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There’s a Game Behind a Game
Means and ends reversed
Being somewhat of an introvert it took me almost half of my adult life to realise just how much impact social mechanisms have on our lives. Or perhaps your lives. I spent my entire childhood and young adult years completely oblivious to this and it still shocks me today.
For the entirety of my childhood, teen years and even later on I was absolutely sure that the Game is the Game. What do I mean by that?
Simply that the people who come on top of something are there because of their respectful merit in the field. Known architects are know because they’re the best in the field, the most famous artists their positions based on merit and on merit alone. You know, like in sports.
It was like the world was some sort of an Olympic competition where we all work our way up with very clear rules of the game and even clearer measures of how good one is in playing the game.
So the model under which I operated was that in order to become a successful architect or a renown artist was to be really really good at architecture or to be an amazing artist who pushes the field forward by provocative ideas, virtuoso techniques and works that melt people’s hearts, right? In order to achieve that I needed to study, study and study even more, and of course practice, practice and practice in order to refine my skills and get better and better at it. That is the game, they said. It is there to be mastered and the rewards will follow. True?
Yes. And also no.
Three years ago I was invited to give a talk at a conference somewhere in Central Europe. One of the organisers met me at another event and thought I’d be an interesting addition to the panel. I was really flattered and honoured to be called so I said yes immediately. This could be my big moment and a stepping stone into the international arena. Plus all costs covered with some extra cash on top. Life couldn’t be better. :)
It all went well. I researched my ideas, found credible sources, performed a pilot project as an experiment, written a thesis about it, submitted the abstract to the panel, got approved, expanded on that text to write the lecture, arranged the slides to go along, rehearsed the talk, refined the text and the…
