Active Thinking Topic 87  - The Tyranny of the Ordinary


21 & 23 July 2024

Recommended Viewing : Alain de Botton (29 July 2009) "A kinder, gentler philosophy of success". TEDx https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtSE4rglxbY  [ Alain de Botton examines our ideas of success and failure -- and questions the assumptions underlying these two judgments. Is success always earned? Is failure? He makes an eloquent, witty case to move beyond snobbery to find true pleasure in our work.]

Talking Points:

1. Adelaide is a very ordinary city. Argue for and against this proposition.

2. What do you find banal? Why? [Everyone has a different threshold for banality in different mediums. e.g. You might find my taste in music banal, but taste in political argument scary ... and so on]

3. There is an argument that the more ordinary people's lives & ideas are the more extraordinary their language and dressing styles become. How real is this interpretation? [For example, a generation ago 'awesome' meant something like the battleship Galactica landing on your back lawn. Now it seems to mean (yawn) mildly interesting. Or, if you are fighting for survival on the front line in Ukraine, you are not going to fuss about pretty hair styles or politically correct pronouns ..).

4. What are the arguments for and against leading a very ordinary life. What is an ordinary life? Why do most people prefer to have an ordinary life, whatever that is? ['Koinophobia' is the fear of being ordinary]

5. Has the quest for fame become more democratic, in the sense that there are now so many ways to be famous? What would be an example of a very ordinary person becoming famous? Would you want to be like that?

6. Perhaps true art (broad sense - painting, photography, writing, music etc.) is a talent for finding the extraordinary in the ordinary. Agree or disagree? Examples?

7. People who are genuinely out of the ordinary are often disliked, or at least kept at a social distance. Why is this? (Of course, some are mad, bad & dangerous to know. But many are benign).

8. A major problem for political democracy is that a majority of the voters tend to prefer candidates whom they think are like themselves, 'ordinary' people. However, to lead & manage something as complicated as a modern country requires individuals (especially a leader) who has much more than ordinary abilities. What is a solution to this dilemma?

9. Beginning a new career, or even starting a new job requires learning many new skills and routines. Most people find this pretty stressful, but others like the buzz which comes from being forced to adapt. Maybe both kinds of people are needed. What kind of economy & country offers the best balance between routine competence and challenging adaptation?

10. Make a list of 5 problems with known solutions, 5 problems with unknown solutions, and 5 possible unknown unknowns - problems that might arise 'out of the blue'. Which of these situations do you prefer? Why?

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Extra Reading & Viewing


Matthew Sinclair (29 May 2024) "Imagine This... | When AI Comes for Knowledge Workers." Boston Consulting Group @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXUlpViwqpw  [Quote: "Will a coming generation of AI bots be able to generate and iterate ideas as well as or better than people? Will knowledge workers be replaced by machines? BCG’s Matthew Sinclair imagines a future where technology could replace writers, software engineers, and, yes, consultants – although he’s not convinced that businesses should lose the human touch. There are inherent risks in handing over the most creative elements of your business to bots – including perpetuating what Sinclair calls “the tyranny of the banal.”"]

Thor May (2015) "So You Love Humanity But Can’t Stand People?". The Passionate Skeptic website @ http://thormay.net/unwiseideas/collective.htm  [Quote: "Humanity, when assembled as a state, also finds it hard to tolerate the individual. When should collective interests (e.g. those of a state) override the interests of individuals? Example: Many Americans see “the right to bear arms” as a triumph of individual rights over the collective rights of the state".]

We never understand each other perfectly, even after long acquaintance, and there is no prospect that we ever will understand each other perfectly (life would be extremely boring if we did). Therefore the best we can do with the stupidity monster is to sort out some of its more common disguises".]

Jeroen van Baar (2015) "Average is Awesome: Embracing Mediocrity as the Key to Success". TEDx @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDDGhGiaAZU  [Quote: "Why does everybody wants to reach the top? Jeroen van Baar explains in a very open and engaging way about the problem of our generation. He argues that we should strive for mediocrity instead of excellence". ]

The School of Life (24 Jul 2019) "Why You Don't Need to Be Exceptional". Youtube @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvgfucVF5cU 

Crispin Thurlow ( 2 Jan 2024) "Why You Should Embrace Mediocrity". TEDx @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxxMiihvKgg  [Quote: " "elite" pickles to "premium" baby diapers, marketers are constantly telling us to seek superiority — but "by the simple law of averages, most of us have to live a life more ordinary," says sociolinguist Crispin Thurlow. He invites us to embrace mediocrity for a change, offering a different path to contentedness without comparison.]

Alain de Botton (29 July 2009) "A kinder, gentler philosophy of success". TEDx https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtSE4rglxbY  [ Alain de Botton examines our ideas of success and failure -- and questions the assumptions underlying these two judgments. Is success always earned? Is failure? He makes an eloquent, witty case to move beyond snobbery to find true pleasure in our work.]

Goobie and Doobie (10 Jul 2024) "I Was An MIT Educated Neurosurgeon Now I'm Unemployed And Alone In The Mountains How Did I Get Here? Here, I share my story about how I spent the last two decades of my life as a neurosurgeon who went through a mid-life crisis and got through to the other side.... maybe?" @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25LUF8GmbFU  [48 minutes] [Thor, comment: A neurosurgeon gives up on current medical practice : Yeah, he took 48 minutes to explain it and 10 years to discover it ... but I figured out some time ago that medical doctors, regardless of procedural skills, rarely cure medical problems or promote healing. Mostly they don't know how to, but can't admit that to themselves At best they subdue pain and hide symptoms. Real healing lies somewhere else, as this neurosurgeon finds. My own 78 year score card estimates (generously) that doctors & hospitals have been two thirds useless to dangerous. That's worse than life's other kinds of ordinary bumbling].
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The Tyranny of the Ordinary (c) Thor May 2024

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