Law 23 of Human Perception

This is a simple law of nature, but one which is very handy:

A human tends to see what the human expects to see.

That's it. It's just the way we put things together in our minds. If there is a gray cat in your neighborhood named JoeBob and you see a gray cat, you're extremely likely to think it is JoeBob, even it is some other cat altogether.

If your Aunt Mabelline always scowls when she sees you, when you visit and she opens the door -- even if she has a perfectly blank expression because she's having a deja vu about a long-forgotten lover, or maybe her underwear itches -- you'll probably see a scowl on her face.

Because you expected to see something, you 'Interpreted' your senses, and you saw it.

Once I had to give up a really cool business name because of this law.

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One's True Nature

The snake begged the frog for a ride across the stream.

The frog expressed fear, but the snake reassured him, pointing out that should the snake bite the frog then both would die.

The frog agreed. And mid-stream, the snake bit the frog.

"Why did you do that?" asked the frog, "Now we'll both die." The snake just smiled.

"I'm sorry," he said, "but I'm a snake."

Law 23 of Conspiracy Theories

This is a simple law of nature, but one which is very handy:

Humans in groups are generally clumsy, and damn few humans are skillful enough to actually create a Conspiracy.

That's it. The vast majority of things that go wrong are doing so because humans can not work together, and not because some skillful group of humans is both effective and secret.

For example, let's say that I'm concerned about global warming, and about fossel fuels, and about the gubbamint.

Does this mean that I decide to give up driving my Ford Focus grandly about the town?

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Law 23 of Roommates and Dishes

This is a simple law of nature, but one which is very handy:

Each roommate knows that he does more than half the dishes.

That's it. Just that simple. It's a law of human nature, as dependable as gravity, and it's caused by the way we see things.

For example ...

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