(10-12-2014, 08:59 PM)ellajam Wrote: (10-12-2014, 11:05 AM)rayheinrich Wrote:
< Proverbs 32:01 >
When acuity transcends acumen, ambiguity transcends itself.
- - -
I'm having a hard time with this, I come to
When acuity transcends acumen, ambiguity orbits itself.
or my first thought
When acuity transcends acumen, ambiguity masturbates
I guess I just don't get it.
It's a koan, a statement to generate thought.
The key is 'transcend' as it denotes a quantitative change large enough
to become a qualitative one -- like the task of doing research before the
web existed as compared to now. Part of it is playing with the different
definitions of 'transcends' and 'acuity' and 'acumen' and 'ambiguity'.
If you think of 'acuity' is the ability to discern detail and acumen the ability
to understand it, then a massive increase (transcendent?) in acuity without
a similar increase in acumen will create a landslide of unknowns.
And what is the relationship of 'unknown' to 'ambiguity' ? Doesn't ambiguity
require at least some knowledge of what we are uncertain about?
The purpose of the 'proverb' is NOT in deciding that a single explanation
is correct; it can't be. It's in thinking about its various interpretations,
about their interactions, and about being amused at the confusion, the
cognitive dissonance, they create in you.
Ray
P.S. Its pretension to being an extension of the Bible is thrown in for God knows why.
"The view through it*, bewildered me." - Johannes Kepler (*telescope)