I was reminded of an interesting idea recently—though I can’t remember where or by whom (another great example of the intellectual sloppiness that writing in a blog affords me). The idea is this: we tend to perceive the world, and ourselves, through the metaphorical lens of the dominant technology of our time. I think that’s exactly right. Just as artists teach us to see the world by guiding us through one-way doors of perception, revealing novel ways of seeing that can’t be unseen, each technological paradigm reshapes how we understand the world and our place in it. This new understanding then embeds itself deeply in our language and culture.
Continue reading “From Seed to Silicon: The Metaphors We Think With”Tag: Philosophy
The Cognitive Effectiveness Stack
In a previous post, I asked the question:
“How do I not waste my mind?”
To begin answering this question, I first abandoned the narrow performance metric of “intelligence” and took inspiration from Ian Banks’ Consider Phlebas for how we can understand cognitive effectiveness more holistically. This post unpacks the architecture of what I am calling The Cognitive Effectiveness Stack, breaking effectiveness down into three interdependent layers:
Continue reading “The Cognitive Effectiveness Stack”Cognitive Effectiveness; Or How to Not Waste a Mind
In a world increasingly saturated with artificial intelligence, the perceived value of a human mind isn’t what it used to be. As information accelerates and leverage shifts, the most important question becomes not how smart you are, but how effectively your mind is deployed. This five-part series explores a layered, systems-oriented mental model for cognitive effectiveness. It moves up from the biological to the strategic in an attempt to offer a blueprint for staying relevant in the era of ubiquitous intelligence.
Continue reading “Cognitive Effectiveness; Or How to Not Waste a Mind”Codec Debug Session 4: One Byte at a Time
Understanding itself. That’s where things always seem to get complicated.
Carl paused, then leaned back in his chair. It occurred to him—almost sheepishly—that he hadn’t reviewed the Codec’s command documentation since his early onboarding days. He pulled it up, scrolling through the dense, dry index until a buried feature caught his eye:
Continue reading “Codec Debug Session 4: One Byte at a Time”Codec Debug Session 3: Breakpoint
The previous night had been a necessary rejuvenation for Carl. He had granted himself the nostalgic indulgence of some time in the Mushroom Kingdom—a perfect antidote to the cognitive wear and tear of the prior days’ challenges. This was more than escapism. It was an intentional part of his active recovery strategy. It was a way to counterbalance the rigors of his responsibilities and prepare for another period of peak performance. He firmly believed it was possible to love what you do and excel at it, but acknowledged that even the most fulfilling work required moments of deliberate detachment.
Continue reading “Codec Debug Session 3: Breakpoint”The Electric Cathedral
I continue to find myself deeply frustrated with the portrayal of the electric utility as a central villain of society, or at the very least, the adversary of the everyman. Obvious biases aside, my intuition tells me that this is a counterproductive casting of the antagonist role. Does it truly serve societal interest to operate inside such a narrative?
Let me be clear: I’m not at all suggesting that utilities, or any corporation for that matter, are beyond scrutiny or shouldn’t be held to the highest standards. However, I am proposing that fostering a culture where something fundamental to every aspect of modern society becomes derided and ridiculed does not benefit us in the broadest context. Where might such an unfortunate collective attitude take us?
Delving into the deepest trenches of that topic exceeds the scope of a single blog post and, frankly, that of a single book. I am opening this post with it because it leads to an interesting question. For a significant portion of the population to arrive at this conclusion, there must be some underlying factors at play – something more nuanced an insightful than simply blaming the media. What could these factors be? And how might we remedy them?
Continue reading “The Electric Cathedral”Codec Debug Session 2: Tell Us What You Really Mean
The appetizingly audible cracking open of the aluminum can was followed by a satiating, ice cold, citrus-y burst of carbonation as Carl sipped on his “something fizzy”. Something about carbonated water satisfies thirst in a different way than still water does. He referenced the list of topics that he had initially identified for remediating the decompression bug in the Techno-Wisdom Codec. He marked through the first two topics he had previously addressed leaving two more vying for his attention.
Continue reading “Codec Debug Session 2: Tell Us What You Really Mean”Codec Debug Session 1: All Your Database Are Belong To Us
Carl had been employed as a quality assurance developer at Codecs-R-Us for the last several years. Leaving his previous job was a decision that he hadn’t take lightly as it had required a pay-cut and a relocation. However, joining Codecs was his way of reorienting a skillset that would have otherwise been squandered programming the benign business logic of some insignificant ad widget or progressively optimizing the performance of some destructively addictive social media app.
Continue reading “Codec Debug Session 1: All Your Database Are Belong To Us”The Techno-Wisdom Codec Has a Bug In It
It was the psychiatrist, Carl Jung, that cautioned us all about the perils of embracing “unearned wisdom”. Put simply, acting on wisdom obtained without supporting knowledge or experience can lead us down a path entirely inconsistent with the genuine intentions encapsulated by the original wisdom. The reason for this is interesting and merits closer examination.
Wisdom is a distillation of human experience – a compression if you will. The trouble with compression is that it tends to be (I might even suggest that it needs to be) lossy. Frequently packaged as sound bites or concise narratives, wisdom’s brevity renders it portable, persist-able, and repeatable. In this form, it can move easily through time and space and serve as a useful tool for those that are able to absorb and implement it. However, because this short-form representation is not a perfect replica of the original wisdom, of the original human experience, its use leaves ample room for misinterpretation and potential exploitation.
Continue reading “The Techno-Wisdom Codec Has a Bug In It”What Day is it Again? Losing Time to the Turbulent Flow State
Over the past year or so I’ve found myself frequently lamenting to others that “I can’t believe how quickly this year has gone by!” For me, this is different than saying “Oh, the weather sure has been nice this week!” Or “Did you see the big sports ball game last night?” It’s more than casual small talk. And it’s more than just a simple truism handed down from past generations. I’ve even been pairing it with the disclaimer of “I know it makes me sound like an old man” precisely because I want to acknowledge there’s actually more to it. By saying it, I’m raising a concern – somewhat in frustration, somewhat in fear – that something isn’t right.
Continue reading “What Day is it Again? Losing Time to the Turbulent Flow State”
You must be logged in to post a comment.