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Initial post on what I'm doing here.
19. What are you truly passionate about?
Figuring Things Out. Trying to uncover not just the "how", but the "why", behind the "what".
As an example of how this works for me, take mobile telephony. Behind the "what" of being connected to a voice (and, these days, data) network without being restricted to a single location lies a long chain of decisions regarding "how", which informs me on what things have an effect on how well-connected to the network one is, what needs to be operational to have that connection, and what information is obtained when someone connects. Which leads to wanting to understand who maintains those elements and what they do with the information, and how that interacts with my personal desire to have mobile connectivity.
And that winds up leading to the "why". One thing that bothers me quite a bit about phone calls is that they are interrupts: when the phone rings, one has to decide whether to answer (or check the caller ID information, if available) before knowing anything about what the call is about. If I want to walk around with an active mobile phone, this means that anyone who has that number can interrupt whatever I'm doing to check on whether they are someone worth that interruption to talk with right now. Most people seem to mind this enough less than I do to have it not be a problem for them. It wasn't until pay phones pretty much went obsolete and got taken down, though, that my personal balance shifted in favor of having a mobile phone, and I still only use it when the mobility aspect is important -- and only have it turned on when I am using it, or expecting a call I want to take.
Another thing that tends to kick this part of myself in is when someone attempts to generalize a personal opinion beyond their own scope. I am prone to asking such people about the basis for this opinion, and the reasoning by which they arrived at it. Most people aren't used to this level of introspection, but it serves as a useful filter for me to help weed out bad ideas. This doesn't always make me the most popular person around, but I don't especially value being popular, and value this investigative spirit more.
19. What are you truly passionate about?
Figuring Things Out. Trying to uncover not just the "how", but the "why", behind the "what".
As an example of how this works for me, take mobile telephony. Behind the "what" of being connected to a voice (and, these days, data) network without being restricted to a single location lies a long chain of decisions regarding "how", which informs me on what things have an effect on how well-connected to the network one is, what needs to be operational to have that connection, and what information is obtained when someone connects. Which leads to wanting to understand who maintains those elements and what they do with the information, and how that interacts with my personal desire to have mobile connectivity.
And that winds up leading to the "why". One thing that bothers me quite a bit about phone calls is that they are interrupts: when the phone rings, one has to decide whether to answer (or check the caller ID information, if available) before knowing anything about what the call is about. If I want to walk around with an active mobile phone, this means that anyone who has that number can interrupt whatever I'm doing to check on whether they are someone worth that interruption to talk with right now. Most people seem to mind this enough less than I do to have it not be a problem for them. It wasn't until pay phones pretty much went obsolete and got taken down, though, that my personal balance shifted in favor of having a mobile phone, and I still only use it when the mobility aspect is important -- and only have it turned on when I am using it, or expecting a call I want to take.
Another thing that tends to kick this part of myself in is when someone attempts to generalize a personal opinion beyond their own scope. I am prone to asking such people about the basis for this opinion, and the reasoning by which they arrived at it. Most people aren't used to this level of introspection, but it serves as a useful filter for me to help weed out bad ideas. This doesn't always make me the most popular person around, but I don't especially value being popular, and value this investigative spirit more.
