Unlocking Alchemy (part 1) : Music for our minds
Once upon a time, we humans would often look up into the infinite at night and wonder about our place in the Universe.
Perhaps there was nothing else to do. Perhaps we took solace that stars could guide our lives. Whatever the reasons, by connecting the tiny dots of light, we humans were able to pass on stories for many many generations.
What would we remember at the end of our lives? I sometimes wonder. Would it be a love story? Or would it be a random ordinary moment?
20000+ years old cave drawing, of a star cluster that looks like the Pleiades, also known as the Seven Sisters.
Part 1: Only the most interesting survive
The forbidden love story between two star-crossed lovers is celebrated on Chinese Valentine’s Day, Qi Xi. If you have a Chinese background, you would surely be familiar with the story of the Cowherder (Altair) and the Weaver Girl (Vega) that are separated by the heavenly river (Milky Way). But you may not have considered how much this folklore has evolved as a result of our changing collective imaginations.
Initially, ancient Chinese astronomers used to categorise these bright stars to be in the asterism of the ox, perhaps because agriculture was central to people’s lives.
There was no tantalizing story.
Then one story emerged that the two stars were in a marriage, with the weaver girl celebrated for her handicraft skills on the 7th day of the 7th month on the Chinese lunar calendar.
But it was only much later that the poets popularised the stars as characters in a forbidden love story, idealising relationship out of romance rather than responsibilities.
Today, only the most interesting story has stayed in our consciousness. Most stories are forgotten.
Part 2: What does the Bible and Fifty Shades of Grey have in common?
West Side Story. Romeo and Juliet. Why do these stories resonate with something deep within us? Why is it that we can’t help but feel compelled to consume, to share and to talk about them?
They say that people only have a short attention span. But is that really true?
If I were to tell you that the world’s richest man was seen making love with a GOAT in your basement, you wouldn’t be able to resist thinking about it. You would have no choice but to tell others. And in no time, the lurid details would be told and retold, transmitted through fibre optics networks around the world.
Is it possible to make learning just as irresistible?
Like a radio, our minds are infinitely receptive at a range of frequencies while powerless when the signals are outside the range. And each kind of mind is optimised for different signals. Peahens are born with the mental power to determine whether a peacock is cool by detecting tiny tonal differences in feathers. But if humans were to serenade a peahen with music, the peahen would surely be bored.
This example might sound absurd and obvious. Yet, the implications are not applied in the real world. Everyday we subject million of students around the world to information that is boring and meaningless to the human minds. Everyday we produce instruction manuals that few people can follow. And when we download software apps, we are tricked into signing end-user license agreements that few people can process.
Is it any wonder why most information would only be in kept in our minds for a few minutes, before it’s all filtered out? Isn’t it unfair that we criticise people for not learning? Like calling a peahen stupid for not appreciating our grand gestures in courtship.
Part 3: Alchemy is all in the presentation
They say that we live in the Information Age. Google has organised the world’s information. Quora is a multi-billion dollar company. And Wikipedia is the 5th most visited site in the world.
But most information, even though they are accessible on the web, is not presented in a way that the human minds can connect with. And without a brain friendly information architecture, most information is quickly abandoned, like an ugly, poorly designed building is.
In contrast, there are certain arrangements of information, like a catchy song, that we can’t get it out of our head. Twinkle twinkle little stars. They stay with us for the rest of our lives. Like the Sydney Opera House or the Pyramids, we can’t help but wish to treasure it.
If this was true, then it appears that alchemy is all in the presentation! Every detail counts. Just like a symphony, the whole is more than the sum of its parts. The same musical notes rearranged in different orders will inspire completely different feelings. Adding a label to the wine bottle can transform the experience of wine. And the same principle applies to any medium of communication.
With the right combinations of elements, BOOM, incredible value has emerged. The previously meaningless is now memorable. Vibrations in the air are now music for our minds.
Rather than Google or Wikipedia, is it possible to present the world’s ideas so that our human minds can connect with them effortlessly? That might be a trillion dollar idea.