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World Views - pt 1

As we grow up, we get a 'better sense of the world', or so we think. A new born entering the world starts attempting to make sense of the world purely through her senses, allowing the natural instinctual processes to dictate her actions. It seems, there is already some kind of an automaton at work. Hunger? cry. In a dangerous / inhygienic environment? Cry LOOOOOUUUUUDD (and bring the roof down if need be). Familiar people identified? smile, and so on.

But those are sufficient only to exist at such high levels of dependence and it is very important to grasp how their world works. For one's survival good, our thinking apparatus begin to construct a 'world view'. Its a model - much like how a car can be modeled in a computer and driven around. The purpose of the model could be to design the car or to hone driving skills. In order to focus on the purpose, the unwanted details must be left out. One need not worry about how the car's paint should be accurately modeled in a computer if the purpose of the model is to help improve the fuel efficiency or power or safety. So therefore, models are inherently reduced views of reality. The model is a quick, crude contraption, no way as complex as the real world, but it is very useful tool. It lets us understand the outcome, flashing indicators on the dashboard, helping us quickly take decisions to further the purpose.

Our brain too, builds a model of the world based on needs that ultimately tie in to the needs of survival. A shoe seller upon seeing a shoe reacts very differently in his thought patterns than a shoe designer or the consumer.

It is these unique models that we build out of one's unique experiences that gives rise to unique personalities. Even, many mammals can be seen to build such 'world views' based on their own experiences and thereby have differing personalities. For example, some dogs inherently love all people, including strangers. Some dogs *hate* the sight of strangers.

Parts of one's World view gets torn down and rebuilt sometimes. Parts of it remain "Work in Progress" and many parts just emerge to become more coherent and apparent. A farmer's understanding of "his world" of soil, climate, insects and plants is deeper than a computer engineer's understanding of the same.

One reinforces the views by telling stories which others digest to progressively update / improve parts of their knowledge. Some might discard the story if the story isn't coherent within one's world view.

But the world is inherently more complex than what our heads can model. There are queer people and there are quasars. There are Swami Ramdev babas and Business Tycoons touring the world on private jets.

(... To be continued in part 2)


Jun. 21st, 2010 09:42 am (UTC)
OK, waiting for the rest...