Adults Exposed 2: The Fool’s Paradise Expansion
It is truly baffling how many ways humans manage to fool their treacherous brains into serving them. It is understood by experts that in order to stay healthy, humans must play with each other, be surrounded by pretty things, express themselves, work up a sweat, get outside, and stay hydrated. Yet the human brain often convinces them, especially when they struggle the most, that these endeavors are not worthwhile. How do they manage to overcome this?
The self-deception continues
How they create pretty things: Take a look at the highly talented, mildly insecure illustrator who buys himself a beautiful array of pencil crayons in a pretty box to entice himself to work.
How they keep going in the face of adversity: Look into the moment of doubt that a budding gamer has in a particularly challenging boss fight, and how she cleverly uses the prospect of an ice cream sandwich to motivate herself to keep fighting.
How they stay sharp: Even though she desperately dreads studying, the hopeful student listens to lo-fi hip-hop to create a studious atmosphere to trick herself into studying for her upcoming final exam.
How they stay in shape: The agonized jogger runs with friends in order to have someone listen to her complain about how much she hates running.
How they hone their creative skills, slaying the literary world: Observe this small cluster of humans as they gather together, exchanging pieces of paper they have all written words on, and ask one another to “please be honest,” then cry softly in the next available bathroom stall.
How they maintain personal hygiene: Notice how the smelly human uses the pleasantly perfumed sudsing bar to make showering more pleasant.
How they show others they are available for companionship: Sometimes when human strangers are in close proximity, one will tell the other that their choice of garments is nice and then they may become friends.
How they create potential allies or enemies: Even during a pandemic, when expert humans have told all humans that they are to remain two meters apart, some still insist on holding doors open for one another.
How to assess the viability of a potential mate: Humans, even cloistered in their homes, find a way to spark romantic bonds by carefully considering which GIFs to share with their new potential paramours.
These creatures’ complicated and wrinkly think boxes are both their greatest pride and their darkest defeat. Soaring joy and deep despair is experienced in this organ, and humans have been trying for millennia to work with them. They continue to struggle, to this day, against their own brains, doing their absolute best to keep going. If only these lifeforms could work WITH their brains, they might really get somewhere.