Eating at Disambiguation; Agreeing is not Disagreeing

Had this sudden urge to talk about a little something that I've been thinking about for the past couple of hours or so.

Disambiguation.

And after much thought and deliberation, I've decided to elaborate my train of thought into a full grown standalone article.

Many a time, life throws riddles and problems straight into your face, be it in terms of work or your personal life. And many a time, such problems and adversities aren't as clear cut; if you mix white and black together, you'll get a color called gray, not "black-white".

Ambiguity exists in our daily lives though as we get used to such confusions of the mind, we ignore them and treat them as something of the norm, something that is "just like that" or is "made this way".

On a daily basis, us human beings are subject of ambiguity as much as being the source of it, such is a context of irony.

Obvious sources of this interesting aspect range from speech to daily occurrences.

Remember the time back in preschool, when your teacher would ask the class of cute and chubby 5 year old kids questions like "what is your favorite color?" Well, I remembered my time during preschool less then distinctively but viewing it in retrospect, disambiguation has already been put into play.

Pertaining to that particular question, the chubby 5 year old in me at that time (as I faintly recall) saw friends and classmates around me raising up their hands in excitement, some even shouting our their answers to the teacher's inquiry.

"Red! Blue! Yellow! Green! Black!"

And soon, it was my turn to answer that question as my teacher (and the rest of the class for that matter) waited intently for my answer.

Indeed I was young at that time and I too, was subjected to giving the "right answer", thus choosing to "play it safe" with a normal answer ("my favorite color is red"). My answer was acknowledged as a result.

But thinking back, had I answered something along the lines of "my favorite color isn't blue" (for example), would the entire experience be the same as the one that happened?

Here we see an example of disambiguation at play. It is fact that the color red, isn't blue and in actual truth, it is common sense so that means that red isn't blue.

We say that there is ambiguity in the answer for there are in truth, 2 correct answers to the question ("what is your favorite color") but in actual fact, only one is deemed "correct" for the other answer would be labeled as "missing the point" and going "out of topic".

What happens here is that we are able to see a clash between truth and societal expectations, between the orthodox and the unorthodox. This is what ambiguity brings to the world.

The term ambiguity can be defined as "Doubtfulness or uncertainty as regards interpretation" (as cited from dictionary.com). But to me simply put, it means a subject matter having different interpretations, resulting in different answers and opinions.

Ambiguity is in contradiction to social expectations in most cases, simply because the society as a whole dictates the pace, lifestyle and thinking of its members.

I'm sure many of you have heard of the term "pack instinct" though normally evident for canines like dogs or wolves which hunt in packs, thus giving credibility to this term.

What this "pack instinct" does is that it ensures that everyone in the "pack" follows and thinks similarly so as to work as an effective, compact unit.

I draw relevance with this to a typical human society. It is often said that humans are social creatures and that (most, if not all of them) will not be able to work as effectively in solitary settings as compared to working in a group.

What the society does is to instill this "pack instinct" within its members. Which means this "instinct" sets the right from wrong, black from white, truth to false.

Ambiguity "disrupts" the order of the pack instinct by proving that there is often more than one answer to a question. Ambiguity proves that there is an "in between" for everything and it supports the use of the word "maybe" in any question.

True, ambiguity often encompasses confusion but I like to view it as a variable alternative. It provides a new perspective, one that is not necessarily incorrect or false.

So which path should we take? The mainstream thinking of "going with the flow" of others or the unconventional route?

It is human nature to want to be different and to stand out in the crowd. However, I find it really ironic that though we're wanting to be different subconsciously, much of the population is still under the influence of conventional thinking.

Much of this is credited to the fact that people prefer to agree to something that is already suggested (or disagree) then to suggest an entirely new idea.

In the rite of life, we are often faced with obstacles and detours and are also, in varied frequency, fazed with the prospect of a tough decision. And sometimes, these are the type of decisions that will affect the script of the next chapter of your life.

In that sense, ambiguity is your enemy as it aggravates the situation and puts the "what ifs" back into the equation.

In a way, people in general do not like to think about the "what ifs" as fear takes over the control of possibility and dismisses existence.

A good example is the presence of life in space. For centuries, humans have dismissed the possibility of other life forms in space, more specifically termed "aliens".

The conventional theory goes that all living things need basis requirements to survive and that space conditions does not fulfill the criteria for life to flourish. But is that the case?

Here we see a typical case of ambiguity in play.

The "right" answer to the existence of life in space was originally "no, its not possible for life to exist outside earth as the conditions aren't ideal for survival of life form". But recently, the advancement of men has decreed that there is a possibility of life outside earth.

To put illustrate this point, let us look at this simple interpretation;

Question: Is there Life in space?

Option 1: Yes. (Conventionally "wrong" answer)
Option 2: No. (Conventionally "right" answer)
Option 3: Maybe. (The ambiguous answer)

With this example, we see the society moving together as a unit to accept ambiguity. The public perception has changed from option 2 to 3 thus giving truth to the fact that ambiguity exists and the "right" answer is not always right.

There are many aspects of ambiguity in life, another prominent one being religion. Thus being the case that its a sensitive topic, we cannot deny the fact that there is ambiguity in religion; different religions emphasizes on different values.

To me personally, ambiguity is a "yes and no" answer, factoring in both the proposition as well as the opposition points of view.

Sure, we're bound to be involved in ambiguity at some point of our lives but I guess there's always an unknown boundary in every question, argument, definition or statement.

Working towards solving ambiguity will in turn, result in improvement and development (as with the case of life in space) and in the long run, a better understanding.

Life is full of ambiguity. Look at them not as confusion but as points of clarification and improvement.