Present philosophies

Illustration in which I represent the neuronal landscape exchanging, besides chemicals, digital concept substances.

In the same way that conversion from analogue sound, photography and television broadcasting into digital became a starting point for the creation of thousands of applications and devices for costumers and research, I propose to establish, taken this process as a basis, the beginning of the application and development of "digital thinking".

But what does "digital thinking" mean? Its origins.

Among other things, this historical example could be indispensable to understand the meaning of what we are talking about.

I am sure you have heard or known about the words ying and yang. They refer to a concept appeared in the ancient Chinese philosophy based on the duality of existence in the Universe. From its origins up to date, this principle has had important applications whether in medicine (Traditional Chinese Medicine) or in the way to conceive and understand all the processes related to the existence as a general concept. Ying and yang are the minimum elements which conform the great factory of Nature, of the variety itself. If this concept had arisen in our time, perhaps we would have called it "0 and 1" or in other words, digital philosophy or thinking.

Although it seems an absurd comparison, there is a very close relationship between conceiving two fundamental elements from which the functionality and variety of the Universe is generated and controlled (ying and yang), with the thought or philosophy that gave origin to

the bit (binary digit), which is the smallest unit of information on the machine. (Remember that this machine is part of the Universe created by the ying and yang), and a term first used in 1946 by the North American statistician John Wilder Tukey (1915-2000).

So we are talking about two parallel universes (one inside the other) that emerge from the same principle: duality. Nature has all the possibilities inside its structure, and one of them was the creation of computers, a device based on the same principle of generating the infinite variety.

When making these reflections, we realize that thinking in these two minimal elements, we will be able to integrate two apparently different topics in that put us closer to understand its particularities. We start "seeing" the hidden structure of the outside in conjunction with the inside: the thought.

The digital thinking

Understanding the meaning of "digital thinking" could be a little dificult, the same as it was with the concepts of Ying and Yang, in spite of all these years. However, everything is possible. It is just a matter of molding our mental "structure" to allow us reveice a concept that has existed always (it is like tuning the radio stations, although sometimes it could take long between the moments we tune in one and the other, like in the above mentioned case).

Digital thinking or "the ying yang philosophy", is just an adaptation to the events of our time and to the things that are about to come. It is a way to understand or to find answers within a world that seems complex. It is also a starting point for creativity because applying this digital philosophy, we would be able of making a multimedia artistic project or participating in a company management.

Applications

We are the only system capable of thinking about ourselves and also the only reference from which we make comparisons and decipher the phenomena of the world. Therefore, whichever methodology or application it is, will always be subject to an individual or collective adaptation, which will be the cornerstone to find solutions for specific situations which contribute to the general welfare, although the understanding of the essence might not be always possible.

Article by: © EQFuentes 2007

Soon: "Experiences fron Multimedia Life" by EQFuentes. It deals with the practical applications of this philosophy.