More Deep Thoughts - Coincidence or Conspiracy
Well, maybe not that deep, but this is something fun I was thinking about.
I tend to have a great memory for small things and useless facts, so I am always aware of coincidences. I'm the person who will have some song she hasn't heard in years stuck in her head, and then is excited when she hears it on the radio the next day.
It feels as if coincidences like that are happening to me more in recent weeks. I chalk that up someone to humans having a bias to notice things like this, so we are all more likely to remember or notice events that are unusual. Even so, I like to think this is more than the usual workings of a human brain. I think I am paying more attention to the world these days. I'm noticing more. I am remembering more. I am making more connections in my brain than normal. I think that's a positive thing. I am more in tune with my surroundings.
I also have to wonder if it's also the scary workings of the internet. Everything I do or say is connected online. I am at the mercy of algorithms and cookies and trackers and who knows what else?
Here is a crazy example. Yesterday I was talking about beef wellington with my mother. I was saying I would love to make it, but I have too many family members who differ about how much beef should be cooked. I refuse to spend money on a good beef tenderloin and then overcook it. (My belief is if you like your beef cooked above medium, you should choose a different cut.) But we talked about how there are recipes for beef alternatives such as turkey or pork tenderloin. Later that evening I opened up my Pinterest to gather the recipes for the food I was making for dinner this week and on my home page were three recipes for pork tenderloin wellington. That was weird. I wasn't searching for pork tenderloin wellington at all that day. It really does feel as if our phones spy on us sometimes.
Or it could simply be more coincidence. Humans like to interpret coincidences as the stars aligning, or our psychic ability. Now we can add conspiracies about internet spies to the mix.
(Here is an explanation. I was looking at a recipe for meatball wellington during a recent browse through Pinterest, so the algorithm was picking up my interest in meats in puff pastry that aren't beef tenderloin.)