quanitfy what?
I've been thinking about surveys a lot lately. One I took was about my theological tendencies. At the end it showed a bar graph with a number of categories showing how you scored from strongest to weakest. Now the postmodern in me just screams don't categorize me! But this led me down a train of thought regarding surveys.
A little background: the enlightenment period that really ushered in the "modern" era leaned heavily on this new idea of the scientific method. And much of the scientific method revolves around measuring things, quantifying them into neat packages called theories. But over time people began applying this idea of measuring and quantifying to all aspects of their lives.
In the wake of the recent tragedy at Virginia Tech one commentator reflected on how the media needed to stop talking about it in terms of being the worst, the biggest, the most... He went on to say that it was just feeding our society's hunger for records. That's how far it has gone. We measure everything. As a computer geek I'll be the first to say that I look at all the specs on a computer. How fast is the chip, how big is the hard drive... We thrive on compiling and comparing such statistics. From sports, to clothes, to performance appraisals, to cars, to war, disease and murder.
It's sad. We use these numbers to wrap our minds around the troubles of the world and soothe our minds that they are controllable. And we use them to feed our own consumerism. Really, how do we know it really is the best? Just because its the best today doesn't mean it will be the best tomorrow. Who we are, the world we live in, love and success simply are not things that can be quantified. And so we need to change how we see the world. I have a degree in biology. I know that the scientific method is useful, for some things. But numbers, measurements, statistics... they will never succeed at truly describing life.
And so I look at the surveys I've taken. All I can conclude is that they are interesting to take but they do not define who I am. Life isn't that simple. Faith isn't that simple. Love isn't that simple.
A little background: the enlightenment period that really ushered in the "modern" era leaned heavily on this new idea of the scientific method. And much of the scientific method revolves around measuring things, quantifying them into neat packages called theories. But over time people began applying this idea of measuring and quantifying to all aspects of their lives.
In the wake of the recent tragedy at Virginia Tech one commentator reflected on how the media needed to stop talking about it in terms of being the worst, the biggest, the most... He went on to say that it was just feeding our society's hunger for records. That's how far it has gone. We measure everything. As a computer geek I'll be the first to say that I look at all the specs on a computer. How fast is the chip, how big is the hard drive... We thrive on compiling and comparing such statistics. From sports, to clothes, to performance appraisals, to cars, to war, disease and murder.
It's sad. We use these numbers to wrap our minds around the troubles of the world and soothe our minds that they are controllable. And we use them to feed our own consumerism. Really, how do we know it really is the best? Just because its the best today doesn't mean it will be the best tomorrow. Who we are, the world we live in, love and success simply are not things that can be quantified. And so we need to change how we see the world. I have a degree in biology. I know that the scientific method is useful, for some things. But numbers, measurements, statistics... they will never succeed at truly describing life.
And so I look at the surveys I've taken. All I can conclude is that they are interesting to take but they do not define who I am. Life isn't that simple. Faith isn't that simple. Love isn't that simple.
posted by emmausmike at 8:22 PM
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