If you really want a window into how I view the world, then you must realize that everything is connected. I’m fascinated by the fact that a photon can travel from light-years away and affect the course of human history. A supernova, separated from us by miles upon miles of emptiness, can ignite a revolution in science and challenge religion. So even though the vast majority of our universe consists of emptiness, it’s still all connected.

Even looking past the physical connection, the universe is connected by the fact of the common laws that govern all of its parts. It’s amazing that the universe even makes sense. Each piece is undergirded by the same laws. Yet underneath all that, there is no one law to rule them all. The universe consists of patterns, but there is no pattern behind the pattern. There is no god, or anything like it. Each piece may have its purpose or make sense as it is. As a whole, the universe serves no purpose; it just is.

A fact cannot be an island. A single bit of information is useless to me. For me to make sense of any fact, it must be connected to other facts. A visual image always appears to me of a web; all my knowledge is connected in a network.

Everything relates to everything. All facts connect to all facts, even the most disparate sounding items. I have this gift for connection, I think. Poker can relate to dating. Computer science can relate to governance. And analogies can always be made, whether for informational or comedic purposes. The most solemn topics can be explained with a 90s reference.

Anything I’ve ever done, anything I’ve ever read, anything that has ever happened to me makes my identity. None of it is useless. Sure, some things may not shine brightly in my consciousness. Some events will never be told when I talk about my life, but it is part of the sum total of who I am. Every atom tells the story of the universe, as well.

This is not meant to be some spiritual revelation. It’s just the lens through which I view the world. Some people like to categorize; some like to take things apart. I like to connect. I like finding the patterns in the universe. I like finding out something that happened 10 years ago to me is very much like something that happened to me today, and now I can explain both.

And immediately after I think that, I think about how I can be wrong. Because even though I talked about laws, I do not reduce things to rules. Yes, I often have shorthand rules for living life, but context always has more importance. This is unsurprising when everything relates to everything. Each event is affected very much by everything surrounding it. Every person that’s different changes what’s happening. Everything matters. Everything is a clue.

I like the word contingent. I like the conservative view of history because of the importance of culture. The surrounding context should affect one’s view of governance more than any silly rules or grand sweeping proclamations about Human Nature. Everything now is dependent on everything in the past.

This attention to complexity and context — I wouldn’t say it makes me entirely unique, but it does make me different from a lot of people. I have the drive to find patterns, but I don’t have the drive to simplify. I’m always more satisfied when the world is more complex than I realize, and when I have to discard the rules I make.

Then, there’s this overwhelming desire to connect. I’m always hunting for new facts, but I’m not a sponge. I don’t haphazardly absorb information. I have to take this information and connect it to my current network of information. The more places it connects, the more valuable it is. But even if it does not connect to much now, I know it will later. Everything is connected to everything.