...there is a thing that is said in design circles:
"there is no such thing as an original idea"
So what implications does that have on you and me?
Superficially, it means that everything we think is new and improved is merely different. Is that really true? Logic says that it is true only so far as technology makes it true. For example, detergent x might actually better than detergent y only because the newer one has access to new technology. As Audi like's to point out, their new A6 is smarter than the first Lunar Landing put together and let's not even go into how many calculations the ECU of the BMW M5 can do in a second....
Of course, going back to the detergent example; even if detergent x is better, it's still a detergent. It isn't a new way to clean; it is the same, only better because it is different.
So are we really living in a recycled world?
Yes and No.
Yes, we live in a world where everything we think and do has already been thought and done but so what? In my world, everything I experience is going to be new so why does it matter that some other Yeter Puen halfway around the world has already done the things I am about to do?
There is the argument of progression.
If all we do is re-do what is done before, what does it achieve? While it is new to me, to the masses it isn't and is in a way useless. Man's greatest talent is to better himself so to be doing what has been done before is to be stepping into other people's footsteps. To be doing what has been done is to be lazy and to be complacent. It is illusion to oneself of being better than one really is when all we are doing, is being absolutely unoriginal.
So is originality the greatest achievement?
Possibly.
Within context of course.....
An original idea is something that ocurs only once in a blue moon when virgin Manatees serenade Manbou across the pacific as a schoal of Bluefin plays polo against the Bottlenose Dolphins off the African coast.
Unsurprisingly, people seem to be born knowing the importance of originality. Withness the youths' obssession with being "special" and being an "individual". If originality wasn't something to strive for, why would the driving force of society be so focussed on it? Brands spend millions on being something better than the rest; at being original.
So how original are we really?
At the beginning I started with the thought that there is no such thing a an original idea and I stand by that. But again, like I ask so many times, so what?
I have said that the individual is the sum total of past experiences and their influence on our thoughts and actions at any point in time in any situation. It follows that even we are following in what other people have already done, it serves a purpose. Without our own personal experience of those unoriginal deeds, we have no hope of knowing what has already been done. Things do not exist independent of the experience and experience does not exist without the knowledge of the thing. To know he thing, you have to do it. Without doing it you have no knowledge of it.
What seems to be important then, is not to be original but to learn of all the unoriginal things. Only then can we even have hope of having something that while it might not be original, might be a thought less common than others.
The fear here is that we aren't really indivuduals at all. After all, everything we can think of has in all probability already been thought of by someone else and will be thought of by someone else some time in the future and in many other futures. Everything we can know is bound by what we do know and even then, the new things what we discover aren't really new in as much as they already exist, we just haven't put it in words yet. I find it hard to believe that no one else has not done the things I have done and seen the things I have seen. Of course, this is ignoring the important little thing I said earlier; we are the sum of our experiences. That is the saving grace of the possiblity of individuality. It is the exact sequence of our experience that makes us who we are. Add to that the magic unknown quanity that makes us think in the way we do and you have what makes us individual. The trick is to accept things and to not aim to not blindly copy others. To copy without knowledge is to deny yourself of what is really important in that original. To say things because you think that is what people expect you to say is a lie. To do things because you think that is what people expect you to do is a lie.
Copying without knowledge of why you're copying is the real problem.
To know the reasons of that (possible) original is what you should strive to do.
After all, learning is at its basic, copying.
So to be unoriginal is natural.
The challenge is to learn of how unoriginal you are.
Seeing as this is that time of year I guess this is a challenge to myself.
To learn more.
Titled: 19th December 2007
Published: 31st December 2007
Monday, December 31, 2007
today.....
.....
i woke up at around 7:40. At least I think it was 7:40. It was one of those times when you wake up, have about 6 minutes of clarity before succumbing to the warm envelope of darkest sleep. By the time I woke up again it was nearing 12pm where I hit the other end of the awakening spectrum. That is to say when I saw the distinctive blue on black indicating 11:57, I was up.
That isn't to say that I got out of bed in a haze and wandered to the bathroom for my morning wash trying to drag myself out of sleep.
Quite simply; I was up.
Up.
Awake.
In an instant I was the absolute opposite of Asleep.
After the 3 minutes of blood inducing brushing and 45 seconds of equally blood inducing shaving and the 12 and a half minute bad excuse for a shower I was downstairs ready to make a bite to eat. Why was I in such a hurry? No reason. Just wanted to be up and about earlier.
The rest of the day was actually a bit of a let down after the initial tush of activity; just sat around watching telly and playing a bit of Dawn Of War. Listened to a bit more of my recently acquired Chopin collection and ate too many chocolate covered biscuits of various description for my own good. This year Ive decided to open and devour all of them boxes of chocolates and biscuits before they get hidden in various cupboards, never to see the light of another chistmas dawn....
Dinner was another has job of whatever is in the fridge. Mum's ticket to HK was booked for the 10th Jan; just a single mind as she's discovered the joys of buying tickets only when you need them for ultimate flexibilty. It does mean that she won't be around for when my Birthday arrives but that's not really an issue. Besides, only one person has ever really made a point about my birthday and she isn't really talking to me anymore so well.... who cares? Her booking her flight does mean that I have to think about my own trip out there. Really would like to avoid the CNY and Tobes will be going back on 17th Feb so... well, Not much to choose from really. Just got to get around to it.
PS
most of this post is bullshit.
i woke up at around 7:40. At least I think it was 7:40. It was one of those times when you wake up, have about 6 minutes of clarity before succumbing to the warm envelope of darkest sleep. By the time I woke up again it was nearing 12pm where I hit the other end of the awakening spectrum. That is to say when I saw the distinctive blue on black indicating 11:57, I was up.
That isn't to say that I got out of bed in a haze and wandered to the bathroom for my morning wash trying to drag myself out of sleep.
Quite simply; I was up.
Up.
Awake.
In an instant I was the absolute opposite of Asleep.
After the 3 minutes of blood inducing brushing and 45 seconds of equally blood inducing shaving and the 12 and a half minute bad excuse for a shower I was downstairs ready to make a bite to eat. Why was I in such a hurry? No reason. Just wanted to be up and about earlier.
The rest of the day was actually a bit of a let down after the initial tush of activity; just sat around watching telly and playing a bit of Dawn Of War. Listened to a bit more of my recently acquired Chopin collection and ate too many chocolate covered biscuits of various description for my own good. This year Ive decided to open and devour all of them boxes of chocolates and biscuits before they get hidden in various cupboards, never to see the light of another chistmas dawn....
Dinner was another has job of whatever is in the fridge. Mum's ticket to HK was booked for the 10th Jan; just a single mind as she's discovered the joys of buying tickets only when you need them for ultimate flexibilty. It does mean that she won't be around for when my Birthday arrives but that's not really an issue. Besides, only one person has ever really made a point about my birthday and she isn't really talking to me anymore so well.... who cares? Her booking her flight does mean that I have to think about my own trip out there. Really would like to avoid the CNY and Tobes will be going back on 17th Feb so... well, Not much to choose from really. Just got to get around to it.
PS
most of this post is bullshit.
Sunday, December 30, 2007
meaning it
Lately I've been trying to live by a slightly different set of rules.
Those who occasionally are forced to listen to my diatribe will have no doubt heard me use it a much wider context but it is valid non-the-less. What is this new life philosophy I hear you (virtually) cry?
Simple and I have mentioned it here before and well, I stole it from Yoda.....
Do or don't do.
I've cut it short because I don't think it needs the bit about trying.
Actually, if I was being truely pedantic, I should say that what I really mean, is to just mean what you say. If you say you are going to do something, do it. By the same token, if you say you're not going to do something, don't do it. If you like something, say it. If you don't, still say. What matters is that whatever it is, just mean it.
Is it really that hard?
It shouldn't be.
The reason why Lucifer was cast out of Heaven was because he was jealous of Man's Free Will (depending on which story you're reading of course...) so we are all capable of doing exactly what we want, no? It also points to us being responsible for everything we do so if we can't do something that we said we would, there is really no excuse beyond you not really wanting to do that thing in the first place.
The same goes for the things you say.
How often have you heard or have used yourself the following:
"that's not what I meant".
