And finally…

Blogito ergo sum…

At long last, I have a website, therefore I exist. Or, more accurately, people are more likely to become aware of my existence, so I suppose I better get to work…

Many people put a great deal of thought into their last words, hoping they’ll know when the time is right to finally voice them. Final words are considered very important, like a summary of your life. Of course, a great conclusion often leaves a lasting impression, but who has the dedication to watch the end of a film unless it captures their attention?

Should you be contemplating your famous last words? Perhaps, but famous first words are much more important. You’re not going to experience the consequences of your final words, but (hopefully) you’ll be around for the impact of your first.

First impressions are extremely significant. Scientific research has indicated that females evaluate a potential mate in less than one minute, and we all know males are significantly quicker (by around 59.5 seconds)!

Would you take the time to listen to detailed business proposal if this man stopped you in the street?

Humans are naturally judgemental. Our minds are incapable of perceiving reality, so our brains act as filters, removing as much information as possible.

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Consider an infinite universe… (Actually don’t try this, remember what happened to Cantor). Just spend a quick few moments looking around the room. How many objects are there? Can you count them? Could you describe all the colours, all the tones and shades? The size and shape of each item? Could you read every word you see in the room? The brand names, the headlines, the logos on clothing, the cover of every book? So much information, yet we see it all in an instant.  And that’s just coming from one of our many senses! Sensory overload!

Reality is too much for us to cope with, so our perception filters out whatever it deems unnecessary information. We group things into categories to save time appreciating the uniqueness of everything we perceive. A tree, a bookshelf, an orchestra, a person…

But to the trained mind this broad categorisation is insufficient. An expert will quickly determine the composer of a piece of music, the conductor and even the musicians present on the recording.

With greater interest in a subject comes more precise categorisation. There are more categories and the constraints of each are more specific. If you were interested in motorbikes, you would have a great number of categories for classifying motorbikes, and further subcategories for each. You could pigeonhole bikes by power, engine size, manufacturer, rider posture, etc.

There are two basic motivators – pleasure and pain. The possibility of a threat is another cause for more defined categorisation. Which spiders are dangerous? Which food tastes awful?

Next time you are confronted with a dish you find less than appetising ask yourself “how you know that food tastes bad?” You’ve never eaten from that particular plate. Your mind groups what you see and smell into a “foul tasting” category from your past experiences. What if your first taste was from gone-off ingredients that were badly cooked? It’s fascinating how people often enjoy a dish until they become aware of the ingredients, then their perception changes.

Human Beings are filing clerks, organisers, looking for the correct drawer and cupboard to place each piece of information as quickly as possible. But always remember; everybody makes mistakes.

The process of induction (assuming knowledge based on past experiences) has many problems, including the well-publicised flaw of justifying its use, but there are also issues with categorisation:

• Could you have an inadequate filing system? Can it be improved?
• Could you have any records incorrectly classified? Can they be corrected?
• Could you get past the need to categorise altogether?
• How can we turn your need (and the need of others) for categorisation to your advantage?

Next time you look at a rose, will you simply identify it as a rose? Perhaps you will even recall the association roses are pretty and acknowledge it as so? Or will you stop and spend some time examining the rose? Follow the contour of each petal, the jagged thorns of the stalk, the sweet aroma?

Probably not. Because you probably didn’t even read this article. You’ll read the beginning, end and the parts emphasised, but just scanned over the rest to see if anything took your interest. Are you missing out? Possibly.

What else are you missing out on?