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compartmentalization
Wednesday, July 19 2023
Up until a couple years ago, Gretchen had been great friends with one of her three friends named Kaycee, the one in "that 80s house" across the road. Kaycee is an ethical vegan and shared Gretchen's ideas about the production of children (that is, she didn't want to have any). But then, later in the covid pandemic, this Kaycee revealed herself to have a number of kooky views about Dr. Anthony Fauci, the covid vaccine, and the election of President Joe Biden. The relationship cooled precipitously after that, though Gretchen and Kaycee were always friendly with one another when they saw each other. This morning this Kaycee randomly arrived at our front door with a bag of dog food (probably vegan dog food) that her dogs (now she has two) don't like. So the three of us sat out on the east deck chatting about various things such as my recent layoff, our cabin in the Adirondacks, and what can be gotten to by walking in the nearby forest. Now that we know the issues we disagree about, it was easy not to talk about them. Kaycee says that she too has job insecurity in her line of work, since she tends to get accounting jobs at hedge funds, which come and go like virtual particles (those are my words, not hers). It was a fun conversation, and we found much reason to laugh. Gretchen even suggested Kaycee should start joining her on hikes in the forest now that our dogs refuse to go with her. After Kaycee left, Gretchen turned to me and said, "See, the thing is, I like her." Unlike me, someone who grew up around people with politics and views that I didn't share, Gretchen doesn't have much (or any) experience being friends with someone she vehemently disagrees with on some (or nearly all) issues, and she hasn't developed the easy compartmentalization that I have. (I'm not extroverted or particularly social, but I can find common ground with just about anyone.)
This afternoon, Gilaud, the husband of Gretchen's childhood friend (and now New York Times best seller!) Dina arrived en route to Boston with their sixteen year old daughter, whom Gilaud had picked up at the end of summer camp. (Though the family lives in Tel Aviv, the kids always attend summer camp in the Delaware Valley.) They'd only be visiting for three hours or so, but that was enough time for a meal ate out on the east deck. (It was a pasta salad made with ravioli, which was fun.) Initially we talked about camp (the only thing the daughter wanted to discuss) and then yellow jackets (nobody seemed suitably impressed by the story I told of the time my father and I rescued goats from yellow jackets in a frenzy of adrenaline-fueled superhuman strength). Later, after the mosquitoes had driven us indoors, Gilaud told us about various sustainable energy projects he has become aware of as part of his involvement with an MIT-based start-up incubator. He explained that a lot of the problem with sustainable energy is storage. (I'm well versed on these things, but it was all kind of new to Gretchen.) He talked about various novel and not-so-novel power-storage technologies, ranging from pump storage to pressurizing old mines (to then use that pressure during periods of increased need to drive turbines). He also told us about an idea that I find completely ludicrous: storing power by stacking concrete blocks and then withdrawing it by tapping into the force of those blocks pulling downward as the are allowed to slowly fall. (This seems to require a lot more fuss and bother than something like pump storage, and I've seen it debunked on YouTube.) Gilaud also talked about all the sustainable hydroelectric power in Quebec that cannot reach the cities of the American northeast for lack of transmission lines. Gretchen defers a lot to expertise, and, probably for that reason she had trouble putting herself in the mind of someone living in the wilds of Maine not wanting high-voltage powerlines strung through the nearby forest. (I'm sure if she actually lived there, her NIMBY impulses would be very strong.) So I was the only one in conversation saying that I could relate to people trying to stop powerlines, necessary though they are for the greening of the energy grid.
Meanwhile Gilaud's daughter was completely zoned-out, flipping around between dopamine hits on her phone.
For linking purposes this article's URL is:
http://asecular.com/blog.php?230719 feedback
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