On Constancy and Change
I like it when things stay the same. That's what some people say to me. Now, if I'm perfectly honest I understand why they're saying that: constancy, or more precisely the appearance of constancy, is comforting. It means you can cling onto something in a world where clinging onto something, no matter how appealing, is difficult and possibly dangerous - and besides, it hurts like hell to stop clinging. That doesn't mean that it doesn't fuck me off. And why? For a start, I'm no fan of change for change's sake, though I agree we need a lot of it - but that's not my reason. If I'm entirely honest, my real reason is that I think they're trying to fight nature; they're trying to fight natural forces and the mathematics modelling them. And, of course, they won't win against the laws of nature and mathematics. It's like me trying to stop the tide by yelling at it not to come in: gravity and the mathematics modelling it are stronger than m...