CONCEPT TO SEE:
THE USES OF THE SIMPLICITY SOLUTION IN RESPONSE TO CONVERSATIONAL COMPLEXITY
Examining film clips in detail leaves no doubt about how complex our conversations actually are, leading to wonderment about how it is possible for two or more people to manage to take in the information of the conversation and arrive at reasonably acceptable conclusions to guide their interactions. For example, meaning molecules can provide direct information about topics, causes, distractions, tactics, humor, time, shape, geography, color, rules, smell, or many other features of our information worlds that are represented in conversations. The potential content of meanings in conversations would seem to be infinite. How do we make sense of these multiple meanings?
A TASTE OF LIFE
We make sense of the many meanings of a conversation by several techniques, but at the forefront of all such techniques is The Simplicity Solution.
In effect, solutions to problems can be hidden within a requirement for intellectual work that is refused because of a dislike of the effort demanded, especially if there is any degree of multistep complexity, as is typically the case for solutions of behavioral problems. Human beings are animals, inherently attempting to conserve energy, always preferring to avoid work.
It can require substantial effort to disentangle and distinguish the components of complex meanings in complicated conversations. It is easier to accept a single appealing meaning for complex information: this is “The Simplicity Solution“. We accept solutions in vogue within our cultures, and dress them with certainty and a strong sense of sophistication and rectitude.
Faced with notable complexity, a demand for the significant work of unraveling the complexity, and a desire to reach whatever goals motivate our participation in the conversation, we simplify the information and indicate it to be a specific, simple content that favors our intentions and is not so far from the expectations of others as to provoke opposition. This is The Simplicity Solution. Its advantages are obvious, as it extracts enough meaning to be generally satisfactory for all without too much effort. Given our favorable attitude toward so many applications of ‘simplicity’ in our lives, the simplicity solution tends to be acceptable to others, even if the solution is relatively unsophisticated. This is clearly represented in the conversational short-cuts of culturally-accepted cliches. The practical value of a simple reading of a complex set of conversational meanings is undeniable.
It is also true that complex meanings in a conversation might contain meanings that betray facts or intentions that one person would prefer to be neglected or hidden, so the simplicity solution is commonly used as a disguise. At other times, arriving at a solution to a problem being discussed has begun to seem impossible, and the simplicity solution acts as a final, if quick-tempered and erroneous, statement that reflects the destructive drift observed in the film clips. The simplicity solution also can be the means for simplifying a complex situation for specific aggressive purposes toward an individual or group, focusing listeners on a topic acceptable to the speaker and simultaneously distracting listeners from intentions or facts the speaker desires to remain unattended.
Yet, why the additional complication of thinking about meaning molecules? What conceivable interest might there be in the rudimentary distinction between simple and complex meaning molecules? Consider that, as a complex chemical molecule is built from the simple elements that comprise this complex molecule, this complexity alters how it reacts within its chemical environment in ways that might be beneficial or might be limiting or even deleterious to its existence. In the same way, as an increasingly complex meaning molecule is constructed, more potential meanings are contained within it, available to compete for our attention as we speak to one another. Knowing which meaning we are actually responding to becomes an increasingly fragile exercise, open to misunderstandings and misapplications, including misapplications that can be increasingly purposeful and possibly destructive to the development of collective group agreements.
We again have arrived at a point when we ask what interest might we have in this view of meaning molecules that are increasingly complex and increasingly fragile due to their vulnerability to individual interpretations. The pivotal significance of this vulnerability is that it strikes at the heart of the capacity to achieve consensus meanings that occupies the center of all functioning societies. If the process of crafting consensus meanings is obliterated, piece by piece, the ability to forge the social bonds constructed with consensus values, rules, rituals, and symbols evaporates, and the society becomes arid, empty of the blooms of constructive concepts to resolve disagreements, and ceases to function.