Immanence

Exformation

Exformation is, selon Wikipedia, “explictly discarded information”. Quoth the aforementioned.

“Exformation is everything we do not actually say but have in our heads when, or before, we say anything at all - whereas information is the measurable, demonstrable utterance we actually come out with.”

“In 1862 the author Victor Hugo wrote to his publisher asking how his most recent book, Les Misérables, was getting on. Hugo just wrote “?” in his message, to which his publisher replied “!”, to indicate it was selling well. This exchange of messages would have no meaning to a third party because the shared context is unique to those taking part in it. The amount of information (a single character) was extremely small, and yet because of exformation a meaning is clearly conveyed.

Kottke posits that “the more exformation you generate, the better your writing, design, art, photography, or blog blog journal ging blog journal -keeping blog journal-keeping will be”. Yet I felt exformation was the problem before I knew I was manic-depressive (yes, the kind you medicate; that should be exformation and yet I have to explain lest someone reads just this post and thinks I’m a self-diagnosed poser kid or something) and got around the introspective period where I figure out what went wrong in my social life given that new piece of data. I thought I was high-functioning autistic — a different brand of person,  neurodiversity yadda yadda yadda — and thus carried much exformation when communicating that wasn’t received by other people. A good friend actually draw a picture where two people were exchanging information with two arrows, back and forward, while I was someone whose arrow pointed upwards where no one could reach it.

Now I know I carry too much exformation because I’m manic-depressive. Meh.

The thing is, speaking carelessly I’ll assume way too much context — way too much exformation exchanged — and not only “intellectual knowledge” exformation, but personal stuff as well. When I’m careful about the matching the (relatively low for what my brain seems to think it should be) level of exformation in the little piece of the noosphere I happen to be dwelling at, it looks like I’m talking down to people. And hey, my exformation mismatch is not just pedantry, is that I expect everyone to be acquainted with all the necessary context.

So I’m actually trying to minimize the exformation, at least in my writing and blog blog journal ging blog journal -keeping blog journal-keeping (not so much in my photography, but there I employ the “deliberately obscure” artsy-schmartsy trick).

Breadcrumb trails:

Arrow, Blog, Brain, Diversity, Nos, Photo, stuff, Wikipedia

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