quote of the day
Later during the discussion, we discussed globalism and the eventual Walmart-ization of the world and so forth. Catching my own statement of inevitability of decline as captured in my tone and so forth the young, inquisitive man said, “That’s b*llshit.” He went on to say that it is people that determine their fate … and that economic futures cannot be held with the same statement of truth that we ascribe to the laws of gravity. It was then that I realized that B-school had begun to assimilate my brain into the global muck of money, and that this young man’s courage had temporarily saved my soul from oblivion. I believe that the change can become permanent. I believe like him, that we should believe.
I am going to listen to John Maeda’s talk in a little bit; very much looking forward to it. Master of simplicity, design.
December 3rd, 2005 at 1:50 pm
don’t know why but that sounds cheesy to me. he seems to be saying, “i talked to a factory worker today and my whole life changed”. you don’t need to talk to a factory worker (and mystify his words) to realize technological determinism is a dead end road. of course, there will be change in society, of course globalism does not mean the end of history a la fukuyama. this should not even be a matter of “belief” or wishful thinking. then again, i don’t know maeda’s work. maybe he was just typing some random thoughts there. my blog is quite cheesy that way too.
December 4th, 2005 at 8:39 pm
it is a bit cheesy, but consider the context: he has a degree in both fine arts and computer science, and though he is immensely well respected for his design work, and a tenured professor, he took it up to get a degree from business school (to see the things from the evil side). that’s quite admirable.
the point in the quote is, not that his whole life changed – but the realization that despite the fucked up system and structure we live in, there is still the importance of individual agency.
December 5th, 2005 at 2:10 am
yeah i know. besides, academia makes us pessimistic. how as the talk then?
December 5th, 2005 at 3:52 pm
to see things from the evil side > business school? huh?
December 5th, 2005 at 5:16 pm
LOL. i swear i could see your face writing that, lokhin!
December 5th, 2005 at 9:45 pm
yeah john doesn’t seem to be saying his life changed – more that he was reminded of an important idea that he might have started forgetting.
how was the talk? did he show new stuff?
December 6th, 2005 at 4:17 am
have you thought of going to the business school yourself?
the realization he has… i found that a bit weird. don’t really know his work either, but he seems to be contented with the idea of the capitalist dream (of course i might have probably missed his point).
and it also strikes me as how people think high of bold (and sometimes unsubstantiated) statements. Yes it’s important that you work hard, but it doesn’t mean that you will get what you deserve. When that happens, was it the fault of the social institutes, yourself, or the family that you’re born in?
December 6th, 2005 at 4:21 am
ah i just went to his blog, i missed what he had said :p
i think he wasn’t like what i said in the previous blog – so business schools assimilate our brains into global muck of money. Hmmm…
am i getting old? I can’t really read the fonts that well here.
December 6th, 2005 at 5:14 am
lokhin: ‘evil’ are more or less his words – not mine’s. i mean, he had to save his soul, or so he said.
james: I thought his talk was nice, and personal, but I was a bit disappointed that he didn’t nearly address anything that was the title of his talk ‘simplicity in an over-teched world’ – or any of his ideas on design, simplicity, complexity.