for our modern economic structure where all I need to do is stroll to the inexpensive local distribution centre (chou shi) to access such wonderful food. I am entirely abstracted away from the myriad human systems (logistical, political, economic, legal, financial) which facilitate its happening.

Society/civilisation is this great pretence which we all simultaneously agree due to the intertwining incentive structures we have built up over centuries/millenia. I am beyond grateful for that: I marvel at it.

There’s the common question “what would happen if all the world jumped at the same time?” Answer: we could move the world.

Now the figurative answer. Civilisation (which has been truly global for at least a century) jumps to the beat of the its institutions: institutions ensure we jump at the same time. And what’s the result?

We move the world.