人算不如天算
I was asked to make a blog for the NYU IMA Low Res graduate program. (I started with no tangible experience in interaction design.) Math is nature’s poetry, and these are just diary entries.
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I was asked to make a blog for the NYU IMA Low Res graduate program. (I started with no tangible experience in interaction design.) Math is nature’s poetry, and these are just diary entries.
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Reel
IMALR-GT-201-04
WHAT: IMALR-GT-201
Lakoff and Johnson's examples are not outdated, though I wish some of them were. Metaphor processing shapes thought. It provides abstractions for complex issues (oftentimes leading us to believe we understand more than we do), forms groups (sports enthusiasts reallyyy love sports metaphors), and covertly influences thought (climate change being a "war" vs. a "race").
In my experience, I tend to view people who use appropriate metaphors in their speech as more intelligent- probably because my brain associates this usage with pattern-recognition/logic. However, I also believe that lexical reasoning can be clouded by metaphors. For example, an idea can be viewed as a "seed" or a "lightbulb," but I'd perceive the lightbulb idea to be more explosively genius than the seed idea. Love can be a "journey" (neutral) or a "battlefield" (negative). Crime can be a "virus" (parasite) or a "beast" (wild animal/predator). The list goes on.
I wish society did not describe time as equivalent to money. I don't like that depression is down, nor am I fond of gaining control meaning the "upper" hand. I’m confused why “killing”/“slaying” is positive. I don't think that good "job" should be used to praise something done well, and I wish arguments were not "fights." I'd prefer spectrums to be visually circular rather than linear (thanks, Matt), and I also wish autism was accepted as a "trait" and not a "disorder." (Many people have told me to say that my brother "has autism" instead of "is autistic"- but I would never say he "has the shy" or "has Asian," so I don't quite get the logic. At least let him decide how to integrate it into his identity?)
As I've gotten older, I've grown more conscious of the words I use. Life experiences injected more nuanced meaning into their little strokes and sounds. I used to identify as my emotions- "I am sad." However, now I try to view them as experiences I hold (though the language I use does not always reflect this). I used to accept that time is money. Now, I'd much prefer to think of it as choice. I'd like to believe that reality is overrated, but realism is underrated. Life is a wavicle. Individual moments exist, but they cannot tell me much about a person. Local minimums are not absolute. If we zoom out, we can see movement, connection, and thus, gratitude.
Lastly, I'd like to address a word I've yet to metaphorically define: home. Having moved between nine residences, seven schools, five cities, and three countries by age 18, I never connected with this single syllable the way others seemed to. I still don't know what it is or will be- But I do know that it is one of the most colorful, love-filled words in my glossary. I've felt it before.
And I've lost it, too.
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Thoughts on metaphorical blood.
Blood often represents emotion and life.
Blood to signify emotion:
- Blood is boiling.
- In cold blood.
- We have bad blood between us.
- They're hot-blooded.
Blood to signify life:
- Blood is thicker than water.
- It's in our blood.
- Blood, sweat, and tears.
- Pay in blood.
- Bloodthirsty.
- My flesh and blood.
Blood is closely associated with soul, and I believe the soul is love.
That's why I'd like to explore how to love, by blood.
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Committing to a Form.
I've been inspired by The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff.
The Tao Te Ching is a 6000-year-old guide to cultivating harmony in yourself and the world around you. It is "the Way." I'll be creating the Tao Te Blood: How to Love. I feel like this is a more digestible form for my science-y musings.
I’ll do this via personifying blood as a Threads/Instagram influencer... or a meditation series/journal.
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Interview Notes.
I went on my friends' podcast, The Honest Drink, and interviewed the two hosts. Justin Yang is a podcaster and investor interested in the trappings of being human. Howie Lam is an award-winning filmmaker who has a somewhat addictive personality. (I will link the podcast when it's released.) Though they did not seem particularly interested in blood on a cellular level, we did ultimately dive into blood as a social construct.
My interview raised more questions than answers, for example:
- Assuming you do not know whether your child is biologically related to you, would you love them differently?
- Your significant other is not your blood, but they can be closer to you than your blood relatives. What does this mean for blood?
- What about pets?
- Do blood types really influence personality?
- Is blood what gives us life? What about AI?
- Is blood/kinship just a social construct we created to make us feel less alone?
Sources:
Mr. Monopoly Man Image: Kossi