Graham🐝 Edwards

5 years ago · 1 min. reading time · 0 ·

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Different only happens when you do what you do differently.

Different only happens when you do what you do differently.


"Doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting a different result"

6c8999ed.jpgThis is the popular urban definition of "insanity", and I suppose a formula for frustration, and definitely insight into the truisms of the universe and a window into the contradictory relationship between the desire for sameness and the need to do something differently. 


Although most certainly debatable, I will say it is the randomness of the universe and the free will that's inherently found in all of us that explains why everything is always in flux — sure there are universal laws that come into play, but it's randomness that has it rain on that outdoor party you've been planning for three weeks or it's free will that explains why a lawyer decides to quit his job and open up a coffee shop that puts your favourite haunt out of business. For good or bad, right or wrong, the world around us is always changing — it's something we are constantly dealing with and something we are constantly trying to control. We work very hard to create an environment that is understood, familiar, consistent and dependable, and this is crucial for our well-being, security, and quality of life. We need the familiarity of "sameness" when we get home after a long day or when we are manufacturing 1,000,000 widgets.

And so the dance begins as we hold on to that "sameness" we have created and then forever struggle to protect it from the randomness and free will in the world — and even crazier still, we intuitively know that as the world changes, we need to change with it. It's this contradictory dance that allows us to create that environment of "sameness" we so very much need to progress over the long run. It's important to point out the tools we use to maintain control of that familiar, consistent and dependable environment are not the tools we need to change with the world — and this brings it back to the quote "doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting a different result" (which it seems, and rightfully so, is truly the definition of insanity).

The tools we need to "change with the world" are all about doing things differently; not doing it the same.
  • The mindset to understand the need to do things differently.
  • The ability to communicate why it is important to do things differently.
  • The ability to actually do what you do differently.

It's in understanding we need to think and do things differently that we are actually closer to controlling a perpetually changing world.

iamgpe


Comments

Graham🐝 Edwards

5 years ago #5

#3
Brilliant perspective Harvey Lloyd... you are right the change of humanity does come hard and slow and it's lost on all the "toys" we have surrounded ourselves with that suggest the contrary. Sometimes I am not even sure what humanity is anymore with he 1000 + channels that bombard me each day with something that just isn't real.

Graham🐝 Edwards

5 years ago #4

#2
True words Ren\u00e9e \ud83d\udc1d Cormier

Graham🐝 Edwards

5 years ago #3

#1
Great perspectives Ian Weinberg... really appreciated. I do like your comment around the need for "meaning and purpose'!

Harvey Lloyd

5 years ago #2

Change is a big word when we consider what has changed. From cave drawings to emoticons, written word to few readers to written word to many people, or maybe communications in speech to video. I don't think we have changed much since we left the cave drawing epoch. Humans attempting to define themselves within a social group with hopes of success at best and not dying at worst. How we accomplish this seems to be making harder. I communicated with my community which communicated with other communities to establish ground rules of survival security and happiness. Now we communicate with millions through every sense we have and feel less secure and happiness is always just out of reach for most. So yes i agree we amplify what we do with less and less understanding for why we do it. This is the repeating of the same thing. If its not good then amplify and spread it technicolor. It makes it seem new again. AI and technology is only changing how we communicate and socially live with each other. It doesn't provide us with the context of existence. It gives us a wild ride as we pick up the technology, advance and gain understanding of methods. But it drops us off right back at the cave once the ride is over. With each iteration though the cave is not even familiar. SO we get stuck waiting for the next tech revelation become the cave has now become unintelligible. I guess change is a matter of perspective. If we are looking at materialism then i would change is inevitable and a part of the fabric. But if we look at humanity i would say that change comes hard and slow. Again other being able to say and video pass the potatoes, we are not much different from the shadow of the cave.

Ian Weinberg

5 years ago #1

This is an excellent post Graham\ud83d\udc1d Edwards for beneath the simplified dynamic that you describe lie critical elements that go to the core of our being. It involves nothing less than maintaining meaning and purpose and all that they support, through juggling freedom versus security. And with the threat of looming AI and the need to recreate ourselves, a new and critical element enters the mix.

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