Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Sustaining an artefact

Sometimes, I really wonder if it is really worth it to spend so much resources on something, and to keep pouring more resources in over time.

Maybe it all started out with a great idea. But a great idea to solve one issue may not mean it is the magic pill that will solve all problems. Yet we have a tendency to want to justify our own great ideas. We talk about how great it is, how it can solve more problems if given enough resources.

So that great idea grows in size.

And we keep feeding it, it keeps growing. It may not be the best tool to solve certain issues, but we pour in more resources so that it could. And then it becomes too big for us to do away with. So we have to justify its continued existence by pouring in more resources.

All those resources poured in means something less for the others, and presents an opportunity cost. Yet we continue to do it, because to do otherwise would be to admit that our great idea was not that great in the first place.

It made me think about lies. Yes, it started with a small, harmless lie. Then we have to put in another lie so that others don't see through our original lie. And over time, in order not to be seen through, we continue to build on the lie, until eventually, the lie is so big, we can't come clean without tremendous effort and possibly disastrous effect. Instead, we continue to feed it, hoping that we can sustain it.

Sometimes, it may be better to face ourselves and live with the consequences, to be ready to admit that we are not that great in the first place.

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