The simple question is then, did they really misunderstand you or did you fail to express yourself properly? Or was it because you liked the sound of what you were saying more than the reality of what you were saying? In this modern age of teen melodrama and soaps, it is a common sympton for people to live for the soundbite to the extent that in their heads, they now have a library of things to say that are not much more than things nabbed from tv shows that were used during some rediculously unbelieveable plotline, along with some guitar song background and some kind of lighting special effect that ends the scene with either a kiss or a lonely figure in a crowd. What this means is that people are more and more moulding their lives and situations to match what they see.
Is this new?
Nope.
It's just more annoying than it used to be because it's gotten to the point when people have stopped thinking about what it is they are saying. Again, this is me talking about the disparity between what is said and what is done. Because of the constant searching for moments to use those soundbites, what is eventually said is meaningless and no longer honest to the person, the moment or the situation. It is shallow beyond shallow and hence a lie of the worst order. Most people lie for a reason. This sort of lie is empty and has no purpose. It exists because of a false reality. It doesn't further anything because it is more often than not a pointless expression/statement. It does nothing and changes nothing. If anything, if it does do something, then it makes things worse. It is a lie that doesn't benefit the liar.
So what's the point I'm making here?
Nothing more than a simple request:
People, think about what you say and don't say it unless you mean it.
Titled: 7th December 2007
Published :30th December 2007
Those who occasionally are forced to listen to my diatribe will have no doubt heard me use it a much wider context but it is valid non-the-less. What is this new life philosophy I hear you (virtually) cry?
Simple and I have mentioned it here before and well, I stole it from Yoda.....
Do or don't do.
I've cut it short because I don't think it needs the bit about trying.
Actually, if I was being truely pedantic, I should say that what I really mean, is to just mean what you say. If you say you are going to do something, do it. By the same token, if you say you're not going to do something, don't do it. If you like something, say it. If you don't, still say. What matters is that whatever it is, just mean it.
Is it really that hard?
It shouldn't be.
The reason why Lucifer was cast out of Heaven was because he was jealous of Man's Free Will (depending on which story you're reading of course...) so we are all capable of doing exactly what we want, no? It also points to us being responsible for everything we do so if we can't do something that we said we would, there is really no excuse beyond you not really wanting to do that thing in the first place.
The same goes for the things you say.
How often have you heard or have used yourself the following:
"that's not what I meant".
The simple question is then, did they really misunderstand you or did you fail to express yourself properly? Or was it because you liked the sound of what you were saying more than the reality of what you were saying? In this modern age of teen melodrama and soaps, it is a common sympton for people to live for the soundbite to the extent that in their heads, they now have a library of things to say that are not much more than things nabbed from tv shows that were used during some rediculously unbelieveable plotline, along with some guitar song background and some kind of lighting special effect that ends the scene with either a kiss or a lonely figure in a crowd. What this means is that people are more and more moulding their lives and situations to match what they see.
Is this new?
Nope.
It's just more annoying than it used to be because it's gotten to the point when people have stopped thinking about what it is they are saying. Again, this is me talking about the disparity between what is said and what is done. Because of the constant searching for moments to use those soundbites, what is eventually said is meaningless and no longer honest to the person, the moment or the situation. It is shallow beyond shallow and hence a lie of the worst order. Most people lie for a reason. This sort of lie is empty and has no purpose. It exists because of a false reality. It doesn't further anything because it is more often than not a pointless expression/statement. It does nothing and changes nothing. If anything, if it does do something, then it makes things worse. It is a lie that doesn't benefit the liar.
So what's the point I'm making here?
Nothing more than a simple request:
People, think about what you say and don't say it unless you mean it.
Titled: 7th December 2007
Published :30th December 2007
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Saturday, December 08, 2007
changing socks
How obsessed are you?
Me?
I'm a Grade One, Premium, Top of the Line Obsessive and almost compulsive collector of things. If I like something, it will stick in my mind and pester me until the day I die. For that reason, I have learnt to maintain a distance from everything I come into contact with or at the very least, learnt feign disinterest but still, the few things that do interest me have always been things that I spend way too much time and money on.
I guess "collector" is a very apt word to describe my traits as I have cupboards full of car related stuff and lord alone knows how much model making junk but despite my weakness, I am at the same time a bit too practical take this to the extreme where I have absolutely no control. I'd like to say that I know when enough is enough because well, that would suggest that I am not an idiot.
