pastagang

hierarchy

the notion that people or things can be ordered.
ordered by power. (the archy part)
also can mean ordered by priority, or worth.
right?
(edit if not true)

why would we want to abandon that?
well, power has problems. it accretes.
that is to say it compounds.
in simple terms it increases if you have more and decreases if you have less.
which leads to abuses, because human fallibility.
in short, it’s not a great idea to encourage that.

but wait, I have no power so I can’t reasonably be expected to worry about it increasing without bounds?
no. well, fair enough.

but

what about

community. creativity. amazing audio and visual experiences.

what happens if we place them in a hierarchy?

power accretes.

wait, what?

if something is ‘the best’.
then something is ‘the worst’
something is in the middle somewhere.

someone has just started. are they going to be the best? probably not.
could they be ‘as good’ as the best?
probably yes.

so maybe. instead of:
sort(live coding)

we could just
do(live coding)

abandon hierachy
abandon comparison

oh come on <insert favourite artist> is really the best

ok. that’s really ok.
“this is the best thing EVER” is an ok thing to say. i hear you, I feel you.

but remember.

power accretes

one other thing

rivalry, wanting to do better, pushing yourself and others. they’re all ok. we’re fallible humans after all.

but remember. it’s a double edged sword.
be careful.
be human

we collaborate far more than we compete.
thats what phrases like “global supply chain” mean.
thousands and thousands (actually billions) of tiny little humans working together across time and the planet.

lets work together.

then humans can be the best they can be.

or something

let’s try at least

thanks

(edit if not true)

edit

this is the best live coding performance ever.

so we were wrong

but apart from that performance, abandon hierarchy

this blog post was written by pastagang