Unwashed Village
General Discussion => Unwashed Village => Topic started by: Alderach on June 05, 2018, 10:59:37 PM
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I wrote a thing that I felt needed sharing, to open up discussion and to get other points of view. So I figured, why not here? No other place I know of seemed to fit as snugly.
There exists in humanity a myriad of divisions, and to carter for them all is a task most Sisyphean, so for the sake of sanity and for reasons at the moment less apparent, I will only broach the one.
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The Filter of Mundanity.
Now, wether this is a biological constraint, a fact imposed on us by evolutionary biology, or simply a side effect of the construct of society, I am not the authority to convey.
Certainly I have heard the former expressed, but as I can cite you no certain sources this tale will be rendered philosophical and valueless to Science as a whole.
The filter is, whatever the truth behind it's construction, a means by which humanity as a whole copes with a nearly infinite amount of information. In the simplest of terms it is a sieve, where the holes are labeled "Interesting" and the mesh is labeled "Dull."
To be sure there are a multitude of sub categories, most notably the famous four Fs, or perhaps the four Ex for us gamer types: the need for survival necessitates that these functions be at the forefront of our internal list of priorities. In essence, that for the individual to function, the filter is predisposed to allow through the information that is required for the basic needs to be fulfilled.
To make this more concrete, an example follows: Humans need to drink water to live. Therefore, water is a universal point of interest.
A gathering point not only of the body, but of the mind. It is precisely because of the urgency of water that we can all, regardless of our other divisions, marvel at its magnificence.
But what of something more esoteric? Here things get more interesting and it will require us to examine the filter once more in detail.
For you see, the filter with its standard-issue narrowness can only lead humanity so far. With only base needs met, there can never be progress. And what is more, that selfsame evolution mandates that some of us be different. Thus, those of us with more hole than mesh; in other words: they whom find things Fascinating.
It can be a difference very slightly removed from the norm. A keener interest, a hobby, a pet subject of academia. It can be one step further removed, into the realm of Philosophy, Science and Art. Further, reaching a tier where this filter-breach becomes deliberating, it can lead to a sensory overload such that we might see in individuals on the autistic spectrum (whom already vary from the norm in the manner of their sensory intake) or more temporarily on those who loose themselves in/to mind altering substances.
> Please note at this point in my musings that it is not my intention to lay moral judgment: there is no good nor evil inherent in the presence of a filter, no matter the size of its holes.
What matters to the filter is the survival of the host, of the species at large. What matters to me is the discussion itself and what conclusions may be drawn from it. <
For those individuals for whom these holes are larger or more frequent, what changes in comparison to the norm is the number and intensity of sensory input filed into the category I named "Interesting" above. How it is further separated is of course wholly dependent on the mind of the individual in question and far too broad a subject to engage in here, we shall however examine one of them further.
Analysis.
A key component of the filters flowthrough is information that needs to be processed to be understood. For the neurotype, I believe (and please do disagree with me if I am wrong or if you mind my argument at any point invalid or illogical) that this is seldom engaged, unless prompted by an outside source or circumstance. For example: My car is on fire, what do I do about it? Or; My boss wants me to explain how the Norwegian cheese market engages with local farmers viz a viz our companies future expansion into said market, report due on Thursday.
There are of course exceptions, they invariably arising from that most treasured of abilities of the Sapient Mind: Free will. Equipped with this fascinating pattern-breaker, any one of us may engage with what would otherwise be labeled as 'Dull' - but this requires that something pertaining to the subject in question passes through the filter which is itself an unconscious thing.
Back then to the Fascinated and their importance for societies ensured continuation: Why should energy be 'wasted' on processing the esoteric, here understood as that of not immediate use for survival? To combat the unexpected. Though the sleeping mind already does this to an extent (going through various likely and unlikely scenarios and playing through past events only half remembered, spiced with a healthy dose of subconscious, ID, Ego and imagination) the value of the conscious analysis cannot be overstated; because it sticks in our memory in a way that most dreams do not. A Fascinated individual may cease more physiologically important activities to study and to understand a process upon which it has stumbled, applying the full breadth of the individuals experience, knowledge and bias in order to probe the subject to gauge its inherent properties. It should be noted here that for the Fascinated, the properties that are being explored need not hold any sort of Value to be Interesting, since the subject in question has already passed that Filter for the individual. It is for this reason that the esoteric, such as the frequency and variation of interchanges 'pon the branches of a tree or the suitability of Thomas the Tank Engine© as a replacement model/mesh for arachnids-of-all-sorts, for those suffering from Arachnophobia, may merit investigation by the individual in question. Further, the Fascinated may leverage their examination together with capital (social or physical both) to bypass the filter of the UnFacinated in order to share with them their findings. The aforementioned outside-prompting. We may call this 'art' or 'science' or what-have-you, but the process behind it I believe is the same.
Sensorium.
What reaches the filter is Everything. What comes through, far more limited. The human body is equipped with (at least) detectors of taste, smell, hearing, gyroscopic balance, position in space, time and the movement there-in, the position of the various parts of the body in relation to itself, luminosity, shade and a modest selection of other properties of light, heat, touch as well as a number of ineffable senses such as 'the presence of affection', 'danger-sense' or even 'inherent maths'. If one were to make a conscious effort to sort these through, nary a step could be taken before the brain would spontaneously combust from over-exhaustion.
I spoke earlier of Autism, and it is my belief (gained through experience and research, but again I may be wrong) that the Autistic mind is constantly assaulted with sensory-nodes criss-crossing and interfering, interacting with one another in much the same way that dueling magnetic fields might. This is similar to what might happen with a tier-3 open filter, and indeed as earlier mentioned is probably one of the reasons for periodic mental breakdowns in such individuals, in that too many fascinating things at once becomes functionally impossible to deal with, on top of what is already occurring. That this tier still exists is a product of the omnibenevolent nature of human society and its influence on (or rather, total dominion over) evolution.
In conclusion then; The Filter of Mundanity exists for three express purposes. One; to ensure that an individual may focus on survival in spite of an overwhelming sensory palette. Two: To ensure the survival of the species by letting some members of the species (but importantly, not all, or even the many) lay the brunt of their effort on explaining or experiencing the unnecessary, should it prove necessary in the future, and Three: To act as a safe-guard should the more universal subconscious process fail to produce adequate results.
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*Wether or not intent factors into it is a matter of religion, again a field outside of the scope of this study.
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And that is all I have on the subject for now. If you have reached this far without your eyes glazing over; you might be Fascinated. Or you might simply be angry that I wasted all your precious time, all the same I want or only the best for all of you and to thank you for that aforementioned time. I love writing and thinking, and if you care to share your thoughts on this matter I would be happy to hear it and perhaps even to engage with it. Until then, peace be upon thee. Also, I love cats.
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Its a little metaphysical for me, but thanks for sharing
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I like beer.
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I like beer.
What a coincidence. So do I.
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I like a perfectly preserved pie...
and beer.