2120: On the Utterly Misleading Notion of the Fundamental Interconnectedness of All Things
Or How Everything Is Not Merely Linked but Identically the Same, and What This Means for Your Morning Tea, the Universe’s Infinite Sausage, and the Possibly Uncomfortable Realisation That You and That Banana Peel Are, in Fact, One and the Same
The philosophical proposition that “the fundamental interconnectedness of all things” constitutes the secret sauce of the universe has enjoyed such enduring popularity that it now decorates tea towels, meditation posters, and—most egregiously—the walls of student flats everywhere. But while such a sentiment evokes the warm satisfaction of knowing you’re somehow linked to everything from the Higgs boson to the unfortunate banana peel on your kitchen floor, this essay proposes a far more radical—and, if anything, even more disturbing—truth: all things are not interconnected. They are, in fact, the same thing.
Let us begin with the casual observation of the everyday mug, one that perhaps contains a tepid beverage you’d meant to drink several hours ago. That mug, upon inspection, is composed of molecules, which are composed of atoms, which are composed of subatomic particles, which (according to the rude and frankly unbalancing suggestions of advanced quantum theory) are actually vibrating expressions of a single fundamental field that cannot, even under the most strenuous of circumstances, be bothered to manifest as more than one thing at a time. In other words, your mug is not fundamentally different from your sock, your cat, the Prime Minister, or (and this is the crucial bit) the empty void in your wallet. All alleged “connections” are merely the illusion produced by this singular, universal envy of individuation.
Of course, great philosophers from across the ages have puzzled over whether a tree is only a tree in relation to the forest, or a duck is only a duck in relation to a pond. This is, naturally, thinking small. Massive cosmological advances in the late 21st century revealed that not only are all trees tree-ish in similar ways, they are all the same tree, and what’s more, all ducks are ultimately identical, which is a fact known intuitively to ducks and stubbornly ignored by ornithologists.
Thus, to state that “the fundamental interconnectedness of all things” is foundational to understanding reality is a bit like asserting the fundamental string-tied-together-ness of all sausages in a single, infinite sausage. Technically correct, perhaps, but missing what is plainly obvious: the universe is one infinite sausage. Everything is the sausage and the sausage is everything, with just enough spicy variation to cause confusion at family gatherings.
Practical attempts to exploit interconnectedness, such as holistic healthcare, quantum entanglement communications, and the famous but poorly attended “Telepathic Interplanetary Bingo Night of 2096,” all run up against the same niggling hurdle: the universe can only meaningfully connect with itself, which it does so constantly and without need for encouragement or additional funding.
In conclusion, the error at the heart of “the fundamental interconnectedness of all things” is, paradoxically, that it is not an error, just a misstatement. Things are not interconnected. They are the same thing, endlessly, determinedly, and, quite possibly, out of sheer obstinacy. The mug is the sock. The cat is the banana peel. We are all each other, and not in a mystically profound way, but in the sense that the cosmic supply cupboard has exactly one item in it, stamped and reissued in bewildering variety. If you find this idea unsettling, take some comfort: it means that your anxiety about it is also, cosmologically speaking, identical to a nice slice of chocolate cake. And that, surely, is worth contemplating over your next cup of reconstituted cosmic beverage.
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