Betterment

 I have spoken before in this blog (Beyond the Ends of the Rainbow, June 2018) about Brian Eno's 1993 essay 'Axis Thinking' (A Year with Swollen Appendices, Faber & Faber, 1996) and the concept of continuums as a handy visualisation tool to assist in our comprehension of complex entangled multi-dimensional meshes of potentiality. I'm going to propose a continuum that we might encounter in our engagement with data as we struggle toward ideation for betterment of our flourishing upon and with this planet. A global eudaimonia perhaps?

I suggest a starting point (though, on a continuum, obviously the start is almost arbitrary and is liable to shift with time and circumstance) at 'Event'. Event is any unobserved occurrence. There are all sorts of nonsense arguments, largely to do with word-play, along the lines that Events only occur if they are observed. I say bollocks, quantum physics notwithstanding. The tree still fell in the forest whether or not we were there to witness it doing so and is now busily being converted back to a less ordered state by innumerable insects, fungi and micro-organisms. So let's not get stuck in a philosophical bog but leave the tree to suffer its noble fate and instead move ourselves along. Next on our continuum comes therefore, quite logically, 'Observation' in whatever manner as best suits the Event and the Observer; sight, sound, touch, taste, smell and more, in isolation or combination. Observation is simple witnessing, an engagement with our perceptual senses alone. I'm going to temporarily overlook biological, social, intellectual and other biases and influences upon this and subsequent steps along our continuum for now, though I will highlight their import shortly.

Observation is then potentially, but not necessarily - as the Observer may simply internalise their perception of the Event and move on - followed by 'Recording' in all its many forms - textual, audio, visual and more again, across numerous media. I am using Recording as a verb, an active process, not a resultant product but it is still an important step to isolate for our purposes of understanding this proposed model. The end result of the process of Recording, the product, is 'Data' - pages of text, tables of numbers, graphs and charts, drawings and musical notation, etc. Up to this point, a solitary individual has engaged with or Observed the Event and the Data produced by their Recording exists in relative isolation. In earlier times, sitting perhaps in a hand written notebook (though it could of course take numerous forms), it might never go further and could remain dormant for eternity or be destroyed by fire or other means of neglect and eventual destruction. I will now briefly highlight, as promised, that of course every step after the initial Event is of necessity imbued with the inevitability of biological, social, intellectual and other biases and influences. How we Observe Events, Record Data, and more, is a factor of who we are, how we were raised, the culture and environment within which and alongside whom we live, etc. Every person is unique, and therefore uniquely experiences and 'understands' their world. This very uniqueness is vital to the proposition of Betterment. Also, for our proposed model of the continuum existing as just one slim strand of possibility, these biological, social, intellectual etc. variabilities exist on their own intersecting continuums and are precisely what contributes to the complex, entangled multi-dimensional mesh of potential being explored.

The Data - the content of the 'notebook' needs further intervention through reading, or even publication, to progress to the next level on our continuum - 'Information', wherein the Data can be accessed by other persons. Data can only be Information if someone is Informed - they are not synonymous. Information is consumed by the recipient, but not at this point actually assimilated into their active memory. This is, if you like, a surface engagement only. Until relatively recently, broad circulation of Data to enable it becoming Information was time consuming, expensive and frequently thwarted by the vagaries of the publishing world, or the socio-economic status, literacy etc. of its potential audience. Data can of course also be progressed to Information via word of mouth, but we all know the dangers of verbal chains of Information dissemination as highlighted by such as the Telephone Game. Though just maybe we should see such possibility of distortion as simply another intersecting continuum in our mesh?

The internet changed this situation. Suddenly one person among millions, from many walks of life across manifold geographical locations and raised within numerous cultures, could place their Data on a multiplicity of subjects into a location accessible by all the others with access to the resource, enabling relatively cheap and easy creation of an almost horizonless sea of Information. This was the Information Revolution. It was proposed it would, inevitably, change our world - for the Better.

But. You heard that coming I think? But, Information is still just consumed Data. It has a few more steps to take along our continuum before it starts to make improvements. Information is no more than that which we rapidly access with a simple Google search to answer a crossword clue or settle an argument at the pub. For Information to progress further it first of all needs, as implied earlier, to become assimilated into active memory - able to be utilised at will in future. This is 'Knowledge'. I want to make a qualitative distinction at this point to hopefully clarify a possible confusion in our use of language. I am using here a 'high-value' understanding of the word Knowledge which is different from the oft encountered conversational phrases 'I know!' or 'I just want to know!' For the purpose of this post I judge these latter two phrases to be examples of no more than a social, surface engagement with Information that could perhaps be termed idle chat or even gossip, that is not necessarily likely to further progress along our continuum. Since I used earlier the gustatory metaphor of Information being consumed, perhaps I can here suggest this 'low-value' use of 'know' to be a form of chewing the cud wherein it is worked over and over but produces principally excrement and very little of nutritional benefit?

