Originally Posted October 31, 2024
“While image is, text is always about.” – Nick Sousanis
We are used to linear stories and construct them out of habit. However, the world is not linear. We just like to think it is.
We also like to think that the overarching narrative of society has a trajectory. In modern times, at least in the west, that trajectory is perceived as trending toward “progress.” In other words, tomorrow is “better” than today, and we can “build toward a better tomorrow.”
This trajectory is not consistent, however. At other periods of history, and in other cultures, the trajectory of the overarching narrative varies.
For instance, European Christians during the Middle Ages viewed the world as being in decline. Therefore, all their efforts in this world were oriented toward their standing in the next.
The trajectory of narrative that we impose on our world creates all sorts of, sometimes contradictory, pressures from history to philosophy to literature. It shapes our appreciation of the possible.
If we feel like we’re moving upward toward a better world, then we will build toward the future. If we feel like the world is coming apart, we tend to retreat to preserve what we can. If we feel the world is in decline, then we defer living and await the next chapter. These interpretations of time are artificial constructions, but our reactions are not.
Text is a natural outgrowth of our search for linear meaning. Even before literacy, we told stories with beginnings, middles, and ends. Writing only reinforces this.
Narratives became more formalized over time. However, they also became more fictionalized as we struggle to cram increasingly diverse experience into linear narratives.
Editing is a natural part of this process as we must decide what to include and what to discard. As a result, we frequently alter stories to cover up unpleasantness both in our own lives and in our collective experience.
But every historian will tell you that the stories are just that: stories. The whole practice of historiography is based on the fact that there is no one true narrative about the way things happened in the past.
Our pasts, presents, and futures are miasmas of conversation and negotiation, not legacy or destiny. Alternative narratives proliferated in recent decades because they are easier to tell, not because there are suddenly more of them.
Again, it is a natural human inclination to tell stories. They help us make sense out of the world.
Concept mapping helps us explore alternative narrative possibilities because they are nonlinear. They often lead to new insights because we get stuck in narratives that don’t make sense. Dead end narratives impact our ability to move forward as individuals or as organizations.
But entrenched narratives are difficult to dislodge. Even when someone comes along and points out that your narrative doesn’t make sense anymore, you cling to it because it makes sense to you and provides structure and order to your existence.
The narrative in this blog is a lie. The narrative in this blog tells the truth. It has a beginning, a middle, and an end. We’re in the middle right now. You will judge my skill as a writer by how skillfully I move the reader down this pathway.
However, text is not the only way to tell stories. Visual media allows us to step back from the linearity of our stories.
If you look at a photograph or painting there’s a narrative embedded in it, but it doesn’t follow a linear path, at least not one that’s wholly dictated by the artist. We are allowed to create our own narratives and lay them over the narrative that was communicated in the artwork.
Maps are more like photographs than stories. They represent complex layers of narrative. No map is an absolute reflection of what the world actually is but we like to think they can be.
The idea of the Knowledge Navigator is to create visual representations of information that instantly change based on the same information using generative large language models as an engine for doing this. The idea is to disrupt our teleological sense of narrative by exposing false narratives about where we are now and how we got here.
To understand possibility, we need to be able to run time backwards, forwards, and sideways to liberate ourselves from destiny. Images give us that power.
Instead of being confined by the destiny of text, we are empowered to explore alternative interpretations of reality. It is possible to do this through extensive reading. This is a labor intensive way to gain critical perspective, whether you are trying to understand a historical event or poring through your company archives in search of a forgotten brilliant idea.
By taking information and turning it instantaneously into maps that show us different versions of the world, the Knowledge Navigator would empower us to change how we see it. It would allow us to construct alternative narratives for both the past and how that might impact the future.
Being able to process complexity is essential for learning. It is also central to the process of innovation, which is just a form of learning at scale. We cannot do either unless we are willing to move out of our narrative safe zones and see the complexity of the world for what it is.
Perspective gets harder the more information that we must process. We have gotten a lot more information in the digital age. We need better tools to help us construct better, more inclusive narratives to become better humans and generate the essential insights necessary to confront the challenges of today.