One of our minds' greatest strengths has an unfortunate side effect. That strength is the ability to generalize and represent a complex idea with a simplified word or phrase. The association of this word with several other simpler things in our mind gives it meaning. This has great benefits, such as allowing us to discuss complex things more easily. Problems arise however, when simplified terms evolve over time to mean different things to different people, or when very few people are familiar with what the terms mean at all.
God is a wonderful example. Think of how many different things this word means to different people. If you want to have any discussion involving this word with someone, you would need to first talk about what it means to the other person in the first place. If you don't clarify this first, be prepared for a onslaught of misunderstanding, confusion, and pointless argument. Love is another good example, but they don't necessarily need to be grand concepts to get confusing. Consider the vastly different ideas about what a friend is for example.
Another problem I see with the labeling of complex things is in professional or academic terminology. While it affords advantages to people intimate with a certain field easier communication, it also has an isolating effect. As the potential number of specialized fields grows, it becomes more important for people from disparate professions to be able to collaborate and work together. If we do not maintain the ability to explain our own fields in terms that non-experts can understand, we severely limit the potential for joined progress.
In the land of professional business, you have a similar, but more severe problem. More severe, because due to the effects of marketing and rapid change, very similar concepts get constantly re-branded. At least in the academic world they are using arcane terminology that is the same stuff students have been learning from decades back. All this leads to a lack of clarity and barriers to collaboration. Let these terms be tools to help us learn, but not to impede spreading knowledge to others.
I marvel at our ability to arrange concepts in our minds in a hierarchical or associative fashion. This starts from the smallest building blocks of language and combines up many levels to the broadest concepts we have names for. Or perhaps the broadest of all, simply "everything". But we must use the appropriate level of the hierarchy in the appropriate situation, and occasionally remind ourselves of just what associations lie underneath those higher concepts that give them meaning. Lets not lose sight of the real meaning behind our words.
God is a wonderful example. Think of how many different things this word means to different people. If you want to have any discussion involving this word with someone, you would need to first talk about what it means to the other person in the first place. If you don't clarify this first, be prepared for a onslaught of misunderstanding, confusion, and pointless argument. Love is another good example, but they don't necessarily need to be grand concepts to get confusing. Consider the vastly different ideas about what a friend is for example.
Another problem I see with the labeling of complex things is in professional or academic terminology. While it affords advantages to people intimate with a certain field easier communication, it also has an isolating effect. As the potential number of specialized fields grows, it becomes more important for people from disparate professions to be able to collaborate and work together. If we do not maintain the ability to explain our own fields in terms that non-experts can understand, we severely limit the potential for joined progress.
In the land of professional business, you have a similar, but more severe problem. More severe, because due to the effects of marketing and rapid change, very similar concepts get constantly re-branded. At least in the academic world they are using arcane terminology that is the same stuff students have been learning from decades back. All this leads to a lack of clarity and barriers to collaboration. Let these terms be tools to help us learn, but not to impede spreading knowledge to others.
I marvel at our ability to arrange concepts in our minds in a hierarchical or associative fashion. This starts from the smallest building blocks of language and combines up many levels to the broadest concepts we have names for. Or perhaps the broadest of all, simply "everything". But we must use the appropriate level of the hierarchy in the appropriate situation, and occasionally remind ourselves of just what associations lie underneath those higher concepts that give them meaning. Lets not lose sight of the real meaning behind our words.
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