nothing new under the sun
Mar. 29th, 2013 09:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jazzfishThe Principles, by Joi Ito, summarised by Bruce Sterling. Oddly, I am linking to this to argue with it.
"Resilience over strength" and "Risk over safety" are the same sentiment: try a bunch of things that might not work, because the ones that do are going to be amazing. Old news.
"Systems over objects," "Compasses over maps," and "Learning over education" also all say the same thing, which I'd sum up as "flexibility." Don't prepare yourself for the thing you're dealing with; prepare yourself for the kind of thing you're dealing with, so that when it changes you can still deal with it. "Pull over push" belongs in this category as well. Then "Practice over theory" directly contradicts this advice. I'd guess Ito means that one to be situational, as a case where being flexible means accepting that this is what works for this thing and not caring about the changes.
"Disobedience over compliance" is genuinely subversive, which is why it's been popping up and getting stamped down again for most of human history.
The only thing that's at all new or interesting is "Emergence over authority." The idea that it's possible for a zillion uninformed people to make a pretty good decision is one I've not entirely gotten my head around. This is the core of Monte Carlo simulations, which play a very good game of go, and of democracy in general.
I suppose everyone has to rediscover individuality and anarchism for themselves. I'd just wish they'd stop treating it as some brilliant new idea that only they have the vision to see.
"Resilience over strength" and "Risk over safety" are the same sentiment: try a bunch of things that might not work, because the ones that do are going to be amazing. Old news.
"Systems over objects," "Compasses over maps," and "Learning over education" also all say the same thing, which I'd sum up as "flexibility." Don't prepare yourself for the thing you're dealing with; prepare yourself for the kind of thing you're dealing with, so that when it changes you can still deal with it. "Pull over push" belongs in this category as well. Then "Practice over theory" directly contradicts this advice. I'd guess Ito means that one to be situational, as a case where being flexible means accepting that this is what works for this thing and not caring about the changes.
"Disobedience over compliance" is genuinely subversive, which is why it's been popping up and getting stamped down again for most of human history.
The only thing that's at all new or interesting is "Emergence over authority." The idea that it's possible for a zillion uninformed people to make a pretty good decision is one I've not entirely gotten my head around. This is the core of Monte Carlo simulations, which play a very good game of go, and of democracy in general.
I suppose everyone has to rediscover individuality and anarchism for themselves. I'd just wish they'd stop treating it as some brilliant new idea that only they have the vision to see.
