I heard of the KISS system long ago - keep it simple, stupid. That came to mind the other day when I read that complexity was the kiss of death on the web. People don't want more than one idea per article - and that idea had better be nice and easy. Dense writing does not get read. That's it, plain and simple.

Plus, people don't want hard words - don't use a long word if a short one will do. Big words turn people off.

Which people, I wondered? And if it's true, just what does this mean? Is this the kiss of death for thinking?

I thought of Dead Poet's Society, a brilliant film about a teacher who really reaches students. The message is the opposite. Use vivid language. Don't always say sad. Say glum, morose, grief-stricken, sullen.

And I thought of my students. Many of them, college students, display mental rigidity - almost a rigor mortis of the brain when it comes to some very easy thinking.

In fact, that's the problem: often they skip thinking. Are opinions equal? Yes. Why? Stunned silence. What am I doing asking that?!

****

The KISS principle, the KISS system, is not supposed to be: skip thinking altogether - keep it stupid and simple - no thinking allowed.

On the other hand, not thinking is very tempting: there's nothing simpler than that, and then using a blank stare - one that does not indicate confusion, but "you must be crazy to ask me to think" - when asked to think about some thing.

****

Examples of keep it stupid and simple:

All opinions are equal, they hold - and can't recognize that KKK opinions might not have as much validity as opinions based on evidence, in this case evidence that humans, whatever our race, are inherently equal (basic equality in intellectual and emotional range).

Evidence is irrelevant to most of my students, when it comes to opinions. How can I possibly bring up something like evidence in relationship with opinions? Even more horrific, how can I possibly question that all opinions are equal? They look at me as if I were some alien monster.

But, I counter, their opinion means that the opinion that all opinions are not equal is just as valid as the opinion that all opinions are equal. After all, all opinions are equal - even the opinion that they are not equal. That's a contradiction, I continue.

Again, that's irrelevant to most of them.

Many of their faces have that look I know all too well. The wall.

The message: I must be crazy to ask them to think.

For more on the inequality of opinions, read Stupid Opinion #1:

For another stupid opinion, click onto Stupid Opinion #2 - the opinion that we are all where we are meant to be. Millions of people hold onto it as if to give it up meant death - though this opinion means that every rape victim, murder victim, everyone who dies in a genocide is where they are meant to be.

****

I say, don't keep it simple. Think. Instead of the KISS system, KISS principle, of keep it simple stupid, I hold: Keep it smart.

****

I am keeping it simple, by the way. None of my points are complex or difficult to grasp.

My underlying point is equally simple: we need quality, we need challenge and stimulation - or we become mental couch potatoes.

Our brains, like our bodies, need to learn how to function well - or our thinking is as clumsy as the violin playing of someone taking their first lesson. Painful.

****

I don't know if quality triumphs every time. Actually I know it doesn't. Lots of people like junk food - and junk thinking.

I do know that, with ideas as with food, in many ways, you very often are what you eat.

Many foods are linked with cancer. I wonder what poor thought patterns contribute to cancer of the thought processes.

signed,

Elsa
December 16, 2006
copyright © Elsa Schieder 2006

Background. This piece was sparked by a brief blog entry on ezinearticles.com. The main idea: dense writing does not get read.

I love to think. And I find it boring to be around people who don't. Imagine dance - two moves only, everything else is just too much. A painting - two shapes only. Nothing too difficult. And so on, ad nauseum.

As a species, we feed on challenge. I have just been learning web design. Frustrating - and fascinating.

****

Another thought on the importance of ongoing mental challenge. A longitudinal study was done on a group of nuns. The finding. Those who, when young, had mental flexibility, a large vocabulary, as well as a wide range of interests and thought patterns, were mentally undiminished in old age. On the other hand, those nuns with a narrow and rigid thought range were often senile - with deep ruts, it seems, dug into their brains.

Of course it's not so simple: some brilliant people are felled by Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia. But it was great to find out something that made deep intuitive sense to me: mental flexiblity is developed and needs to be exercised. It doesn't just happen.

I have an 83-uear-old dance teacher. Very mentally alert, always ready to see what I've learned, always responsive to the world around her - which includes keeping up with what's new and changing in the dance world. She listens outward - instead of deepening ruts in her brain. A delight to be around.

Again, your esponses are welcome.

signed,

Elsa
December 16, 2006

copyright © Elsa Schieder 2006, 2009 - all rights reserved

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KISS PRINCIPLE = KISS SYSTEM = ???
KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID, KEEP IT STUPID AND SIMPLE, KEEP IT SIMPLE KIS?. WHICH?
KISS SYSTEM ON CONTROVERSY, INTELLECTUAL CONFLICTS, CONFLICTING CONCLUSIONS:
KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID OR KEEP IT SMAR??
THOUGHT-PROVOKING IDEAS - SHOULD THEY CARE ABOU THE KISS PRINCIPLE?

KISS Principle, KISS System.
Keep it simple stupid? Keep it stupid and simple?
Keep it simple kiss?
No thinking? Good Thinking? Good question.

The Idea Emporium ... and the KISS Principle

One of my lifelong concerns has been trying to make sense of reality. What is happening? Why is this happening? And with that I come to iquestions about KISS - the KISS princiiple, the KISS system. Keep it simple, stupid.

Lots of things are simple - like Einstein's e=mc2.

Like the double helix - DNA.

Like the planets revolving around the sun.

The big thing: the KISS principle has a limit - and that is reality. Over-simplification - or avoiding complexity, avoiding thinking - there's a high cost to over-simplifying. One is out of touch with reaity.

I've just been thinking and writing more about this.
Click here for Don't Keep It Stupid Simple.

Elsa
Sept 29, 2009

copyright © Elsa Schieder 2009, 2011 - all rights reserved

KISS Principle, KISS System.
Keep it simple stupid? Keep it stupid and simple? Keep it simple kiss?
No thinking? Good Thinking? Good question.

HOW TO EVALUATE THE KISS SYSTEM, KISS PRINCIIPLE?
KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID = EASY TO UNDERSTAND *
BUT WHAT IF STIMULATING IDEAS ARE NOT SIMPLE?
LIFE IS NOT IKEA - AND EVEN IKEA THINGS ARE NOT ALL SIMPLE

THE IDEA EMPORIUM
A CELEBRATION OF GOOD THINKING

"It is a fact readily acknowledged,
that for humans,
an idea is much more powerful
than a fact."

BUT GOOD THINKING IS POSSIBLE
FOR ALMOST ALL OF US,
JUST LIKE EVEN A COUCH POTATO
CAN GET INTO SHAPE!

SO, FOR THE THINKERS
AND THE POTENTIAL THINKERS

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