#trial-and-error

The Necessary Pain of Trial-and-Error

Our minds are imperfect. We can’t account for all the factors that contribute to the outcomes in life. So sometimes it’s necessary for us to go through the pain of "trial-and-error" before we know the right path to take in life.

How to Apply a Scientific Mindset to Your Everyday Life

By learning to be a more scientific thinker, we always respect the facts, question our beliefs, practice our knowledge in the real world, and never stop learning new things.

"Will Do" - TV on the Radio

Throughout our history, humans have advanced by trial-and-error.  Because of this simple try-it-and-see approach, we can look back and scoff at previous generations, how things which now seem blindingly obvious were mistaken for so long.  But we've never really come up with a better way to live and learn, so we continue with this approach.  

It's the same on an individual level.  A parent tells you not to climb into a tree, or you might fall out and hurt yourself.  So you don't climb the tree...until your parents are gone.  Then you climb the tree and a branch snaps and you break your wrist and everyone in school signs your cast and it smells for the next few months.  Trial and error.  You don't stop climbing trees, you just learn to identify the stronger branches.  

Because technology breeds technology, we're seeing a rapid increase in development of new toys and trinkets and the accompanying programs that are becoming part of our society.  We're seeing a responsive uptick in the theories about socialization, and how we are ingesting the new opportunities for connection and entertainment.  .  

We don't know yet what the repercussions of our current technology will be.  In this video, TV on the Radio's Tunde Adebimpe seems to eschew his virtual world in favor of realizing his fantasy, but the surreal setting and ideal lighting calls to question the authenticity of this experience of returning and engaging in "reality", as it is largely indistinguishable, in setting and tone, from the fantastic.  So we're not ever sure if we are able to disconnect in this age of hyperconnectivity; but if we could, would we find freedom?  Our relationship to technology is not simple, and like we've always had to do, we'll only be able to measure what we're doing to ourselves in hindsight.  In the midst of this trial, it's impossible to see where we're erring and where we are not.

Nice quote: