Muse Droppings
By:
C.C. Youngren

The Value of the Absurd

There are definitely some downsides to feeding one’s info-cravings on line, but habits by definition become comfortable enough with repetition to become—well, habits.  For example, my first cup of morning coffee while scrolling through the New York Times has developed into a sip-read-and-click muscle-memory proficiency that seems effortless.

What I need to constantly guard against is the temptation to elevate “surfing” to the intellectually demanding activity of “research.”  The surfing metaphor is appropriate for that recreational pastime of poking around to unearth interesting ideas.  Like its aquatic namesake, however, Internet surfing embodies an anticipation of that perfect wave—that all-encompassing answer—while often passing up what might be interesting rides in this sea of information.

I have warned my students of getting stranded on these shoals by letting the siren call of pre-existing prejudices trigger dismissal of the non-conforming only to drop anchor in the first self-gratifying cove.  I admit to personal shipwrecks resulting from this process.  And I have this notion that seeking amid the flotsam and jetsam of real evidence (physical & circumstantial) and opinion (half-baked & fully-baked) only that which confirms our biases, contributes greatly to the polarization we witness in almost every social sphere. 

All of the above is merely a caveat for what I really wanted to share: an article I found while info-grazing.  I visit www.sciencedaily.com on a regular basis—I almost said “religiously,” but some would take that as facetious.  I poke around the tabs marked “Space & Time,” “Matter & Energy,” “Earth & Climate,” and “Mind & Brain” until I find something that, for today at least, satisfies that inquisitive thirst,,, or reinforces some pre-existing prejudice.

Often I’ll cut, paste and save some snippet or link for further investigation at a later date.  Perusing that snippet archive this morn, I decided to revisit “Reading Kafka Improves Learning, Suggests Psychology Study” which my September 2009 comment-to-self noted a self-congratulatory “You knew this all along!”

In a study conducted at UC Santa Barbara and the University of British Columbia, a group of participants were required to read a contextually fractured, somewhat disturbing, narrative—Kafka's "The Country Doctor." A control group read an altered version of the same short story in which the plotline was rendered sequential and coherent. Both groups were then asked to find hidden patterns in letter strings in an “artificial-grammar” exercise and compile lists of strings encountered associated with each pattern.

"People who read the nonsensical story checked off more letter strings –– clearly they were motivated to find structure," said Dr. Travis Proulx. (co-author of the article in the journal Psychological Science) "But what's more important is that they were actually more accurate than those who read the more normal version of the story. They really did learn the pattern better than the other participants did."

Prouix, et. al. posit that we tend to compensate for the discomfort generated by the violation of expected associations in our life’s experiences with a more focused observation of reassuring patterns in our surroundings.  He warns though, that reading Kafka is not the most efficient preparation for an organic chemistry exam.

As a self-proclaimed student of the absurd, I nodded knowingly at the study.  My prejudice has been that it is anomalies that draw our attention to the underlying pattern.  The unfortunate Gov. Dukakis, in tank helmet and Alfred E. Newman “What, me worry?” expression set the long-standing reference point for me as to just what a dog-and-pony show political campaigns have become.  Prejudice confirmed, what need is there to google further?

Now if this concept is as true as my bias and the UCSB crowd suggest, then identifying absurdities as such becomes the key step in the process of making sense of the world.  The absurd should threaten the rational only when in slips in unchallenged. In overwhelming numbers, the bizarre at the gates could do just that.  We may be facing such an onslaught.

The other night, that carnie side show—our local news—featured as its lead story the Lindsay Lohan suit against the e-trade® babies (claiming the “Lindsay” infant milk-a-holic in the Super Bowl commercial was defaming).  While I fear someone thought this was actually worth knowing; there is some hope that the Iraqi elections and budget deficit gain perspective by conspicuous absence.

And today, as we approach the 70th anniversary of the Dunkirk evacuation, I hear that the Royal Navy is being dispatched to repatriate Britons stranded on the continent due to a volcano (whose name, evidently, is derived from the 10/20 line on some eye chart) in Iceland.  In a grainy black & white projection on the inside of my skull, hoards of tourists wade towards a landing craft flotilla holding their Hummels, coo-coo clocks and other assorted vacation loot above the waves.  Absurd triumphs.

 

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