Week 15
Date: Apr 15th, 2019
Motion: THB that sometimes less is more
Role: PM (gov.)
Dear Ladies & Gentlemen, Chair and the Assemblage,
this motion is about more and less. You may hear it being said on many occasions that “how can less be more?” or “only more is more”. Instead of listening to that, let me explain why less is more. My partner will elaborate on it from the angle of architecture where the dictum has its origins.
On Being a Pro
In my opinion, a professional is someone who is able to rule out alternatives, options and false information by means of a studied process. A pro knows what definitely does not produce the desired effect or product, and starts from there. A pro differs from the amateur in this respect. An amateur may let many different distracting approaches, feelings and facts affect the end result, which will ultimately then be a partial or complete failure.
On Being an Advanced Pro
An average pro, in turn differs from the advanced pro, in that the advanced pro can also opt in factors that may catalyse or promote the process or product that is under way. The credentials and assets of an advanced pro are a better taste, memory and knowledgeability.
What this boils down to is that we’re talking about the critical method here. It means that the truth is carved out by means of subtraction like a sculpture is in peeling away the layers of slag, surplus and stone which prevents us from seeing the beautiful shape of a sculpture or statue that lies in the raw material. Say, Christ the Redeemer in Rio or The Little Mermaid in Copenhagen or Liberty Enlightening the World in New York.
Another Example in Quizzes
The critical method works also in a mundane setting like the TV quiz. Let’s posit that you are given 4 options or alternatives to choose from as the possible right answer; a), b), c) and d). The amateur thinks that they are all equally tantalising and possibly right and guesses. The professional rules out 3 alternatives as implausible, because (s)he knows, based on generalized and/or specialized knowledge that they are implausible, and zeroes in on the one that is left and offers it as the answer. That is not a guess. And it should be the right one, if the method has been honest from the beginning. This same principle holds in more complicated processes and settings where people are faced with more challenging dilemmas or tasks that have been set up for them. They rule out what they are NOT going to do. Then they focus on what options are left and what they ARE going to do when faced with choices and junctures at strategic planning.
Occasionally, also pros face periods when they are being fed false information or they lag behind in the development of the field of their given professionalism. Even then, they’re not without their chances as they can always catch up with the Joneses. It’s still a shorter journey to the top from the middle than from the bottom. The critical mind of the professional allows him to update his information to contemporary standards, until he finds the road to competence again.
As you can see, less is more when it comes to being a pro. It’s not about scarcity or a deficit of quantity, but about exactly the right quality. There are many instances, when less is more desirable than more. It boils down to words like unique, one of a kind or first or last. Then, less becomes more.
On this note, I’d like to step down and hand the podium over to the opposition.
Thank you.
A professional is carving out something with the critical, less-is-more method.
Arvio: Tässä on esimerkki motionista, jota voi tulkita niin monella eri tavalla, että seurauksena voi tulla aksiomaattisia tai paradoksaalisia puheita. Kun ei ole mitään selkeää fakta-poliittista linjaa, jota kohti lähteä kulkemaan, pitää valita jonkinlainen suunta. Annan luonnollisesti myös parilleni luvan tehdä sama. Riippuen siitä, mitä II tiimi päättää tehdä, whipillä on melkoisesti työtä saada kasaan jonkinlainen yhteenveto. Mutta kukaan ei sanonut, että tämä olisi helppoa.
Polar Ice Standpoints Society 