Wince memory

What are your wince memories? You must have one or two that stand out. I better not go into the details of mine. We've all done stupid things, and we'll all do many more. Some of them are stupid enough that when we recollect them we wince. The wince is all about preventing pain. The pain of embarrassment, stupidity and pain. When we wince, it's like the shaking the mind's etch a sketch and trying to forget the wince memory. A little GO BACK WRONG WAY sign in the minds pathways. Wincing acknowledges that something very awkward or humiliating happened. It's possible to get over wince memories, I reckon. On closer inspection, we might not get over them, just smooth over them. If we are forced to revisit in fine detail the thing, the wince may well return.

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I've mentioned this before, perhaps, but Foreign Correspondent has indeed a really lame theme song. This song belongs on a kids educational programe, not one of TV's premier world current affairs shows.

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The once proud once Belmore club.

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Involuntary subjunctive replays. This is a topic worthy of far more detail than I can give it now. I just wanted to draw your attention to it. This is a universal human trait, which isn't to say that all people have it, just that it's part of the human cognitive repertoire. It may well be connected to one of your wince memories. Here's how it works. Something happens. Something goes wrong, and it's very significant those ramifications. It could have gone the other way (couldn't it have?). So nearly might have. Sport is the obvious example that comes to mind, but would form but a small part of the human catalogue of subjunctive replays. Bulldogs up 20-6 at half time in the grand final qualifier against Brisbane in 2006. They go on to lose the match 37-20 and the mind afterwards is populated with what if thoughts. What if Hodges hadn't busted that tackle and made that inspirational break that lead to the first comeback try? What if Luke Patten had scored in the corner just before half time, stretching the lead out to 26 points to 6? I can't remember the other ones, but the essential features are
- bad, significant outcome
- it's plausible that things could have gone the other way
- your mind replays the events over and over
- it's involuntary
- there's a strong what if element - your stupid mind almost thinks it can change reality if it tries hard enough.

I once wrote to a scientist in the UK asking them about the possibility of studying involuntary subjunctive replays, and they replied that they were interested in collaborating with me. I was flattered, being an honours student and all, but never pursued it. I sent out a lot of emails like that during my study days, and had some really nice exchanges. Gee, academics are nice.