82,891
edits
Amwelladmin (talk | contribs) No edit summary |
Amwelladmin (talk | contribs) No edit summary Tags: Mobile edit Mobile web edit |
||
Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
The existential dilemma — the {{tag|paradox}} — of form and substance was first adverted to in [[Puttanesca Rigatoni]]’s now largely forgotten tragicomic opera ''[[La Vittoria della Forma sulla Sostanza]]'' (often performed, if performed at all, in German, as ''[[Die Eroberung der Form durch Substanz]]''). | |||
In Rigatoni's exquisite libretto, argumentative Venetian merchant [[Don Iolio Contrario]] is employed as an operations manager in his father [[Don Figaro Contrario]]'s struggling spice brokerage, where he meets, falls in love with an enchanting and gifted young brokeress [[Iolande Impulsivia]] . His father is obsessed with cost control, and has invested in a homunculus, a steam-powered computation machine which will take over the role of the brokers. | |||
Don Figaro, a vain and stupid man who cares mainly about his legacy and reputation, is anxious to be seen as a great financial innovator. He is exasperated at his son for his errant, romantic, impractical ways. | |||
Despite his Iolio's (accurate) warnings that the machine will be hopeless, devious rival [[Don Inago Montega]] tricks Don Figaro into a buying his machine, for which Don Figaro takes out a long-term loan from Don Inago at usurious prices. | |||
In actual fact, Don Inago couldn't wait to get rid of the machine, as it was a colossal liability, and he has configured it to perform badly and to cripple Don Figaro's business. | |||
With great fanfare Don Figaro takes delivery of the machine, which to everyone's surprise, works - but only because Iolande and Don Iolio are standing behind the machine ensuring it works and checking everything. It is her brilliant accounting which the machine produces. | |||
Iolio and Iolande quickly fall in love, despite his controlling father's best intentions. | |||
Don Figaro orders another machine, but to pay for it, must make Don Iolio and Iolande redundant. I have solved the problem of employees. Little does Don Figaro know! | |||
In wrenching aria ''Sono condannato a essere un esperto in materia'' <ref>I am condemned to be a [[subject matter expert]]</ref>, Iolande drifts aimlessly around the canals of Venice with her [[Iron Mountain]] box, pondering whether there is any future to her life at all. | |||
At the same time [[Don Iolio]] ineffectually rails against the stupidity of voguish fashionable ideas (his song is ''Il mondo ha una merda per i cervelli''<ref>The world has shit for brains</ref>) | |||
the modern world is blighted by the comforting embrace of tickable boxes, checkable checklists, and auditable trails, all of which give their comfort by the easy road: rather than evaluate the qualities of your organisation, tally up its countable dimensions, however superficial they are. | |||
There is a logic to this: the power of big data is their emergent properties: you can extract from a mass of data qualities you can’t see from individual instances. That one kettle goes on at 4:30 in the afternoon signifies nothing in particular; that fourteen million do tells you it’s half time in the football. | There is a logic to this: the power of big data is their emergent properties: you can extract from a mass of data qualities you can’t see from individual instances. That one kettle goes on at 4:30 in the afternoon signifies nothing in particular; that fourteen million do tells you it’s half time in the football. |