What is the "epitome of mediocrity"?

A few months ago, I posted a comment on FaceBook - which was in fact more of a hypothesis for the thoughts I plan to lay out in today's blog. The thesis basically stated... Generally, I have always been a proponent of the Hegelian Dialectic. And why not? It's a perfectly sound idea that most people would agree with. The current state (status quo) is your Thesis. As this Thesis is imperfect, over time an Anti-Thesis forms to counter balance the problems in the Thesis. Inevitably, these 2 will clash and the result will be the Synthesis. This Synthesis becomes the new Thesis, and the cycle repeats. In the business world (and I am sure in other worlds as well) this is referred to as Continual Process Improvement (CPI). Regardless of Toyota's problems, their CPI practises have been leading industry standards for decades - and not surprisingly have caused most businesses to incorporate such measures. (Always look for ways to improve the status quo.)

But how do you measure success? In the business world, it's pretty easy. Did the Synthesis result in more profit? But when you begin to apply this to your personal life, and even more so to a Society, it becomes more difficult. Are you "happier" because of the changes you made? Can you measure the increased happiness? Was the Return on Investment (ROI) worth the change? Is a social change better just because more people are happy?

So in the end - the problem with the dialectic (for me) is the definition of "better" or for that matter - "perfection" (since that is always the ultimate goal of any dialectic system - just like moving toward the End Zone 1/2 the total distance each time [hint: you will never reach the goal]). And upon further investigation, I stumbled on the Second Law of Thermodynamics. Which basically states that all things move toward a state of equilibrium. Put an ice cold glass of water in a room, and it will warm to "room-temperature." I put that in quotes because the reality is, the "room-temperature" will actually decrease because of the ice cold water that was introduced in the system. In a sufficiently large enough system, this change is imperceptible (and of course we have variables such as heating/air which combats any effect the water may have had).


Examining life today, I see more "movement toward equilibrium" than I do any "continual process improvement". Most laws and social demonstrations are aimed at appeasement. But it is important that this be read NOT as a criticism. Like the Second Law of Thermodynamics itself, you cannot criticize the process; it is defined by the natural order. So, by this logic, society is moving toward equilibrium, blandness......mediocrity. And whether we agree with it or not, without external forces to intervene (I'll discuss these another time), this will be the course of mankind.

Zarathustra asked, "Man is something which shall be surpassed. What have you done to surpass him?" Fairly spoken from one of the founders of the Existentialist movement. But I submit, that as a creature of the natural world, we are bound more by the laws of nature than our self-prescribed philosophical ideals.

Go forth and be different. Go forth and be that ice cold glass of water. But you too will melt away, and all that shall be left will be a colorless puddle in a huge ocean....a huge, perfect ocean.

Then again, I could be completely wrong...