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The Saucepan Problem


pagetheoracle

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Both me and my wife had the same problem with saucepans falling over on the cooker ring, then I discovered that if I lined it up over one of the metal struts over the gas flame, this problem didn't occur anymore.  Before this we were both confused by failure and frustrated by being snagged on it, slowing our progress and creating chaotic blunders ("Work, damn you, work!  I don't have time for this!").  Anger at being hampered, leads us to try to push passed this difficulty, where the question 'Why is this happening?' leads us to slow down and look as well as experiment.  Speed then is the problem, coupled with ignoring the problem.  Only stopping, looking and experimenting (the scientific method) can solve it.  This is the problem we face in all areas of life - nobody is free of it.  If you see a problem in the world or in your own life, this is probably at the base of it. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Actually isn't this the basis of all violence - failure to understand how something works, especially the brains of those who don't seem to have brains?

No - there are many different forms of violence. There's "you have something I want or you're stopping me from getting what I want", there's "you threaten something I have", there's "I'm bored" (just watch cats playing with their prey and it's pretty clear this isn't an uncommon one), and there's "I want to eat you/not be eaten".

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No - there are many different forms of violence. There's "you have something I want or you're stopping me from getting what I want", there's "you threaten something I have", there's "I'm bored" (just watch cats playing with their prey and it's pretty clear this isn't an uncommon one), and there's "I want to eat you/not be eaten".

The cat analogy is more torture.  The first is really the same thing as the second (intimidation and defense against intimidation or I want to steal you life / possessions).

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