You could say that this automatically disqualifies me from being being obsessive compulsive and I'm inclined to agree with you. It doesn't discount that whatever you want to to call me, I am without doubt, someone who falls under the catagory of "addictive personality".
I think that everyone is really.
We all should have something that defines who we are; something that plays such an integral part in our lives that if it were gone, a very big part of us is gone. For me, it is quite simply the basic act of scribbling. I used to say it was drawing but lately, I've found myself doing more than just drawing, instead making up things with words instead of lines and just making things that might be legible and comprehensib;e text or just marks on paper that look like it might be words. I know that most of this is probably just an extension with my drawing fetish but at the same time, I can't help but think that maybe this is a purer expression of my "passion"; I like to make things.
I mentioned the idea of a blank piece of paper in an earlier post and I'd like to go back to this.
Just like Malevich's Black Square, a blank piece of paper is the theoretical Zero Point of creating something. From this anything is possible and every possiblity is down to your interections with that that blank surface. If you are so inclined, you can even alter that surface to make it something more than a flat piece of paper. What you put on that piece of paper is going to depend on your influences and interests. For some it will be a drawing in the traditional sense; marks that represent something. Moving on slightly, those marks don't have to represent anythign and it is just a drawing of something random; it doesn't matter because it is still the act of drawing. For some, it will be words that they put down on paper; words to tell a story, to express or create a feeling or to challenge a thought. For some this might be lines and symbols; be it maths, physics, music, it will be something that is, like words, a language used to express or explain something.
What tangent is this I have wandered off onto?
I have no idea as this wasn't even what I was intending to write about so I'll stop here and move on.....
Obsessions/Passions.
What I typed above is a brief introduction to what I think is the most important part of my being. If you erase it from my life, you really do erase a big chunk of my life. So what is your passion?
I have a friend who doesn't know what she wants to do after her study.
She's currently studying (and nearly ccompleting) her degree in Physics but she has said that she is certain that she won't be persuing any sort of career in it. In fact, she has even more or less said that she's doing it as a her degree because well, without sounding to arrogant, she can. Part of this is certainly down to it being because she is a smart cookie and she can do whatever she sets her mind to doing. The fact that she is forcing her way through a physics degree is testament to her abilities but what does that say about her future? She's is clever enough to be able to do anything academically but because of the ease that things has been, she's never really found the one thing that is important to her as a being. There isn't anything that, if you take away, changes who she is. At least she couldn't think of it. Well, shoes don't count, does it?
So are these things normal then?
I said that I thought everyone has something like this but every now and then, I am reminded of how many people aren't really doing what they want to be doing. There's also the fact that I am aware that lots of people have described me as being a bit obssessed with "things" so perhaps I am just a freak. Or maybe I'm lucky that my obsession is something that I can do without much external interference or without it affecting my life (beyond me disappearing for a week or two while I'm busy painting something...).
I guess the question is; is it healthy?
In all honesty, I have to say no.
There are times when I know I should be doing work but I'm pissing about with a drawing/painting/model but's normal, no? We all do things that we shouldn't, especially when work is the alternative. The point is to just control yourself and don't take it too far. After all Passion does not equal Obsession.
So again and to rephrase the opening;
What is your passion?
Honest answers please and think about what it says about you?
note: this has taken a huge tangent and the title now has no real relevence to what I've eventually written so expect a part 2.
Titled: 23rd November 2007
Published: 8th December 2007
Me?
I'm a Grade One, Premium, Top of the Line Obsessive and almost compulsive collector of things. If I like something, it will stick in my mind and pester me until the day I die. For that reason, I have learnt to maintain a distance from everything I come into contact with or at the very least, learnt feign disinterest but still, the few things that do interest me have always been things that I spend way too much time and money on.
I guess "collector" is a very apt word to describe my traits as I have cupboards full of car related stuff and lord alone knows how much model making junk but despite my weakness, I am at the same time a bit too practical take this to the extreme where I have absolutely no control. I'd like to say that I know when enough is enough because well, that would suggest that I am not an idiot.
You could say that this automatically disqualifies me from being being obsessive compulsive and I'm inclined to agree with you. It doesn't discount that whatever you want to to call me, I am without doubt, someone who falls under the catagory of "addictive personality".
