Stubborn Change

//Stubborn Change

Stubborn Change

  There is a phenomenon is psychology, perhaps that’s too strong of a word, there is a part of our psychology that adapts as we grow older. The brain starts specializing all the tasks that it does throughout the day and will shave off the unnecessary information. We are left over time with a machine perfectly made for our mundane routine but not very efficient at accepting new data or changes to the paradigm.

  This leads to conservatism, humans generally become more conservative as they become older. You can get around this by being aware of the specialization of your brain and training it, thinking outside of the box often and about different things will at least slow the rate of decay. I do consider it a matter of decay, perhaps hyperbolic, but the desire to keep things exactly as they are is something that should be looked upon as a disability, a dysfunction,, something altogether negative.

  Change for the sake of change is not naturally good, but no good thing could not be improved in some fashion. Water itself is effectively perfect for our body, but generating systems to generate tons of it as cleanly and as safely as possible is something we should be striving for. Capitalism is nice but we should be constantly looking for new systems to better reflect our modern world.

  The universe is endlessly changing, each moment is the connector of the last frame of time to the next. There is no permanent state, outside of the likely end of the universe, and that’s so long from now that I would consider it a non issue.

  I say most of this because of the nature of business, and of shareholders, the desire to never take chances or to evolve. Video games, automobiles, television,, marketing, teaching, these things all have areas where they are being poked at by a minority of people but the majority find themselves lost to stagnation. Complacent in standing still amidst a rushing river of change.

  In a way it is pure ignorance, apathy is really just ignorance of a better reality, accepting what we have as…well…”acceptable.”

  My own job does not allow us to work routinely from home. Why? Is it because of any concerns of trust, efficiency, or costs? Probably, in their eyes, what I was told was the reason (by the President of the company) was “We just do things as we always have. It’s tradition.”

  Really? Our job is entirely digital, there is no benefit to us being in office. The only thing that the VP and President do better in person is scolding because English is not their strong suite. But for that matter if the company is turning profits and our weak point is development then what is the issue? We obviously can do our job, and we would be much more comfortable doing it in an environment that isn’t so sterile and claustrophobic. None of the windows open at this business.

  It’s a shame, to see such talent wasted on conservative thinking. We have smart people, but I don’t see us keeping them. Quite a few have left since I’ve joined, and I suspect the ones I see now will be gone with time. Because ours is not a business of progress, not a business of change, its about tradition.

  Tradition is nice, in the quant setting of a home, dressing up in ridiculous sweaters and singing terrible songs around a tree we mounted in the living room. Watching explosives fired into the sky just off shore. These things are cute, they are our nostalgic ties to some past we wish existed.

This card is reviled, powerful, but reviled. Sacrifices must be made to keep things the same.  But they have no place in public, I don’t mean visually, I love old buildings or clothing as much as anyone. But in our policies, in how we conduct ourselves for the future. Precedence is lazy, it is lazy in law, and it is lazy in life.

  Because when we subscribe to precedence we subscribe to stagnation. Entropy doesn’t stop for us, so if we remain neutral then the net change is always negative.

  It’s tragic, I find it utterly pathetic, truly, and I do hope that I will live long enough to see a country of people wise enough to overcome it. Sweden looks promising.

By | 2012-02-22T10:06:30+00:00 January 31st, 2012|Journal|Comments Off on Stubborn Change