The victims and benefactors from random

“A random passerby is victim to an unequivocally random act of terror. A tragedy.”

“Bone cancer manifests itself in a young child. A natural disaster destroys homes and uproots lives by the thousands. What could have been done to prevent this? What should be done?”

Well. Probably nothing. In fact, I may prefer nothing. I can imagine that the reduction or complete loss of random bad events also reduces/erases the random good events at a comparable clip. I can’t imagine a world where acts like this don’t happen at all without us living in a cyberpunk surveillance dystopia or something equally terrifying. The argument would be around whether or not it is possible to only reduce ‘bad’ random events without otherwise inhibiting the human condition, taking into note that spontaneity plays a critical role in a life well-lived. We must not do without.

I don’t mean to defend horrendous acts of drug-induced murder or to halt research into malignant bone cancers. I merely wish to point out that these very things are unavoidable at any stage of societal technology and paradoxically give life much of it’s meaning. If I knew for certain I would not die tomorrow, unless I killed someone else, and that all I would do, good or bad, would have equal and opposite repurcussions - then life would become… rather predictable. All X’s mapping to the same Y’s, time and time again.

Anyone who has been in a ‘rut’ of sorts knows the potency that predictability can have on the psyche. And none speak fondly of their time in its grasp. So why abandon the random.

I, for some unbeknowst reason, believe that I will fall victim to a random, omniversal terroist attack - be it a murder, illness or lifestyle. But, am totally okay with going down as one the sacrificial lambs, without a final bleet. Life’s very essense is preserved in it’s spontaneity, even if it has an ironic, even twisted sense of humor.

A ‘human-perfect’ meritocracy where everyone gets what they deserve is one where ‘merit’ has lost all meaning and all precious vitality is wasted on debating the merits of merit.

It’s a random act of terror, a random miracle. And nothing can be done to prevent this, and nothing should be tried.