"the meaning of a particular thing is enabled by the web of implicit meanings we call the world"
We understand things that exist in our "world" because we humans have the ability to distinguish all of the hidden meanings inherent in things around us. Weinberger uses Heidegger's example of a hammer in the book. Just for the sake of originality Ill use a different example.
A lighter is a multitude of things. It is a small piece of plastic with a metal top, fuel inside, and igniter that fits snuggly in my palm. It allows me to spark a flame into existence. I was told not to play with them when I was younger. If you carry one, people generally think you smoke. If people think you smoke, they think youre unhealthy or have made a bad life decision, or maybe except you into a social circle. A lighter is something people ask you for before they go outside. It creates a flame of a certain size. It is knowing the brightness of the flame, the dull color of the plastic.... yada yada.
These are a small sample of the implicit meanings that come to my mind when I look at this one thing. Weinberger is talking about these meanings and what we think of when we perceive objects around us. The culmination of all these meaning create our realities and the world around us.
This idea of implicit meanings ties into Weinberger's third order. Because order is no longer bound by the physical when online, things can be tied together through tags, links, etc in a fashion that is more closely related to the way we perceive meaning in our heads. We do not need metadata such as a card catalog to find things, Things will already have been paired together in several different ways that seem more natural to us.
You had a lot of thoughts on the concept of implicit information shaping individual's realities, and I find that extremely fascinating! It's so strange to think that people experience life completely differently but often come to the same social conclusions such as with your example of the lighter. Although no one has explicitly said that if someone has a lighter they smoke, there is a connection that links those together. It makes me think of how much in the world is affected by social constructs instead of our implicit intuition. Really good thoughts; it really got me thinking!
ReplyDelete"We understand things that exist in our "world" because we humans have the ability to distinguish all of the hidden meanings inherent in things around us."
ReplyDeleteI thought this was a very useful quote in your post this week and it helped me to better understand the prompt this week. I also like how you used the example of the lighter. There are so many implicit and explicit meanings when it comes to owning a lighter, carrying a lighter, etc. Great job explaining the reading for this week, you really understood the subject-matter.
You say, "things can be tied together through tags, links, etc in a fashion that is more closely related to the way we perceive meaning in our heads." Yes, but only if we, and a lot of other people, tag information. Otherwise, we're still relying on the system to do it for us. It might get it right, but it might not.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the lighter got me thinking about a whole other chain of inherent meanings you'd need to know what a lighter is--fire. How do you know what fire is? That chain gets long and complicated.
Nice example. Thanks.
I like your example of the lighter to illustrate the meaning of implicit information. I personally have never realized that i myself make those assumptions about people with lighters. It has given me new insight into y own thinking process and illustrates Weinberger's argument nicely.
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