The American Dream by Particle
[audio:http://www.archive.org/download/particle2006-02-10.akg460.flac16/particle2007-02-10set1t02_64kb.mp3]
In one of my lectures today, I was vaguely paying attention when either my professor or a fellow student said something which intrigued me. So I started down this thought process which vaguely makes sense, and keep going. The further I went, the more interesting and entertaining it was to think of these things. The only problem is, I had no where to write anything down, so I scribbled
creativity = ignance (not a spelling error)
on my hand. I’ll try to remember and convey these wonderful things I thought, but I make no gaurentees, and it is far more likely that I will finish this with a different conclusion than the one I reached earlier.
Moving on.
I think the idea started from my musings on jargon (which I also have scribbled on my hand). I was thinking about how certain groups use jargon to limit the information which others can gain from their thoughts, either written or spoken. I understand that the primary use of jargon is a straightforward one: an attempt to define a concept otherwise undefined in the English language. But the fact that those outside of a certain circle are ignorant of the meaning of these words, is always used for advantage.
A great contemporary example is computer jargon. These concepts are fairly simple to understand, but they’re hidden behind foreign words, which scare people who don’t know their meaning. They’re too intimidated to try and determine these things for themselves, so they turn to someone inside the circle, who understands the jargon. This is why hiring a guy to fix your computer costs so damn much. He has information which you don’t possess, and he knows it. He also knows that you have no alternative. I’m the computer guy, by the way, so I know all about exploiting people’s ignorance on the topic. It is a lot of fun, and profitable, but in the end I am gaining from what I withhold from people. I could answer questions or fix problems and explain what went wrong and how they can prevent it in plain english, but then why would I been needed?
So these were my musings on ignoranceand jargon and the like when something was said in class which made me connect ignorance and creativity. At first, I was thinking about how something otherwise ignorant, when seen in a certain light could be seen as creative. I thought about how creative people may put themselves in a childlike amazement of the world around them in order to create things. I thought about how their wonder and awe transfered to the observer through their work, and the observer would be reminded of their own childlike wonder and awe.
Then I realized that it wasn’t the creator who was ignorant, it was the observer. The creator had done something to make the observer think in a way they hadn’t expected to. This defience of expectations is what makes something creative, or not. So the observer isn’t just reminded of their own childlike wonder and awe, they actually are awed.
Just a bit more food for thought.