Episode Six tee.. no Seventeen of the West Park Park Bench Podcast welcome. Yeah, Episode 17.
Again, the topic the title today is All or Nothing... 'compromise' it's an interesting balance. All or Nothing it's sometimes necessary to have everything right. And if you don't have everything right, then the entire thing falls or the entire thing fails. Sometimes that all that extra bit is the thing that makes the rest of it possible or probable or in need of being in existence.
In one of the earlier episodes, I did talk about the polarity of digital and in this modern age of digital, we have zeros and ones on and off left and right, positive and negative out or in a poor down yes or no. And if you're going to make those polarised decisions there has to be...
just pausing... someone is walking by...
Yeah, so I record this on a park bench in West Park. It is indeed the West Park Park Bench podcast. And occasionally people either run past or have dogs come past or people are running around. Kids are running around and sometimes it's just necessary to pause.
So, polarity when something has to be one thing or the other, you do end up with a situation which is all or nothing. Now in the age of analogue, and I use the television analogy for this or the examples analogy, it actually did happen. There used to be a time and those of you that grew up in the 70s and the 80s may have been familiar with the old dial, tuning televisions, usually portable televisions that you had to turn the dial and to a channel and most people geeks like myself, knew which of the frequencies had different channels. So I believe channel central TV was 61 I think BBC channels were in the 20s and 30s. So if you were around a little bit like tuning a radio in now, I mean even a digital radio, you scan for the frequencies or you scan for the channels and there was a time when analogue made you much more aware of sensual compromise, this the compromising of your senses, that if you could get a solid audio and visual, then brilliant, but quite often, the clearest picture didn't have the best sound. So you might compromise to have good audio from good visuals. But when it comes to making decisions or having a life decision that involves people, people aren't digital people have different spectrums of ethical needs or behavioural needs. Different people need things out of a project or need something out of a situation that you yourself might not want to do, but because of the enjoyment of somebody else you may decide to compromise and those compromises as part of negotiation or I think something very different, but they get combined and when you have to make a polarised decision of yes or no quite often the thing that you are deciding yes or no on actually have a much more wider nuance of analogue possibilities and negotiated compromise. And the question is, at what point does that negotiated compromise prevent you from making the binary decision?
And this is something that I'm confronted by at the moment. It's a conversation that's really important. What, at what point can a situation on a negotiating table?
I've just thought this is very just kind of going on at the moment with the trade union strikes I mean, the strike situation is the all on I think they want something they're not getting it so they strike. They withdraw their labour and in the current economic situation for working people work is work and labour is the only bargaining chip that they have that we have. Oh, possibly next week. I will keep on this thread. One of the things that comes along with that all or nothing for withdrawing labour which I'm not going to continue with today, there is a notion as well about data and labour and withdrawing labour, but we need to consider that the other mechanism the other asset value that we all have is the data that we generate another podcast Hey might be episode 18.
But compromise 'all or nothing', and compromise have have a very strange dance to move around each other. Because once the if the compromise is not satisfactory to both parties or all parties, you then end up in this polarised position where you either accept something that is really not good for you as a group and if you are leading a group and you are speaking on their behalf, you have a duty to try and get the best deal. But on the other side, They two are in exactly the same situation. And depending on where your balance of economics and your balance of ethics and your balance of business priorities lie, lifestyle habits. It's a very hard compromise. And I think this notion of compromise needs talking about a lot more.
Ultimately, a compromise a negotiated compromise. To reach a consensus that yeah, actually, this compromise is what we are going to move forward with until we decide that we want to change the situation and then we come back to a new consensus. You know consensus as well is another really interesting component of all of this. Consensus is the foundation of blockchain. Anybody who's heard the buzzword blockchain or knows anything about blockchain or cryptocurrency the foundation of every single cryptocurrency every single blockchain is the consensus in which data is deemed to be true. And and that is a very satisfying thing for a lot of scientists, academics, mathematicians, it's probably not quite as useful for creators and creatives and makers, but it is consensus compromise is really fundamental.
So we reached the point in this podcast in this episode, All or Nothing, what does, what is all or nothing for you? I mean, these are podcasts that I am reflecting on what is my own philosophy? This is what I'm realising about doing these podcasts. And those of you that have listened and have told me that you've listened, thank you so much. It makes a difference to know that two people are listening. So hello to you too.
But there's going to be a need for polarised decisions, yes or no. To have a considered compromise, and the problem is if the compromise is too great. You have to choose the least favourable option, and especially if that's in a referendum, a referendum to decide on something that has been through a consultation process that reaches the end and is now required requiring a consensus from a group.
The reason there is that consensus is because it needs a majority of people to agree. And then we move on to a whole different world. Which is the validation and mandate of how many people join in that consensus to make it valid. So all or nothing, what what, what does it mean to you is there something in your life at the moment that has that conversation an all or nothing decision? The compromise that just seems so necessary, but actually really hard to make, especially if you're feeling that you're having to go against the general mood? Will it make a difference? You know, if you decide it's the other way round? Does it make a difference? It's always good to vote. It's always good to vote where you feel that you've contributed. I can feel myself going off into the hole. First pass the post election, you know, some some constituencies your vote means less than others.
And that's, that's a very, very interesting and actually quite controlling mechanism which is completely intended from the powers that be I mean, there's not an accident. But all on I think so, you know, an all or nothing, you know, audio had all or nothing connectivity, there's things in our world that are deal breakers to making things possible. And especially when that's for your audience, all or nothing is really important and you should go as much to getting everything and then deciding Can you do it or you can't do it. And what are the consequences of doing it when it's not quite right. What happens in the end if that decision, that wasn't quite right, but you went with it? What are the implications for the future? Can you iterate it? Can you change it? Can you update it? What or are you stuck with the mechanism? It's really important to know what your future possibilities are for addressing that compromise that you had to make.
So yeah, that's this episode. It's been a really beautiful fresh morning here at West Park, or they have had my swim, which I don't know if it's because they tried to save money, but they made a point of saying that all the pool temperature is not quite right today. It's three, three degrees lower. And that's that's how much is that it was fine. It was a chilly swim. It wasn't the coldest swim, but it was fine. A lot of people left it and then I've come out, walked back through the park came straight to my park bench. I still need some guests. So if you want to join me for a podcast, especially if you're Long Eaton, come and let me know it doesn't have to be in the park bench. We can podcast anywhere.
So thank you for listening to the end. I have no idea whether this is between the 15 and 20 minutes. I do hope so. And this has been episode 17 All or Nothing - compromise.
