> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.coleschronicle.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# False Proxies
- URL: https://www.coleschronicle.com/false-proxies/
- Published: 2026-08-31T12:00:25.000Z
- Updated: 2026-08-31T12:00:25.000Z
- Description: Are culture’s impressions on the subconscious. They are what we have been told matters– shrouding the true indicators.
- Author: Cole Hansen

Are culture’s impressions on the subconscious. They are what we have been *told* matters– shrouding the true indicators. Passed through societies and across generations like a virus, they vie for survival, and sicken their hosts. They are the stories repeated until believed, the crude instruments used when we lack better metrics. Falling prey to their assertions is ideological suicide– ceding control to the meme.

False proxies are prevalent because they are measurable, but not everything measurable is meaningful. Money cannot buy happiness and status will not bring fulfillment. Yet without proper calibration, we aim precisely for these abstractions. Without intrinsic direction, we default to that of our culture. 

So if the metrics we have been using to gauge our [success](https://www.coleschronicle.com/success/) are faulty, then which are sound? What *should* we be aiming for?

The unsatisfying answer is: It depends. It depends on the individual, and it depends on how we define a metric. Although we could score satisfaction on a scale of 1-10, it cannot be compared across individuals, and it is highly reliant on the state of the person at the time of its scoring. How much credence can we give to such a subjective measurement, when should it be evaluated, and with what weight should each calculation be taken into account? It would be much easier to sum up a net worth…

False proxies are culture’s universal prescriptions for success. They are easily interpreted and highly measurable. But the individual is more than her culture, and success is *not* easily interpreted or highly measurable. But perhaps our best response is not to seek a personal prescription in its place. Maybe it would be more effective to focus on dissolving our delusions, and allowing meaning to surface on its own.