(un)Growth: The Loss of Risk/Reward
Children ordering chicken nuggets at McDonalds, chicken tenders at Olive Garden, or chicken crisps at Red Lobster are perfect examples as well. Some may commend people for knowing what they like and sticking to it, but it raises the simple question: how do you know what you like is indeed the thing you will like most? The person who remains stagnant in their desire for a burger or a desire for french fries everywhere will never get to know the delicious flavors of Middle Eastern food, they'll never try expertly-crafted sushi and they'll never have the gumption to enjoy exotic fishes served in exotic ways. The astounding fact is, once again, that not only will people not enjoy these things that they may enjoy more, they revel in the fact that they aren't enjoying something new. People are completely complacent with where they are or what they want without ever choosing to expand that.Think of this little experiment as a social metaphor. From the age of childhood we decide that we like something, therefore, we will continue to get that something because it makes us feel good. We learn that experimentation could result in us not liking something, a risk that has high reward but high consequences. Instead of risking it and having the chance to experience something amazing, Man takes the easy route and follows the same path he did before. By the time we reach adolescence we have compiled a comprehensive, yet small, list of things we like, the list of dislikes based solely on the fact that these things are not the things we like. (As an aside, the setup of a binary system where one side is only revealed to be the negation of your side is also an archaic means to view life: you=not me; they=not us; red=not blue; good=not bad). The insistence of Humanity to not recognize shades of gray in their decision making process shows a fundamental lack of what epistemology actually is. The idea that there is a single absolute knowledge of the world is fine, if you base your view of the world solely upon your interpretation and nothing more. Unfortunately, this is not realistic; your image (especially in the twenty-first century) must be compiled from myriad options and vantage points. Look at the division of news networks. There is a red news, a blue news, an off-blue news, and an off-red news. Stagnancy believes that you can view one and receive all you need to know. Knowledge (and therefore growth) states you must view them all. Knowledge dictates that you must view all points of view, growth dictates you must interpret and understand those views. In order to grow you must do something that many people fear and rebel against: you must think.
Loyalty: The Death of Innovation
Many minds exist solely for taking-in and subsequently ignoring information they receive. The minds that rely upon the easy way of "chicken nuggets" or referring to your childhood as "walking up hill both ways" are the culprits. Those who lack the originality (and therefore effort) to move beyond these commonplaces only serve to solidify the measures in place that reinforce the behavior of the commonplace. Current business practice relies upon the notion of gaining loyalty over the more important virtue of innovation. Your product only has to be good enough to be considered "reliable". It doesn't need to excel, it only needs to do its job well enough to be viewed as usable and good. So many counter-measures are in place (especially in this country) where innovation is sacrificed at the point of reliability. People stay with a specific car company out of the nostalgia of their first car (which seemed great in retrospect), so why should they go elsewhere and take the risk?For example, a person who has dealt with the same building contractor for decades and built up a wonderful friendship, needs to have a new office building constructed. One day a new up-and-coming contractor offers a new type of construction (which is stronger, longer-lasting and cheaper) to the prospective client. Instead of following the course of innovation, the client follows the course of reliability and loyalty even at the cost of his business. In ten years, the building with sub-par construction will fall, and the client will explain it away as an "act of god" or that "the building needed to go anyways", using complacency and pushing the responsibility away from the only party who deserves it: himself.
This type of decision making that sacrifices innovation at the sight of reliability and comfort is the plague upon this nation. In fact, to call such an act "decision making" is to falsely state that someone does something by consciously weighing all (or at least some) of their options before choosing. Instead, under the current philosophy of choice, the decision seems already made. Equal weight, time, or thought is never given to all sides. Thus, Humanity continues to slip back into a complacent and stagnant lifestyle that refuses to grow with the growth of knowledge.
The flame of inspiration and innovation is being put out in the rain, the intuition of Man is to stomp it out for fear of change when they ought to shelter it and strengthen it. Innovation is not something to fear, innovation is a process and a philosophy that should be followed and nursed, but not blindly followed.
Above all, the blind following of any philosophy, innovation or stagnancy, is the evilest of ways. Thought should rule over your lives, situations should be dissected to see their workings and consequences should be fully explored.
May the flame of innovation, inspiration and reason remain ignited and burn strong, for it is in the most dire danger, now more than ever.
