a brief dialogue on locality and concreteness:
[Edited and elided and mangled for clarity.]
JD
from a friend (i thought is/was genius)
local is effective. effective is global
[...]
i think for me, there’s a way that concrete action feels separate from “abstract” results
like constantly this question of how i’ll do big things in my life
and it seems like the only action you can take
is kind of, on “atoms”
and is somewhat ordinary
so there’s like a seeming disconnect between the small (the playing feel)
and the big (what i seem to care about?)
i kind of feel this when i’m cleaning a room
desired outcome/vision: clean room
but, you can’t just like
wave a magic wand for that to happen
you have to, like, actually move things around
one by one
and there’s kind of a disconnect there
slow is smooth, smooth is fast
Mark
local is effective. effective is global
ok yeah, kind of a pithy expansion [or even pithier compression] of the global wayfinding ethos? or do you feel like it’s something different than that and cool?
JD
feels relevant to wayfinding too
exactly!
Mark
right yeah
Mark
more tho too?
JD
like, the only playing field you have
is “local”
the only playing field you can act on
and somehow somehow connects to a more global thing
im not sure if more
maybe less??
Mark
the only playing field you can act on
no yes exactly this
Mark
i think people get tripped up trying to take “global” actions but you can’t
sort of
JD
i think people get tripped up trying to take “global” actions but you can’t
rightt, yeah!
this was kind of the original insight for me
like, there’s kind of an abstract goal
happiness
a clean room
~ belonging ~
and so there’s kind of that abstract level
and trying to act in, perhaps like wanting to flip magic switches to get everything in those good abstract states
but all you have are local (time-bound?) moves
you have to have that phone call, move that object from place a to b
and like all the medtation stuff too
Mark
yup
JD
anyway
feels therepuetically equiv to the slow is fast line
it’s like a chill pill
but in a slightly different/space dimension
Mark
a deep/broad/multifaceted insight (but can only be locally/concretedly applied, heh)
JD
righttt, lol
[...]
JD
[...] i don’t think effective is necessarily the best verb
small adds up, adding up is (eventually) big
[Ed. final note: re "ordinary actions", yes! maybe "extraordinary" actions, too, in the sense of sometimes "subtle and/or high dimensional", but they'll still in some sense be local (speaking only about the current, relevant sense of "local"), finite, iterated (very loosely speaking). (And/or/also "concrete" ("no abstractions anywhere," or "abstractions have to be concretely engaged, if engaged as such"..."))