Saturday, February 10, 2007

Seeing things behind appearances

(This is a follow-up on comments on the Out Of The Woods post.)

Many of the most valuable people to society are those who are able to "see things behind appearances".

Even in something as seemingly rational as computer hardware, this is true. For instance a genius like Steve Wozniak, Apple co-founder, could do things with hardware that he could not explain and which made no sense to others, but which made the machines vastly more efficient than others managed.

8 comments:

laurie said...

This is very encouraging to me. I always felt strange, illogical, and "slow". I could not seem to learn from outside sources. It's because I could never come at solutions to problems from the outside. I would see the answer in a dream, or or write assignments off the top of my head (but which really came from a place deep within. I got my sources not from textbooks or experts, but from "friends" and an "editor" speaking to me from another place.) If people knew how I went about life they'd call me kookoo. It's taken me many years to realize I'm not alone, and to take my place in the world with confidence.

laurie said...

I need to give myself a little stroke here: I need to speak up for myself lest I think I'm not "intelligent." I am not an impractical waifish "spirit", despite my own description of myself. I have raised a healthy son to manhood, I maintained a loving marriage against many odds for 18 years, I have worked full time in the human service field all my life, brought home a paycheck, kept my credit card at a minimum, paid all my bills, gotten myself in great shape physically, and as far as my slowness, in spite of it, or maybe because of my strange intelligent methods, I was valedictorian of both my high school and college undergraduate class. I received English art awards and poetry awards in both h.s. and college, and was a straight A student throughout graduate school. I say all this to the voice that says I should seek solid therapy.

That voice in the past was too often my own. And yes, therapy does help sometimes.

Laurie

Anonymous said...

I say all this to the voice that says I should seek solid therapy.

This wasn't mean't to be a putdown.
It was an honest inquiry on your post. Too many people (not saying you are one) take certain words or suggestions out of context.
I'm sure you have had your moments of glory, we all have. Don't let an innocent comment disturb your accomplishments. This was never the intention of what I said.
I hope this clears up any confusion.

Anonymous said...

Signalroom said...
"I would see the answer in a dream"

It's funny, the way to perform a very neat figure with the Rubik's cube, which my brothers had been taunting me with for a while, came to me in a dream.

Anonymous said...

The Apple ][ ROM chip has a block of code known as "The Integrated Woz Machine". This is kinda his signature, and also one of the reasons we Apple ][ hackers loved him so much.

Yes, seeing through appearances. But also, seeing something where others see nothing.

On the opening day of the new Epcot Center attraction in Disneyland, and one of the reporters asked Roy Disney; ‘How do you feel knowing that Walt Disney never lived to see Epcot built?’ Roy replied; ‘Walt saw it first, that’s why you get to see it.’

Anonymous said...

To avoid split discussions, I'm not reposting here my latest comment on "Out of the woods", but everybody who cares about "seeing things behind appearances" will be very interested in reading it.

I suggest holding the comments for a few hours. Knowing Eolake, he'll probably make a brand new fresh post of it, and we'll talk there for days and days. :-)

Anonymous said...

How about the other way around: Seeing appearances in front of things. Jimbo wanted a nicer looking case for his PC. He built this.

laurie said...

ttl, wow, that PC case is BEAUTIFUL.

seeing appearances in front of things: I like that.

laurie