I think that everyone is really.
We all should have something that defines who we are; something that plays such an integral part in our lives that if it were gone, a very big part of us is gone. For me, it is quite simply the basic act of scribbling. I used to say it was drawing but lately, I've found myself doing more than just drawing, instead making up things with words instead of lines and just making things that might be legible and comprehensib;e text or just marks on paper that look like it might be words. I know that most of this is probably just an extension with my drawing fetish but at the same time, I can't help but think that maybe this is a purer expression of my "passion"; I like to make things.
I mentioned the idea of a blank piece of paper in an earlier post and I'd like to go back to this.
Just like Malevich's Black Square, a blank piece of paper is the theoretical Zero Point of creating something. From this anything is possible and every possiblity is down to your interections with that that blank surface. If you are so inclined, you can even alter that surface to make it something more than a flat piece of paper. What you put on that piece of paper is going to depend on your influences and interests. For some it will be a drawing in the traditional sense; marks that represent something. Moving on slightly, those marks don't have to represent anythign and it is just a drawing of something random; it doesn't matter because it is still the act of drawing. For some, it will be words that they put down on paper; words to tell a story, to express or create a feeling or to challenge a thought. For some this might be lines and symbols; be it maths, physics, music, it will be something that is, like words, a language used to express or explain something.
What tangent is this I have wandered off onto?
I have no idea as this wasn't even what I was intending to write about so I'll stop here and move on.....
Obsessions/Passions.
What I typed above is a brief introduction to what I think is the most important part of my being. If you erase it from my life, you really do erase a big chunk of my life. So what is your passion?
I have a friend who doesn't know what she wants to do after her study.
She's currently studying (and nearly ccompleting) her degree in Physics but she has said that she is certain that she won't be persuing any sort of career in it. In fact, she has even more or less said that she's doing it as a her degree because well, without sounding to arrogant, she can. Part of this is certainly down to it being because she is a smart cookie and she can do whatever she sets her mind to doing. The fact that she is forcing her way through a physics degree is testament to her abilities but what does that say about her future? She's is clever enough to be able to do anything academically but because of the ease that things has been, she's never really found the one thing that is important to her as a being. There isn't anything that, if you take away, changes who she is. At least she couldn't think of it. Well, shoes don't count, does it?
So are these things normal then?
I said that I thought everyone has something like this but every now and then, I am reminded of how many people aren't really doing what they want to be doing. There's also the fact that I am aware that lots of people have described me as being a bit obssessed with "things" so perhaps I am just a freak. Or maybe I'm lucky that my obsession is something that I can do without much external interference or without it affecting my life (beyond me disappearing for a week or two while I'm busy painting something...).
I guess the question is; is it healthy?
In all honesty, I have to say no.
There are times when I know I should be doing work but I'm pissing about with a drawing/painting/model but's normal, no? We all do things that we shouldn't, especially when work is the alternative. The point is to just control yourself and don't take it too far. After all Passion does not equal Obsession.
So again and to rephrase the opening;
What is your passion?
Honest answers please and think about what it says about you?
note: this has taken a huge tangent and the title now has no real relevence to what I've eventually written so expect a part 2.
Titled: 23rd November 2007
Published: 8th December 2007
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
...generally being general
What is your number one cop put, spineless, non-commited answer that you hate when taking part in a discussion of any sort?
Here's mine; anything that begins with, or contains a part that has "generally speaking" somewhere in it when making a particular point.
Why?
Because it is next to useless.
What does it even mean? Most of the time it is valid? So does that automatically make it valid for whatever it is you are discussing? OK, perhaps I am being a bit unfair as I do realise that what I am moaning about now, is the modern tendency to avoid commiting yourself to a firm answer for anything; Deliberately Indecisive as it were and giving a general answer is the easiest way to seemingly be taking part in a discussion when in fact, you are offering nothing new.
That's also ignoring that a general answer doesn't help progress any debate as it is by it's nature a response that takes into consideration the average of things; the average being the most likely outcome from a set of many variable outcomes. What that means that the average can actually have within it, both extremes of a debate. The average doesn't negate the existance of all other outcomes.
