Since when did 1+1=3?
Over the past few months, I keep encountering situations where people are hoping against hope that if they will it strongly enough they can add 1 and 1 together and get a different result. That somehow, even though 1+1=2, if we try hard enough, believe strongly enough, and just think it's the right thing badly enough 1+1 will equal 3.
Is this ideal a new human phenomenon? Or have we always believed that we could do the impossible? I am all for challenging yourself, I support perseverance, and I am not a fan of giving up. But 1+1 isn't 99% "3", it's 100% "2" - and it always will be. What is it that makes us believe the impossible and illogical? Is it our culture? Our humanism? Our faith?
What makes us think we can keep doing the same thing and expect a different result?
What makes us believe that we can be anything more than who we are? That we can be smarter or dumber or prettier than the genes in our DNA dictate?
Where did we get the notion that people aren't typically selfish and proud?
I'm really tired of playing games with people where they expect an impossible outcome, and I'm tired of playing them with myself. I know that I have unreasonable expectations, but how do we revisit our math and realize where we are trying to solve a problem that isn't solvable or get an answer that will never be true?
How do we move forward when all we have is 1+1 and all we need is 3?