INITIATIVE AND TECHNIQUE PERFECTION

It's been a while since my last posting. Safe to say I've been doing a lot of thinking about Informationalist philosophy of the past months. First I'd like to encourage you to check out a BLOG one of my friends made. It's an interesting idea that I think merits a little publicity.

There are two new concepts I wish to integrate into the Informationalist philosophy. The first is initiative.

Initiative in the Informationalist sense acknowledges the need of the shift of an equilibrium for an organism to adapt. It CANNOT be taught, but it MUST be learned. Central to the philosophy of Informationalism is the desire of the individual organism to survive. I have spoken in the past about the deep connection between the perpetuation of the individual and the perpetuation of the species, and how it is all wrapped up within the free flow of Information.

Thus, initiative becomes important to Informationalism. One must use information to change their surroundings in order to better meet their require equilibrium for their own survival. However, without ALL DATA the equilibrium constantly shifts due to unforeseen interactions in the universe. It is here that initiative becomes important. It is the initiative to master one's environment once again that makes the data and thus Informationalism perpetually important.

Technique Perfection in the Informationalist sense is something I discovered within the philosophy of Zhuangzi. It is the continual practice of an art so that the boundary between the conscious and unconscious mind is obliterated. For example, the simple action of typing on the keyboard. I am quite adept at my usage of "home row". So adept that I no longer have to think about the position of the letters that I am about to type. As I type this post, I can simply let my thoughts flow onto the screen via the keyboard. Due to my mastery of the skill, there is no visible delay between the processing power of my mind due to locating the letters on the keyboard. I simply know where they are.

Technique perfection is important because of its ability to allow individuals to successfully multitask. Being able to do this makes it possible to produce and acquire more information. It also gives the individual a greater power and understanding of the self and the environment. All of these things are crucial to Informationalism.

Another example of practicing technique perfection I found took place while I swam laps. As I swam I calculated the distance I planned to swim, and adjusted those numbers numbers into other units. I did all this while swimming and keeping up with the current amount of distance I had already covered. It was exhausting, but rewarding.

I would encourage those who read this to attempt to practice technique perfection. Even if you are not an Informationalist. Learn a skill so well you don't have to think about it when you peform it, and then master other tasks while performing that skill. This obviously has its limits, you cannot use a keyboard and weave something at the same time. But activities that do not seriously overlap could be mastered at the same time, increasing one's ability to multi-task and acquire new Information. I hope this has been helpful.