Edisoning part II – an onion ring.

In a previous post I came up with the idea of “Edisoning” a hook line: sucessfully finding a thousand hook-lines that do not work!

This relates to a deeper theory I have on creativity and meme assembly which is steeped in epistemology. Epistemology is the philosophical branc1200 × 1076h that consideres how we know what we know – subject that is a bit self-reflexive and invariably gets mind boggling. Most influential to my theory are the likes of Popper, Campbell, and Dennett, as they proposed thoughts around evolutionary epistemology.

To quote Popper: ideas die in our stead

In other words, if we think up an idea and realise its pretty stupid before actually trying it out, then we can dismiss the idea before we do ourselfs a mischeif. We have an internal model of the world against which we can test out, through mental simulation, the costs and benefits of an idea. The idea is subject to a kind of Darwinian evolution where we iterativly submit an idea to selection pressure and make variations on the most promising – in this way we try to envisage the most fitting course of action to take. The selection pressure is applied to an idea according to our mental models of how the world works, which in turn is derived from our learnings and experiences, the pleasure and pain feedback of our actions according to the selection pressures of the physical and social world. The selection pressures in our mental simulations are related to those of the world around us, although their validity is another issue. A thought that gets Darwinised, is one that, when pitched against what we have leared from the selection pressures of the real world, is likely to give rise to some kind of displeasure. So, we kill the idea before it kills us.

There seems to be a form of hierarchy to all this which I view as an onion ring series of layers, each one plying and simulating selection. Where an idea passes elimination at one layer then it moves out to the simulations of another layer, and so on until it encouteres the real world: it goes on to the next round of enducrance.

This can be seen in cultural creativity, music and finding that killer hook. An idea pops into your head and it is most likely to be banished there and then. However, if it does have some merit, then it is worth a bit of time thinking about. If it survives that then it might lead to a test track or demo. If that demo sounds good then you might play it to some friends and get feedback. If they are supportative, then it might be considered as a proper demo and so on and so forth until it reaches an industry professional. If it makes it through all that and is released then it is subject to the whims of a commercial audience.

In each of these stages, people have some idea of what is likely to be popular and this is what constitues the layers of selection pressure. This knowledge comes from exposure to contemporary culture. Hence, knowing the current tropes of popular music helps me to protect my friends, and the wider world from my more experimental avant guarde noises.