Just because you are sometimes nice or even nice to just one person doesn't negate the fact that the rest of the time, you might be a shit.
I also see it as the refuge of those who have no opinion, or perhaps a tool to hide their ignorance in the matter at hand but can't decide which is worse. On the one hand, to have no opinion on a matter is no crime in itself because not everyone is interested in all things. How about if that not having an opinion in based on being ignorant of something that perhaps you should know more about? Doesn't that then mean that the "generally" point of argument is a means to mask their ignorance? A pretence of sorts that alludes to them knowing what they're talking about but in fact they don't?
There is a modern disease that has spread which causes people to think that you have to be "nice" all the time. Now this isn't neccessarily a bad thing but the way it seems to have superceded all other common sense is what bugs me.
I have been banned from a martial arts discussion forum because I was deemed to have been an aggressive trouble maker. What did I do that warrented this? I was trying to tell them that the information that another member of that forum was, in short, bollocks. My trying to tell them something that was more true than the rubbish that the other person was saying got me banned. Why? Because they didn't want a bad feeling in the forums so they decided that they rather have what amounts to lies and untruths on their forums than someone who could answer a hell of a lot of their questions.
Nice.
You could put it down to my arrogance I guess but when you have a non chinese speaking person trying to tell me what something in chinese means, I'm sure even you can see why I got more than a little agitated at the lack of common sense in the forum administrators' actions and decisions.
I guess I could've been more diplomatic but what point is there is saying in any other way that someone is wrong or that something they had said was not true, especially if I know the actual truth in the matter?
And once again I've departed from the path I had intended to take so I'll cut this short but I'm sure I'll remember more of the multitudes of threads of thought I have going around my head.
Published: 9th December 2007
Here's mine; anything that begins with, or contains a part that has "generally speaking" somewhere in it when making a particular point.
Why?
Because it is next to useless.
What does it even mean? Most of the time it is valid? So does that automatically make it valid for whatever it is you are discussing? OK, perhaps I am being a bit unfair as I do realise that what I am moaning about now, is the modern tendency to avoid commiting yourself to a firm answer for anything; Deliberately Indecisive as it were and giving a general answer is the easiest way to seemingly be taking part in a discussion when in fact, you are offering nothing new.
That's also ignoring that a general answer doesn't help progress any debate as it is by it's nature a response that takes into consideration the average of things; the average being the most likely outcome from a set of many variable outcomes. What that means that the average can actually have within it, both extremes of a debate. The average doesn't negate the existance of all other outcomes.
Just because you are sometimes nice or even nice to just one person doesn't negate the fact that the rest of the time, you might be a shit.
I also see it as the refuge of those who have no opinion, or perhaps a tool to hide their ignorance in the matter at hand but can't decide which is worse. On the one hand, to have no opinion on a matter is no crime in itself because not everyone is interested in all things. How about if that not having an opinion in based on being ignorant of something that perhaps you should know more about? Doesn't that then mean that the "generally" point of argument is a means to mask their ignorance? A pretence of sorts that alludes to them knowing what they're talking about but in fact they don't?
There is a modern disease that has spread which causes people to think that you have to be "nice" all the time. Now this isn't neccessarily a bad thing but the way it seems to have superceded all other common sense is what bugs me.
I have been banned from a martial arts discussion forum because I was deemed to have been an aggressive trouble maker. What did I do that warrented this? I was trying to tell them that the information that another member of that forum was, in short, bollocks. My trying to tell them something that was more true than the rubbish that the other person was saying got me banned. Why? Because they didn't want a bad feeling in the forums so they decided that they rather have what amounts to lies and untruths on their forums than someone who could answer a hell of a lot of their questions.
Nice.
You could put it down to my arrogance I guess but when you have a non chinese speaking person trying to tell me what something in chinese means, I'm sure even you can see why I got more than a little agitated at the lack of common sense in the forum administrators' actions and decisions.
I guess I could've been more diplomatic but what point is there is saying in any other way that someone is wrong or that something they had said was not true, especially if I know the actual truth in the matter?
And once again I've departed from the path I had intended to take so I'll cut this short but I'm sure I'll remember more of the multitudes of threads of thought I have going around my head.
Published: 9th December 2007
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