Saturday, January 21, 2006

Where we are

Evolution needs the edge.
Life happens on the edge.

Structure tends to suppress creativity...
With no structure, you can do nothing.
With some structure the sky is the limit.
With much structure, you can do big things;
crush the competition,
force things to be just like you.

Evolution requires competition and noise, progeny and death.

When you are evolving, you are life.
When you no longer evolve you become soil; support for active life forms.

4 comments:

Paul said...

I've read this a few times since it was posted. I agree but somehow it touches me in an unconscious way. There's a deeper truth or meaning that's nagging at me but won't surface.

Paul said...

i wonder,
Maybe if I paraphrase this post, it will help knock your nag loose so it can surface before it drowns...


The words in this post came after spending a lot of time learning about how everything evolves (not just biology).
As the evolution process was taught in detail, it became clear that a succesful life form will suppress other forms in its space.

When an organism gets complex, its many components must conform to its needs. You can easily become a cog, serving the machine you work for, (as long as you fit).

Either you engage in the messy business of learning and evolving, or you are the fodder for those (organizations) who do.

Paul said...

"Structure tends to suppress creativity...
With no structure, you can do nothing."

There's some tension between these statements. I accept both as 'true' but they tend to repel one another like matching poles of a magnet.

I think I can assert "structure spurs creativity" and accept it as 'true' also.

I agree with the full post and with your paraphrase, but I still have a nagging feeling that there's more in these two (or three) statements.

Paul said...

With no structure, you can do nothing. With some structure you can get creative.

With more structure, you can still be creative at higher levels. But for the higher level to function well, it must be on a stable platform. That demands predictability and conformity in the supporting structure.

We clear trees, flatten terrain, eliminate germs and bugs, domesticate animals, all to give us a stable platform so we can create.

Corporations and governments have people in their platform.