Mixed Modals

This is my first blog.

Blogs require unique titles.  This is as hard as coming up with a really strong but memorable password. You try one after another until one strikes you as suitable.  Exhaustion from the process plays a big part in eventually finding something that satisfies.  I won't share the titles I rejected.  All the clever ones seemed to have been taken. However, as I tried out each one I found myself occasionally thinking-- "That one is certainly possible."  Eventually I stepped back from the process and saw this common phrase-- Certainly Possible.  Good enough.

The title "Certainly Possible" is fun because it's a mixed modal phrase I often hear people use (myself included) when they are minimally acknowledging the legitimacy of some assertion. It starts out sounding like a vote of support for some claim (certainly) but then diminishes that very endorsement by indicating the weakest modal claim for truth (possible). Ideas are sometimes like that.  They start out strong, bordering on something absolute. Then their value diminishes as they are scrutinized.  What's left is sometimes a small kernel of truth.  The excitement happens when these small nuggets of truth are connected together to form something bold and new.  At that point the declaration of possibility is a remarkable achievement.  We move forward a little in our understanding.

So, this blog is going to be about a lot of things.  It's my new sketchpad for capturing patterns I see in events and ideas. We'll see how this goes.  It's certainly possible that some good may come from these jottings.  I'll start with at least that much.