#2: The power of observation in identifying the dots in life
A Snapshot:
In this article we explore the idea that our earliest tools and technologies available to human kind since the start of time where the ones we call the human body and all its senses and faculties. The most important of all of them was sight and our eyes and the result of these working lead to observation becoming the only tool to acquire an understanding of the world around us and creating knowledge from that understanding allowing for life to find ways to survive and pro create over the eons it has, building new tools and techniques as it went along but never forgetting that is all started out with observation.
The Visual Sense:
Albeit Sight, is a very prominent and rich sensory organ in the human repertoire of senses and is the most engaging one, creating impressions, stimulating emotions and engaging our basic instincts. Its one of the facets of life that we are born with and is one of the first things we do when we are given birth to, open our eyes and see the world, along with taking our first breath at the sight of the world and feeling the touch of our mother, then hearing all the commotion around us makes us cry. So in the very first instant of birth we get to engage all our 5 senses of Sight, Sound, Smell and touch. How then can be as we grow up loose our acuity of these primary organs ? Well literally we dont', but their engagement with out brain is rather blunted by the pre occupations we have brought upon our brains to process taking away the their focus from our primary senses, making us dead to our environments around us and focus inwardly on our wants, needs and aimless thoughts.
If we look back at Neanderthal man back in the prehistoric era their eyes where they window to the world, how it worked, what happened around them and this gave rise to an understanding of the world. It also served as a learning tool, a way to capture information and record it in memory, then story telling the same to the next generation became the way to gain knowledge. So the first generation of discoverers used their eyes to learn and create knowledge. This led rise to the next generation who didn't need to use their eyes, but their ears to listen to stories and learn knowledge. But with time, knowledge got so vast we have to resort to storing it permanently as human memories wasn't enough nor was it permanent beyond death. We invented drawing and then writing and those things brought back our need to use our eyes and complete that with listening to explanation of those writings.
But if you look thru history and all the documented discoveries in time from some of the genial people of all time, they will tell you and so will history that their discoveries where 90% based on visual observations and thus the premise for my case on Observation.
Curiosity and Observation, what, where, and how ?
Curiosity, is the first step in knowledge creation, with out it we will be devoid of everything. Great explorers, geniuses, pioneers and inventors all had insatiable appetites for curiosity and the risk that comes with it. It is a personality trait few have and few are willing to cultivate. Once you have it, you will need the next skill in knowledge creation... Observation.
So what is observation? Is it not the same as Seeing things?.... no it isn't !. You could be looking at something or someone but not observing it or them at all. Seeing is merely an acknowledgement of the presence of a person or thing or situation. Observation is actually recognizing what you are looking at and referencing it back to a memory catalog of things either the same or similar.
We then draw an inference on whether it needs further observation to cover of any differences between the memory reference of the visual subject and actual subject in the current reality context so that the reference object can be updated, or a curiosity mission is commenced to explore the observation at a later date because the discovery takes too long or requires more complex techniques to update the differences to the reference copy in our mind and our knowledge repositories.
Observation can be best served if one is open minded, clear of all bias, focused on facts and details and captures the maximum information during the observation. Avoiding judgement, prejudice or bias during observation will allow for no input to be filtered out of the capture stage and ensure that the facts that are captured are recorded as close to reality as possible.These facts are what i call DOTS, these dots are what form the a series when connected together form solid structures such as literal lines or metaphorical thoughts and opinions.
Observation is not about the connection or the resultant picture of those dots and connections. It is purely a singular focus on the collection of as many dots / facts and the maximum information around those that best describe them closest to their occurrence in reality. So having painted out the case for what observation is and how it should be conducted, the question that begs asking is what do we do this. Well this is where the next article in my series comes in......Imagination.
Disclaimer: Readers please be advised, these are my personal reflections from experience on the various topics listed in this blog and not the views of my current or past employers or clients. All products, vendors and trademarks mentioned in here are the respective property of their owners.No content from this blog may be reproduced without expressed permission.