Our (high-value) Knowledge can now exist in remove from the Information source and, most importantly, it can be mentally mixed with other acquired Knowledge in new and unique combinations, either in a single person's mind or through discussion with other persons. This is our next step, 'Ideation'. This is a word not frequently encountered for an activity perpetually engaged upon. It is the source of creativity and a vital component of the design process. We all potentially Ideate many times on an average day as a critical part of otherwise routine tasks - selecting an unusual combination of garments to wear when our usual preferences are in the wash, concocting a dish or menu from a random assortment of ingredients left in the refrigerator and pantry, improvising a fix for a broken item with the tools and materials we have to hand rather than trek to the hardware store. Creativity is not the special reserve of a social elite of artists, designers, authors,  scientists, mathematicians, composers and the like who are inaccurately said to be 'gifted' with 'genius' but a skill we all possess and all have the capability to improve through learning, practice and application. Creativity - Ideation - is critical to avoid stagnation in all its forms and one of our most vital tools. We would all do well to explore to a much greater extent our boundless capacity to creatively and productively Ideate.

Now is perhaps a good opportunity to point out that our continuum is not of necessity restricted to a single direction of flow. Newly arranged and combined Knowledge - Ideas - holding the potential for further progression, can instead become new Knowledge, shared Information or recorded Data and so on. However another and more desirable outcome of Ideas may be their application to addressing an issue. Futhermore, if the issue being addressed is the resolution of a dilemma - be it physical, mental, emotional, ethical or what-have-you - with a successful outcome, then it may be deemed to have progressed along our continuum and become 'Wisdom'. Wisdom is the quality to which we all perhaps aspire? It is frequently portrayed as being the reserve of Wise old sages and beyond the reach of the common people as they negotiate their routine daily tasks, but I hope I have shown this to be a fallacy as it is nothing more than two simple steps further after Knowledge, which we all uniquely hold. Some of our Knowledge might of course be considered to be what we term common Knowledge, but the greater part of our individual quotient is indeed truly unique and therefore uniquely powerful in its potential for Ideation and Wisdom.

Some Wisdom when shared is simply an evening-out of distribution of benefits - bringing one or more persons to a point of understanding or quality of life that is already broadly accepted, embraced and enjoyed by an alternative majority (or, sadly, perhaps a privileged minority). But other Wisdom is newly minted and deliberately, or through fortuitous circumstance, produces the possibility of yet a further advance on our continuum and produces 'Betterment'.

Betterment (the word) is no more than my choice of term for what has perhaps been known for countless generations among those of philosophical bent as Eudaimonia. The 'flourishing' promoted as the highest good - the ultimate aim of practical philosophy - by such as Aristotle, Epicurus and others before and since. However, whilst Epicureanism sought to promote flourishing for its immediate communities, I propose Betterment as a seeking and working toward much broader, greater, perhaps global and even potentially universal application.  It is, I feel, also somewhat akin to the Dynamic Quality proposed in the frankly extraordinary (though seemingly little known or regarded?) book Lila: An Enquiry into Morals by Robert M. Pirsig (Bantam Press, 1991). Lila is the sequel, written under a grant from the Guggenheim Foundation, to his earlier and highly acclaimed Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values (William Morrow & Co., 1974).

Importantly, if indeed Betterment equates to or approaches Pirsig's concept of Dynamic Quality, it means that not only can it produce Better, but it actually IS Better. It possesses the unassailable value of Better. Better, however, not simply for humanity (for that in isolation is surely not inherently Better) but Better for all existence. A Betterment that recognises and creates the possibility and eventual realisation of true unity of understanding and existence. And this is precisely why I have chosen, for an English speaking audience only admittedly, this particular word. For me at least, it has semantically less baggage or connotation to falsely weigh it down. Prosperity, happiness, blessedness and welfare all carry connotations that can suggest evanescent financial, emotional, religious or charitable gains but which are not of themselves wholly and universally Better. This is not 'self-satisfaction'. This is most certainly not 'progress'. This is an altogether 'higher' form of advancement. It perhaps cannot be fully contained by a simple word in any language?

But what I hope I have proposed with clarity and conviction, is that this possibility of contribution toward Betterment is available to us all. It is little more than another step along our continuum from Wisdom as outlined in all I've proposed above and which perhaps would here benefit from a simple linear representation: (Though shown of course in isolation from the truly wonderful and complex mesh of which it forms a single, though vital, strand of potential as it wends its way through engagement with different races, cultures, beliefs, understandings and more.)

Event - Observation - Recording - Data - Information - Knowledge - Ideation - Wisdom - Betterment

Finally we reached the Betterment that I mentioned was proposed to be the inevitable outcome of the Information Revolution as it changed our world almost beyond recognition. But as I've suggested, there are a few very important steps between and I don't believe we can jump over them so lightly. Hopscotch this is not. To truly attain Betterment I think we first need to engender and navigate the Knowledge Revolution, the Ideation Revolution and the Wisdom Revolution. Strong evidence for any of which I have not as yet broadly witnessed in recent global affairs. There are occasional faint glimmers of hope and opportunity but we perhaps unfortunately largely see possibility for true change at a falsely perceived remove from our own potential. Until we all, humanity at large, embrace the true possibility of advancing, individually and collectively, the extra few steps along our continuum toward Betterment, I fear perhaps we may doom ourselves to forever oscillate at a lower range on our continuum of potential, if not perhaps to reduce our 'forever' to an unnecessarily short count of our planetary years?

Betterment is possible and perhaps now we have the small beginnings of a map to follow toward it? Are you prepared to add your unique contribution to a potentially global investment in its attainment?

December 2020