Template:Form and substance capsule: Difference between revisions

[[Form]] is the [[Map|map]]: simplified, rationalised, modularised: it establishes, through followable rules, a safe passage through the incomprehensible thickness of the jungle. It tries to reduce ''[[complexity]]'' — scary, unmanageable, [[non-linear]] — to mere ''[[Complicated system|complication]]'' — fiddly, but tameable by punctilious attention to detail — by prescribing fixed rules and procedures — [[process]] — which may be followed even by those with no particular experience or expertise of the [[territory]]. As long as you can read, and are generally disposed to quickly and quietly doing what you are told, the only question which is asked of you in such a [[formal]] system will be: ''did you faithfully follow the rules?''

[[Substance and form|Substance]] is the [[Territory|territory]]: the fractal, inchoate, indeterminate, dancing, organic mass of messiness in which we are consigned to play our mortal games. Without a map, there is only one way to navigate the territory: by ''knowing'' it. Substance requires an investment of time, patience, energy and skill. A map is a proxy, not a substitute for knowledge: one who knows the territory — an ''[[Subject matter expert|expert]]'' — will bridle upon being told to use a map. Would you use a map to navigate from the station to your own home?