Humans by nature are inquisitive. That's how we discovered the wheel and fire. That's why Science as a subject exists and it’s exactly why people are willing to dedicate several hours of relentless work to finding out what constitutes an atom...
So we dig, deconstruct and search like a Musk deer trying to locate the source of the scent. But at the end of it all, what do we achieve?
Complexity is a very complex concept. If you understand what complexity is, then you are underestimating the might of the complexity. A subject continues to stay complex as long as it is not fully understood. Once you break it down and absorb it, it ceases to interest you. Need some convincing? Examples up your alley...
One... Take an infant for instance. The little thing will spend hours staring at an object as commonplace as a carton box or a cell phone as long as he fails to understand what the object is. The second he knows what the object does and more importantly, how it does whatever it does, it ceases to interest him...
Two... Who else but the master Sir Arthur Conan Doyle can bring out such intricacies of human thought! Observe that Watson is always taken aback by Holmes' ingenious findings only up to the point where Holmes explains it. Once that is done, it is "But elementary my Dear Watson"...
Three... Music. When you hear a tune teasing enough to hit the right pleasure spots with lyrics faint enough to keep you guessing and a theme perfectly effervescent, you are gripped by the tune like nothing else. Once you sit down and listen to it over and over again, you lose interest in it.
It is quite natural. Even human senses are built to that effect. The sense of smell for instance; that familiar blast of pizza goodness every time you walk into Cassa Piccola is a non existing scent to the chef who spends an eternity in those kitchens... Familiarity breeds contempt. So what is the solution?
Keep it complex enough to keep you guessing? That wouldn't work out. Because curiosity is like a spark in a hay-stack. If you let it burn unhindered for long enough, it'll burn the barn down. Leaving a complexity untouched leads to irritability which is as frustrating as finding dissatisfaction at the end of deconstructing the complexity...
Now if I have managed to tickle your gray cells the right amount, this article and the theme must appear just complex enough to keep you interested. Dig no deeper. Ponder no more. Let the feeling fulfill its destiny. If you love it, leave it untouched.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
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