Montaigne, or <<Carneades! Who was he?>>. How and why would you want to learn about this French philosopher who died 433 years ago by focusing on “Cultivating Imperfection”, one of his classics that is a treasure for those who read it, as Italo Calvino would say? Being curious, we would ask ourselves what we could learn from this essay so far in our days. In the worst-case scenario, the most famous bookstores would intervene to stimulate interest, displaying classic literature and science texts in their windows once a year. Showing and reading them would open the doors of culture that information has closed. Georges Brassen, singer-songwriter and poet, was a prophet, stating that since <<information has developed more rapidly than culture, propaganda has every chance of triumphing>>, with destructive effects on culture because it distorts information. Their growing influx encourages the commodification that prioritizes profit rather than the quality of the work. What attracts the reading of a book is the number of copies sold. Moreover, attention is not paid to its consistent sales over long periods but to its boom in a short time. Montaigne’s essay is out of context since it is not a new marketable product. Still, his praise of the culture of imperfection is current in the times we are living in, with interconnected crises that cause uncertainty, disorder, confusion and inaccuracy.
Sextus Empiricus, a Greek philosopher, taught us to live in the certainty of uncertainty. Michel de Montaigne pointed the finger at perfection, which was rigid and sterile because it did not recognize fleetingness, the impermanence of all things. In Japanese culture, we find Wabi-Sabi, a world vision focused on accepting imperfection and appreciating beauty that is imperfect, provisional and incomplete by its nature. Richard Feynman, Nobel Prize winner for physics, argued that it is not always a good idea to be too precise. Salvador Luria, Nobel Prize winner for medicine, recommended relying on controlled carelessness that leads to improvisation, being contradictory, putting together logic and intuition, and exploiting inexperience and imperfection. With these new eyes offered by shortcomings, we should begin a journey of discovery of those innovations that, being so perfectly imperfect, are disruptive. The journey unfolds along serpentine paths to be travelled with oblique mental attitudes.
There is a great passion for Big Data. In Bologna, Italy, the Tecnopolo Dama, a synthesis between data and manufacturing, is their temple, the Palace of Reason. The Dataists are their priests. They collect and analyze enormous quantities of information from various sources, providing previously impossible insights. However, to be understandable, big data requires interpretation and critical thinking in human analysis. Otherwise, we will only have a vast amount of raw, insignificant and misleading data. We could be crushed under their weight. To avoid the danger, we would need Montaigne’s advice. Possibly, provided that the culture of imperfection does not remain relegated like a statue in a niche of the prestigious Alma Mater.
We fear that in the Palace of Reason, there will continue to be heated discussions about what we know and what we do not know to achieve perfection. The experts who rely on the Dictionary of Incrementalism—of doing better what we already know how to do well—debate this. The keywords in the Dictionary are Competence (“I know I know”), Experience, Forecast, Probability, Risk, and Tendency.
It would be good if, in that Palace, the Dadaists were admitted, whose thoughts question consolidated narratives, seek different perspectives, are comfortable with ambiguity, and value creativity, adaptability and human fallibility. To avoid repeating what happened during the first Industrial Revolution, when innovations in mechanical looms and spinning machines decimated our silk mills, we can only rely on imperfection, which opens Renaissance windows onto new landscapes. As beginners, we will make mistakes, but avoid the disasters caused by perfect experts.
