In 2017, a new meme was added to the canon. A new phrase entered the common parlance and we changed the way we communicate. The meme was of course, Galaxy Brain. Four boxes, four pictures of the brain with various lights to identify various levels of enlightenment.
People love Galaxy Brain and have really taken to it. Four years on, we’re still referencing it and parsing takes with the format. It has also entered the lexicon as a phrase that anyone can use. Though you might not know the original reference, it seems easy enough to understand the phrase “Galaxy Brain” as meaning a brain that is large and expansive. I would love if people started saying Galaxy Brain in academic contexts. I want my parents to say Galaxy Brain. 40 year old too online journalists say it so we’re not far from there. I want to explain to my children where the phrase Galaxy Brain comes from.
Galaxy Brain has longevity not only because people love but because people need it. The Internet is all about arguing and sharing opinions. People love to argue, they love to debate. Even if they don’t do it recreationally on Twitter, they sometimes find themselves roped into fights by seeing takes from their relatives and old classmates on Facebook. We’re more divided than ever and all that bullshit and we need tools to point out exactly why our uncles, former friends, and complete strangers are so deeply deeply wrong.
Not only is it one of our many tools for arguing on the Internet, it is one of our best. Galaxy brain is a way to bring nuance into the world. So often the Internet will divide itself into two sides of idiots and geniuses. It can be frustrating to end up on the side of the idiots but not have their reasoning. Galaxy Brain makes you choose between four options. The first being the most simple and common idea, probably the most wrong. The second is the disagreement with the initial first opinion. You have your right and your wrong. The third option is usually the first option again but with different reasoning. An understanding that people can have the right opinion for the wrong reason. The third option is usually the right option or the one the author really believes. Higher level reasoning without being lost to irony. The fourth option we are given is the second option again but usually with an echo of the third’s reasoning. Sometimes this one is the most correct. The real opinion of the author revealed after every other argument has been presented.
Sometimes though the fourth take is the most wrong. We change our ways of thinking so much we lose touch with reality. We can rationalize ourselves into thinking the exact opposite of what we believe. We can be so wrong, both morally and philosophically. But other times the fourth option is the most correct because sometimes the smartest thing you can do is be an idiot. There is freedom in no longer being the smartest one in the room but arriving at a solution faster than anyone. If you drink creek water you won’t have to go to work for eight days. It’s a solution to your problem and there is no need to be bogged down by second thoughts or reasoning.
I love a Galaxy Brain take. I love thinking with my Galaxy Brain (I’m an Aquarius). Every time I use something in a way it wasn’t intended to be used I am using my Galaxy Brain. I like it when other people use their Galaxy Brains, both in a way of celebrating innovation and to make fun of them for being stupid, especially when they think they are being smart. Prince Phillip is feminist because he let his wife lead Britain is a Galaxy Brain take. The people presenting it think they are smarter than everyone and thinking above and beyond them. They believe they are enlightened. In a way they are. To quote several geniuses before me “I wish I lacked critical thinking skills, y’all seem so happy”