#2 : (Intro) On being a Paradox
Hi there dear reader,
Hope you're having a good day, and if not I hope this space provides some comfort. It is Tuesday, which means it's time to drop the metaphorical anchor (Figure 1.1 Some humor) in the Sea of Ideas and take some time to write.
Figure 1.1 : I hit a fish with the Anchor, enjoy my bad drawings!
To begin I want to explore a central idea I've had for a while, one that's profoundly influenced my work and life. I like to call this idea the Applied Paradox Theory. This probably won't be the last comprehensive post on this idea, but I think it finally deserves and introduction to the world.
When we start growing up, we have a tendency to ask questions. If we're really good at this, we might remember upsetting our parents and/or some other authority figure. I think at that age all we want is to "know", to feel that we have a grasp of what is going on around us. Asking all these questions did little to quench my immediate thirst for knowledge, but the collective answers did paint a solid picture for me - people tended to lean to ideologies rather than individual ideas. In other words, I discovered dogma.
One particular experience shaped my view on dogma. For some context - At the time I was starting to take on my family's christian faith seriously, I genuinely felt a deep spiritual connection and thought I could find answers there. I was at home doing some homework for 6th grade World History on a cold February day, and I suddenly saw my dad going through some of his old music in the living room. I was naturally curious as I just started to learn the cello at school, where found a complementary deep connection with music. My dad looked at me, passed me his earphones and started playing the song. My ears were not ready, to say the least.
The song was AC/DC's Highway to Hell (Figure 1.2), I'll never forget how it made me feel, the energy, the ripping guitar solo, the steady and pounding beat of the drums.
Figure 1.2 : Thank You Angus
My initial reaction was one of confusion, as the energy emitted from the song flooded my body. At the time, this song represented a sharp contrasting view of where I was looking for answers and I felt a rift appeared before me. On one side was traditional religious thought, and the idea that rock as a form of expression was against God and his principles. On the other was music, rock in particular, and the idea that nothing was sacred but the experiences we create for others and ourselves.
Before I move on in this post let me be perfectly clear (Figure 1.3) about something. My focus is not on religion or ACDC, it's on our internal rifts and how we make choices. The experience described above was my experience, and whether you think I should have chosen a particular path is besides the point. I'll think about writing a blog post on the details of this particular experience at a later date.
Figure 1.3 : Me being perfectly clear
From that experience emerged one of my fundamental questions:
Can two contrasting ideas (Ideologies) come together to create a more complete and rich view of our world?
In this case, could I have a meaningful relationship with God and at the same time enjoy AC/DC? I felt a deep connection with both experiences, and I felt I had a choice to make. But then I asked myself, what does this choice look like? I mean, if I chose either, doesn't that mean that I've accepted their ideologies as they are? Why can't I live with both? This is where the Applied Paradox Theory comes from.
I define the Applied Paradox Theory as:
The open process of taking two contrasting experiences or ideologies, extracting their ideas by re-framing them and combining them and their inherent contrast to create a new experience or idea.
Pay close attention to the words open and contrast.
To some of you, this might sound like common sense. But think about all the contrasting ideas and experiences we collect over time (For examples what it means to be a republican or a democrat). I think as homo sapiens, we tend to categorize unprocessed ideas and experiences on particular labels just as we do with other things. I guess that's a useful tool for survival but it hasn't given way to deeper understanding of ourselves and each other. Applied Paradox Theory calls to reframe this labeling process, and instead process new ideas with existing contrasting ones and try to find answers in the contrasts of these ideas and experiences instead just taking things as they are (Figure 1.4).
Figure 1.4 : My attempt to draw a textbook style graphic of Applied Paradox.
After going through Applied Paradox for some time, we end up with a few strong self-determined ideas. I believe these are what we call values.
Applied Paradox reflects in what I'm probably most known for, which is my attempt to combine Art and Computers together. The reason why I became a computer scientist is not because I like to code or because I like designing software architectures. I became a computer scientists because I believed it gave me a particularly exciting and new way to express my creativity and my passion to build experiences for others. I did this despite the fact that we often think of Art and Computers (at least as the mental processes to achieve their end goal) as completely polar opposites. What I found in their contrast is absolutely astonishing, and has paved the way to my VR/AR work.
At the end of the day, do you want to be the programmer or the computer (Figure 1.5)?
Figure 1.5 : Anyone down to listen to Radiohead?
I think this is a good intro to this Applied Paradox, I tried my best that's for sure. As mentioned, this is just a theory and by no means am I telling you to follow this line of thinking. It just happens to work for me, although I do not use this for everything and I know it does not work in some cases. If it was perfect I would close down this blog right now. The whole point of this blog is to bring these ideas out here and make them better.
Anyways, thanks for joining me on this wonderful Tuesday. I'll see you all on Friday.
~ NoChillNerd
