Maeda's SIMPLICITY

My Other Desk

Untouched for two years.

I have three desks where I work. The first is here at MIT. The other is my one at home. But there's one desk that I had forgotten about until recently. It is my desk at home where I used to dabble on hardware projects from 2000 to 2002.5 when I had declared my creative phase as being "post digital." I can see that this is a phrase used out there more commonly. The term had a simpler meaning to me: I was tired of making things for a conventional desktop computer experience. I felt there was no elegance to the system. So I dove into the simplicity of single chip computer systems and more primitive means of digital expression.

A lot has happened since then. Around that time I tried out administration, and failed. Went back into my mind to begin the path towards simplicity, entered the contemporary art world, and also formally started to study business administration to have a better feeling for how the generic business world works. Along the way I began to interact more with sponsors here at the Media Lab that became my very best friends to help me realize the magic of this place. And also to realize that the business world is not really about the modern world of measurable ROI (Return on Investment), but that at its best it is about the old-world way of the importantly immeasurable ROR (Return on Relationship).

In the last few months I've been given the support here at the Media Lab to serve as the Associate Director of Research. I must admit that it's been a lot more work than I thought it would be but gradually, thanks to the efforts of the many incredible people around me -- students, faculty, and staff -- I am faithful that I will weather this season of my life in one piece.

At the same time I am challenged to figure out how to put some new work together for my show in London. Cancelling this event has crossed my mind several times given my current state of busy-ness. No. Correction. Maybe at least ten thousand times. (No fooling). I was looking deep in my heart for the correct answer. Of course I knew it was to do both. But it wasn't happening for me. Luckily Mr. Garcia stepped forth to provide me the pointer to the wisdom I needed.

In Hamming's lecture, he quotes another famous technologist besides himself, Hendrik Bode: "The more you know, the more you learn; the more you learn, the more you can do; the more you can do, the more the opportunity -- it is very much like compound interest. I don't want to give you a rate, but it is a very high rate. Given two people with exactly the same ability, the one person who manages day in and day out to get in one more hour of thiking will be tremendously more productive over a lifetime."Yet in the same breath, Hamming adds that this means that inevitably you must neglect your loved ones to achieve the intensity of thought you desire.

Finding balance is certainly the ultimate challenge in life. Luckily you have a entire lifetime to take on this challenge.

Over the end of last year, I've been tempted to stop doing my creative work because the other things happening around me are of high significance. And then out of the blue I will receive an e-mail from my favorite person in the world, Red Burns, who calmly tells me if I do so then I will have essentially devolved into pondscum. So the kick in the pants gets me running back to try to resuscitate the creative part of my mind. I think it is there. It has been there before.

So I sit here trying to summon back the person from 2002.5 that understood these various materials on my third desk. He doesn't seem to answer my call. I think I will have to go and look for him. Must go and get my keys ...

Posted by maeda at February 10, 2007 08:46 AM