Sturgeon’s Law
Like most people, I want to know that my time is being spent well in this life. But what is the optimal ratio of subjectively “good” to “bad” experiences I should be having? What is this ratio in reality?
The classic “glass half empty / glass half full” paints a picture that life is 50/50, and it all depends on how you look at it. I recently learned how the sci-fi writer and critic Theodore Sturgeon thought about it, as summarized in his namesake adage, Sturgeon’s Law, and I might have to agree:
“Ninety percent of everything is crap.”
That might be a record for pessimism. Is most of everything really crap?
Really? Ninety Percent?
If I think about my experience, I can’t instantly dismiss this.
I love the field of work I have chosen because it can be very challenging and rewarding. But I have to admit that most of my work days in this career (and the one before it) have been spent on crap like troubleshooting, admin, people problems, bureaucracy, or generally anything but the interesting work I signed up for.
Likewise, most entertainment is crap. I browse the YouTube home screen to see thumbnail after thumbnail of some guy with his mouth open in shock and a big red arrow pointing to something mildly interesting. I watch the latest season of Stranger Things and have my opinions of the show turned upside down. I play the latest friend-slop video game for two sessions with the lads, then shelve it. I pace the aisles of a used book store and see cover after cover of generic sci-fi, mass-market romance, and biographies commissioned by people who aren’t even dead yet to stroke their own egos.
And don’t even get me started on AI.
It’s not just what I consume; most of what I make is crap. I’ve written, hated, and discarded hundreds of blog posts, songs, and short stories. I’ve pushed some real stinkers to main and left some really stupid comments on pull requests. Most of what I have produced is crap that nobody ever saw because I threw it out to hide how well Sturgeon’s Law applies to me.
A Silver Lining
If it sounds like I’m complaining, I’m not. This sea of crap is what makes it so exciting when, during that beautiful ten percent of the time, we get to experience genuinely well-made things and solve interesting problems.
Sturgeon’s Law also makes me pause to give myself some grace; if ninety percent of everything ever is crap, I’m par for the course if ninety percent of what I do is crap.
This post is probably crap, and that’s OK. Go make some crap today. You might get lucky and find that ten percent that was in there somewhere the whole time.