Subjectivity, of sorts
Sunday, February 08, 2009 by Shreyas
Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. It's just a matter of perception in deciding what is good and what is not. Subjectivity, we have come to see has become one word providing escapist route for average performances. When we start thinking about how people respond to things, more often than not ,subjectivity becomes a big bias. It's often an excuse when performance doesn't meet expectations. But are aspects of measurement, appreciation and selection really influenced by subjectivity to a great extent?
Art is one field that is heavily characterized by perception and subjectivity. But even in such a field we find exhibitions of perfection and beauty that goes beyond subjectivity and criticism. They just fall into the category of absolutes. When we take movies for example, The Shawshank Redemption is a great movie. I have never come across anyone who has watched that movie and felt it wasn't a good one. Similarly there are examples of bad movies - you yourself would have witnessed or check out IMDB's bottom 100. In fact there are three categories in which most things in life fall under - the really good, the really bad and in between. When something falls in the category of really good, it means that its greatness is appreciated even by people who don't have expertise in that particular field. You don't need to know the technicalities of cinematography, screen play and other finer aspects to appreciate The Shawshank. An average person watching the movie is often amazed by the movie. Similarly take the example of music. The Carnatic music is often considered to be elitist and only those who have a knowledge about the music are considered to appreciate it. But here again if you take the music of Mandolin Srinivas or Guitar Prasanna, it just transcends. Even a person who without Carnatic initiation is able to appreciate and enjoy it. You can expand the list easily - Sachin Tendulkar in Cricket, Richard Dawkins in religious philosophy, Da Vinci in being a polymath, Absolut in vodka and so on.
Usually most of the elements of a sample falls in the 'in between' category (the normal distribution is bell shaped). The gradient from good to bad is present only in this band. And you really don't know whether an element in this band is good or bad. Thus all fuzzy logic, the occurrence of alpha(the probability of rejecting a null hypothesis which is actually true) and beta (the probability of accepting a null hypothesis which is actually false)errors occur in this band. This band is the source of all debates, arguments and taking stands. When you fall out of this band, either to the left or to the right, life becomes very simple. You are almost always accepted or almost always rejected.
I'm tempted to say that the pursuit of excellence is to fall out of the gradient band and exit the realm of subjectivity.What I think helps you do this are:
1. Do what you love - Read http://paulgraham.com/love.html
2. Specialize extensively - Have a niche.
3. Don't always respond to expectations. Enjoy what you are doing.
4. Work with integrity. Be selective in what you are taking up and execute righteously.
Art is one field that is heavily characterized by perception and subjectivity. But even in such a field we find exhibitions of perfection and beauty that goes beyond subjectivity and criticism. They just fall into the category of absolutes. When we take movies for example, The Shawshank Redemption is a great movie. I have never come across anyone who has watched that movie and felt it wasn't a good one. Similarly there are examples of bad movies - you yourself would have witnessed or check out IMDB's bottom 100. In fact there are three categories in which most things in life fall under - the really good, the really bad and in between. When something falls in the category of really good, it means that its greatness is appreciated even by people who don't have expertise in that particular field. You don't need to know the technicalities of cinematography, screen play and other finer aspects to appreciate The Shawshank. An average person watching the movie is often amazed by the movie. Similarly take the example of music. The Carnatic music is often considered to be elitist and only those who have a knowledge about the music are considered to appreciate it. But here again if you take the music of Mandolin Srinivas or Guitar Prasanna, it just transcends. Even a person who without Carnatic initiation is able to appreciate and enjoy it. You can expand the list easily - Sachin Tendulkar in Cricket, Richard Dawkins in religious philosophy, Da Vinci in being a polymath, Absolut in vodka and so on.
Usually most of the elements of a sample falls in the 'in between' category (the normal distribution is bell shaped). The gradient from good to bad is present only in this band. And you really don't know whether an element in this band is good or bad. Thus all fuzzy logic, the occurrence of alpha(the probability of rejecting a null hypothesis which is actually true) and beta (the probability of accepting a null hypothesis which is actually false)errors occur in this band. This band is the source of all debates, arguments and taking stands. When you fall out of this band, either to the left or to the right, life becomes very simple. You are almost always accepted or almost always rejected.
I'm tempted to say that the pursuit of excellence is to fall out of the gradient band and exit the realm of subjectivity.What I think helps you do this are:
1. Do what you love - Read http://paulgraham.com/love.html
2. Specialize extensively - Have a niche.
3. Don't always respond to expectations. Enjoy what you are doing.
4. Work with integrity. Be selective in what you are taking up and execute righteously.
Posted in:
PonderWrite
|
|
|
