When It Rains...

"...the wind is part of the process
     the rain is part of the process..."
- Ezra Pound, Canto 74, The Pisan Cantos


"...But visionaries are limited by their vision..."
- Malcolm Gladwell, Creation Myth, TNYer, 5/16/11

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Sunday morning tennis was rained out, and so we had to conjure up other things to do. Shall we think about how complicated our world has become? Yes, let's; and let's also talk about how we deal with that.

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Simple, but not digital

We have plenty of digitized gadgets that are meant to simplify our lives; some call these hardware. These gadgets provide and contain information in a number of new ways; some call these software. Are you with me so far? Good. Now, here comes the hard part: these digitally-engineered gadgets and their info packets have raised our expectations regarding human capabilities. Just for fun, let's call this Simplicity's Complication.

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During the past week, I have spoken to a bank supervisor in Bangalore on my cell-gadget regarding the fact that a significant sum of money seemed to be missing from my balance, as indicated on my mac-gadget in my virutual account. He was very professional, but could not find the money either and apologized, saying "I"m sure it's there somewhere." He also explained how some "cash" was not always "cash" to a bank, until that bank, especially if it is comprised of not one but two formerly Too Big To Fail Banks says it is cash.

I have also spoken to a representative of an office supply company in Oklahoma about a dysfunctional wireless printer, who said the "connection is there somewhere, but we just can't see it yet."
According to my calculations, we  couldn't see it yet, as we could not see the "cash" yet because it was not there. The systems were flawed. But, according to the humans on the other end of the lines in these capers, these things were not there because a certain human was too flawed to see them: namely, me. Apparently,  I hadn't been updating my software: read, digital capabilities.

This was getting too complicated. I just wanted to have the cash to cover my chili-steak wedge and to print out my email exchange regarding the missing cash. Couldn't do either.

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Complex

This might be a good time to tell you that my friend Mulligan has a theory about people that might help us here. He believes that there are only two kinds of people - no, not richer or poorer or sick or healthy or alive or dead - as in marriage vows.

A Type #1 person begins each day expecting good things are going to happen in the course of that day; this places the person in an excellent position to deal with anything that might be somewhat troubling in the course of the day. Type #2 begins each day expecting trouble during the day; this does not help the person deal with trouble, and, what's worse, it places the person in a poor position to take advantage of good opportunities that might arise.  In fact, most of the time, #2 will not even recognize a good thing when it hits them in the face.

According to Mulligan, all religions revolve around the difference between the two types and why being one Type is infinitely better than being another (Hint: if you do not know which is which, you are Type #2), unless you really love suffering, which, apparently, billions of people do.

Mulligan is certainly no Norman Vincent Peale*, and I have tried to poke holes in his theory many times, without any real success. The guy seems to have a very good point.

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Where were we? Oh yes, complications.

When things get too complicated, I resort to a few tricks, all of which have the following goals: A) to slow me down, B) to keep it simple, C) to poke fun at myself, and D) to make me into Type #1, at least for a little while, even if I am a natural born Type #2.

humble

One of my tricks is to read poetry, which is, perhaps, the perfect literary form for our age. It is relatively short compared to most stories and novels; it is musical; and it contains mystery. This last trait is very important, and has turned poetry into a kind of torture for generations of students unfortunate enough to be taught by people who mistake mystery for something called Hidden Meaning. 

For those poor students, we offer the following thought: great and even good poets never hide anything. Ever. They offer only clarity; however, they do it in a unique way right in front of our noses, and therein lies the mystery.

I might read a deceptively simple poem by Kay Ryan, our former Laureate, or a longer, more complex poem or series like Ezra Pound's Pisan Cantos, which happens to have been Sunday morning's choice (see quote above).

Digitally-engineered gadgets love precision, not mystery. When they do not function according to the engineered plan, according to the engineers and their representatives, it is also due to hidden meaning. This is why engineers mistrust poetry, mystery, and people like me and probably you, if you're on this mailing list and have time to read this stuff.

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TooSmallToFail©twmcd

Another of my tactics is to look at a very fine book called humble masterpieces: Everyday Marvels Of Design by Paola Antonelli, Curator of Architecture & Design at the MOMA.

It is impossible to recommend this little book highly enough to anyone interested in simplifying life in the face of constant complication in the form of poor design, shoddy workmanship, lack of customer service, general rudeness or a prevailing memyselfandI-ness.

Here are some of the most profound design ideas and improvements by human beings, who, one has to think, are united in their Type Oneness; they expected to be able to make something really cool, and so they did.

Here are Karl Elsener's Swiss Army Knife, Reach & Shibe's baseball, Kasper Faber's lead pencil, Italo Marchioni's ice cream cone, Sire Henry Tate's sugar cube, Walter Hunt's safety pin, and a French Design Team's Bic Crystal pen, with which I composed the first draft of this piece.

apple

And there are many more examples of how human beings make life truly simpler for themselves and others using nature as the best design teacher. They were artists as well as designers; they slowed down, kept it simple, had a sense of humor.

Somehow, after looking at this book, I cannot help being a Mulligan #1 person for an entire rainy day and longer. Innovators are not limited by their own design; they borrow, tinker. They dream, but carry a tape-measure. And they love a good mystery.

We need more of them right now, before we drown in our own complexity.



Ed Note: We highly recommend the current May 16 Innovator issue of The New Yorker. We particularly recommend Gladwell's story about the creation of The Mouse and Anthony Lane's profile of Pixar. It is no coincidence that a man named Steve Jobs plays a pivotal role in each of these stories. 

* wrote a book called The Power Of Positive Thinking among others. I seem to recall that he was one of Richard Nixon's favorite authors. We recommend skipping it and going with Mulligan's ideas, which are shorter and do not involve any connection to Nixon.