Reality is normal

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There is a shattering truth, so surprising and terrifying that people resist the implications with all their strength. Yet there are a lonely few with the courage to accept this satori. Here is wisdom, if you would be wise:

Since the beginning
Not one unusual thing
Has ever happened.

If at any point some truth should seem shocking or bizarre, it's your brain that labels it as such; reality simply is what it is. Surprise is the measure of a poor hypothesis; a good model puts probability mass on outcomes that are more likely to actually occur. If your model of reality consistently makes bad predictions — if the the real world seems utterly strange or surreal to your intuitions — then it's your intuitions that need to change; the world isn't going to. Reality is normal.

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See also