Mindset

This is a guest essay by Timothy Chutes, and the third in a series of essays on Art, Science, and Technology. Read the first and the second.

This is a guest post by Ryan Hogan, a Nashville visual artist. This is part of a week-long series on Art, Science, and Technology. Read the first post here, and the third post here.

I believe that what is needed is to meet the unfelt needs, the sensed desires that have no name. When something comes forward to meet those needs, it springs large and wide, and reshapes the world. Forming a business or being a rock star is about finding the right needs to fill, the ones that you are uniquely able to answer to, the ones you are uniquely equipped to address. It's not enough to be really good at what you do; if you're not meeting someone's needs, they will have little use for your contribution.

My head is full of several thoughts I've been trying to write about for quite a while. The ideas are so entangled, so wrapped up in each other, I don't know how to separate them, I don't even know which ones are which. And so I'm just going to write.

I think there's something really important in the distinction between living "contingently" and living "non-contingently". Most people, I think, live contingent lives, focusing on making decisions on the basis of guesses and probability.

When I was a kid, I wanted to change the world by starting movements. I imagined leading hordes of people in marches, or maybe even into battle, screaming a bloody war-cry, looking like Mad Max. I was most enamored with people who could stir up movements across society like they were spontaneously bursting out from a pressure valve, like they had been waiting all along.

Not anymore.

I just finished reading this piece by Mark Robertson, in which he refers to "malware theology". I like the term, and I think it's a good jumping off point to explain the purpose of a lot of my writing.

In Nashville, we have this thing called The Contributor. It's a newspaper run and distributed by homeless and formerly homeless people, and while it's still young, it's kind of amazing to see some of the things it's done.

This past week, I attended TEDxNashville. If you're not familiar with TED, it's kind of difficult to explain, but essentially it is a big convention where people who are brilliant and creative in various ways get together to share ideas.

So I went to this convention (well, the local branch of it that happens in Nashville) not knowing what to expect.

And it was beautiful.

There were really smart people,
rocket scientists,
musicians,
evil geniuses,
and they delivered fantastic talks.

Once upon a time, a new king was crowned. The new king wanted to do right by his people, so he went to see God, to ask him how he should run his kingdom.

Upon arriving at God's house, the king launched into his request:

"Oh Great and glorious God! I am your humble servant, and I wish to do what is right and good. So please tell me the correct way to arrange and run my kingdom, so that you may be greatly pleased."

God thought for a second, and then gleefully replied, "However you want!"