The Act of Creation Read Online Free PDF

jokes in the previous section can
all be described as universes of discourse colliding, frames getting
entangled, or contexts getting confused. But we must remember that each
of these expressions refers to specific patterns of activity which,
though flexible, are governed by sets of fixed rules.

A chess player looking at an empty board with a single bishop on it does
not see the board as a uniform mosaic of black and white squares, but
as a kind of magnetic field with lines of force indicating the bishops'
possible moves: the board has become patterned, as in Fig. 4a; Fig. 4b
shows the pattern of the rook.

When one thinks of 'matrices' and 'codes' it is sometimes helpful to
bear these figures in mind. The "matrix" is the pattern before you,
representing the ensemble of permissible moves. The "code" which governs
the matrix can be put into simple mathematical equations which contain
the essence of the pattern in a compressed, 'coded' form; or it can be
expressed by the word 'diagonals'. The code is the fixed, invariable
factor in a skill or habit; the matrix its variable aspect. The two words
do not refer to different entities, they refer to different "aspects" of
the same activity. When you sit in front of the chessboard your "code"
is the rule of the game determining which moves are permitted, your
"matrix" is the total of possible choices before you. Lastly, the choice
of the actual move among the variety of permissible moves is a matter of
"strategy," guided by the lie of the land -- the 'environment' of other
chessmen on the board. We have seen that comic effects are produced
by the sudden clash of incompatible matrices: to the experienced chess
player a rook moving bishopwise is decidedly 'funny'.

Consider a pianist playing a set-piece which he has learned by heart.
He has incomparably more scope for 'strategy' (tempo, rhythm, phrasing)
than the spider spinning its web. A musician transposing a tune into
a different key, or improvising variations of it, enjoys even greater
freedom; but he too is still bound by the codes of the diatonic or
chromatic scale. Matrices vary in flexibility from reflexes and more
or less automatized routines which allow but a few strategic choices,
to skills of almost unlimited variety; but all coherent thinking and
behaviour is subject to some specifiable code of rules to which its
character of coherence is due -- even though the code functions partly
or entirely on umconscious levels of the mind, as it generally does. A
bar-pianist can perform in his sleep or while conversing with the barmaid;
he has handed over control to the automatic pilot, as it were. Hidden Persuaders

Everybody can ride a bicycle, but nobody knows how it is done. Not even
engineers and bicycle manufacturers know the formula for the correct
method of counteracting the tendency to fall by turning the handlebars
so that 'for a given angle of unbalance the curvature of each winding is
inversely proportional to the square of the speed at which the cyclist is
proceeding'. [6] The cyclist obeys a code of rules which is specifiable,
but which he cannot specify; he could write on his number-plate Pascal's
motto: Le coeur a ses raisons que la raison ne connaît point. Or, to put it in a more abstract way:
The controls of a skilled activity generally function below the level
of consciousness on which that activity takes place. The code is a
hidden persuader.

This applies not only to our visceral activities and muscular skills,
but also to the skill of perceiving the world around us in a coherent
and meaningful manner. Hold your left hand six inches, the other twelve
inches, away from your eyes; they will look about the same size, although
the retinal image of the left is twice the size of the right. Trace
the contours of your face with a soapy finger on the bathroom mirror
(it is easily done by closing one eye). There is a shock waiting: the
image which looked life-size has shrunk to half-size, like a headhunter's
trophy. A