In this article we explore the idea that our earliest tools and technologies available to human kind since the start of time where the ones we call the human body and all its senses and faculties. The most important of all of them was sight and our eyes and the result of these working lead to observation becoming the only tool to acquire an understanding of the world around us and creating knowledge from that understanding allowing for life to find ways to survive and pro create over the eons it has, building new tools and techniques as it went along but never forgetting that is all started out with observation.
The Visual Sense:
Albeit Sight, is a very prominent and rich sensory organ in the human repertoire of senses and is the most engaging one, creating impressions, stimulating emotions and engaging our basic instincts. Its one of the facets of life that we are born with and is one of the first things we do when we are given birth to, open our eyes and see the world, along with taking our first breath at the sight of the world and feeling the touch of our mother, then hearing all the commotion around us makes us cry. So in the very first instant of birth we get to engage all our 5 senses of Sight, Sound, Smell and touch. How then can be as we grow up loose our acuity of these primary organs ? Well literally we dont', but their engagement with out brain is rather blunted by the pre occupations we have brought upon our brains to process taking away the their focus from our primary senses, making us dead to our environments around us and focus inwardly on our wants, needs and aimless thoughts.
If we look back at Neanderthal man back in the prehistoric era their eyes where they window to the world, how it worked, what happened around them and this gave rise to an understanding of the world. It also served as a learning tool, a way to capture information and record it in memory, then story telling the same to the next generation became the way to gain knowledge. So the first generation of discoverers used their eyes to learn and create knowledge. This led rise to the next generation who didn't need to use their eyes, but their ears to listen to stories and learn knowledge. But with time, knowledge got so vast we have to resort to storing it permanently as human memories wasn't enough nor was it permanent beyond death. We invented drawing and then writing and those things brought back our need to use our eyes and complete that with listening to explanation of those writings.
But if you look thru history and all the documented discoveries in time from some of the genial people of all time, they will tell you and so will history that their discoveries where 90% based on visual observations and thus the premise for my case on Observation.
Curiosity and Observation, what, where, and how ?
Curiosity, is the first step in knowledge creation, with out it we will be devoid of everything. Great explorers, geniuses, pioneers and inventors all had insatiable appetites for curiosity and the risk that comes with it. It is a personality trait few have and few are willing to cultivate. Once you have it, you will need the next skill in knowledge creation... Observation.
So what is observation? Is it not the same as Seeing things?.... no it isn't !. You could be looking at something or someone but not observing it or them at all. Seeing is merely an acknowledgement of the presence of a person or thing or situation. Observation is actually recognizing what you are looking at and referencing it back to a memory catalog of things either the same or similar.
We then draw an inference on whether it needs further observation to cover of any differences between the memory reference of the visual subject and actual subject in the current reality context so that the reference object can be updated, or a curiosity mission is commenced to explore the observation at a later date because the discovery takes too long or requires more complex techniques to update the differences to the reference copy in our mind and our knowledge repositories.
Observation can be best served if one is open minded, clear of all bias, focused on facts and details and captures the maximum information during the observation. Avoiding judgement, prejudice or bias during observation will allow for no input to be filtered out of the capture stage and ensure that the facts that are captured are recorded as close to reality as possible.These facts are what i call DOTS, these dots are what form the a series when connected together form solid structures such as literal lines or metaphorical thoughts and opinions.
Observation is not about the connection or the resultant picture of those dots and connections. It is purely a singular focus on the collection of as many dots / facts and the maximum information around those that best describe them closest to their occurrence in reality. So having painted out the case for what observation is and how it should be conducted, the question that begs asking is what do we do this. Well this is where the next article in my series comes in......Imagination.
Disclaimer: Readers please be advised, these are my personal reflections from experience on the various topics listed in this blog and not the views of my current or past employers or clients. All products, vendors and trademarks mentioned in here are the respective property of their owners.No content from this blog may be reproduced without expressed permission.
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Dear Reader, If you have a comment about a post on this blog I'd like to hear about it. There is always merit in hearing yet another view or opinion, wisdom is only good as the collective learn one can ever get. Regards Duane.