Unusual Concepts
By Steve GillmanI am always working with unusual concepts. I have files full of notes on various ideas that I sometimes return to and develop. Since I am told that a more personal and less formal approach is the norm when it comes to blogs (blogging is relatively new for me), I am going to run through a short list of some of what I’m working on at the moment, just to see if I can get any feedback that might lead me to some useful ideas for future posts, web pages or books.
A while back I coined the word “metaphorology.” Okay, I’m sure it was used somewhere before, but I did get the domain name “www.Metaphorology.com.” My definition? “The study of metaphors and how they affect understanding, and the conscious use of them as tools for achievement of specific results.” That’s subject to change.
I created a few pages, and have let the project slide for now, but I am still playing with specific metaphors. For example, I recently had the idea of the “reverse puppet metaphor.” It starts with the typical metaphor of a man being a puppet on strings, pulled by people and circumstances one way and then the other, made to dance this way or that. Then one day he sees that the puppet strings were never tied to him. He was actually holding the strings in his hands, and all he have to do was let go.
I happen to think that there are great insights to be had in working with new metaphors. Send any good ones my way.
An Economic Question
I recently found this quote (and lost the author’s name): “To predict the viability of a system, look at its ability to be self-correcting.” It’s a profound concept, I realized. Our bodies have heating and cooling and immune systems to keep us in a viable state. A democracy combined with a free press corrects itself when it goes to extremes, and swings back towards the center. Both are examples of robust systems that are self-correcting.
Now, my idea is to apply this idea to improving some of the systems in an economy. You may have noticed from other posts that I tend to favor free market solutions to economic problems. I certainly don;t want large economic manipulations that violate people’s rights.
But I’m not against reasonable regulations that prevent extremes, since we tend to arrive at these extremes through subtle forms of fraud, which have no place in capitalism. Really, who could say with a straight face that a package of zero-down interest-only mortgage loans on over-priced homes was a safe investment? To sell them as such is a form of fraud, legal or not.
So my question, which you can help me answer if you wish, is how government or private organizations can make stock markets, housing markets, and other systems more self-correcting, without being too intrusive? I’ll let you know what I come up with in future posts.
Define Correct Definition
What is a correct definition of a word? Is it what some “authority” says it is? Is it what the common usage and consensus says it is? Or is it the definition that most closely aligns with the reality the words is meant to point to?
My answers? No, maybe and yes. But I will always be working on this. It may seem an unusual concept, but I think that as useful and wonderful as language is, it also is one of the primary dangers in our lives. I’ll have more to say about that in the future.
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Tags: ideas, metaphors, unusual concepts