Maps

I like geography because of its completeness. I feel deeply satisfied when I finally understand how two different routes lead to the same location. Even if you can’t figure out how it is possible on the ground, you realize how it all makes sense looking at a map. There are no tricks or glitches, you can optimize the route, but that’s all.

It is one of the few certain things in life. Verona is southern to Trento and Northern to Bologna🗺️. Something that even a sophist can’t disagree on. It is not subjective as cold or hot, but different from the abstract truths of mathematics.

The interesting question is: is there something similar in life to a map? Here in Rotterdam, I had the opportunity to hear unique stories on how one ended up here. Listening to them, my conclusion was that routes in life are less clear than on a map. Still, I also discovered that everyone had a typical pattern in how their life evolved.

Humans have a common thinking process; what changes are the preferences. This is why studying history is useful: because the cycle is always unchanged. As Hegel described, the triad of thesis, antithesis and synthesis is the pattern that repeats over and over. It can also be experienced during a normal day: the thesis could be the initial plan, the antithesis could be the happening of something unexpected, and the synthesis is when somehow one manages to find a solution. The same is valid at the macro level of long periods of time. In fact, the cycle can be extended to nations, as illustrated by Ray Dalio in The Changing World Order, and also with everything governed by humans.

In the end, the eternal return dates back to the origin of humanity. However, while technology has changed, humans have not: it is still up to us to interpret and positively leverage the exogenous cycles of life.

Luca Bisi