Measuring the Gap / Variations of the Optimum

I’m always amazed (and intimidated) by how intelligent and insightful the blog posts are every week. In comparison to the brilliance of my classmates, I find myself frequently questioning the value of my input. Putting that self-deprecating thought into the context of this week’s reflections, I wonder why it is that I can’t meet my expectations of myself? Morgan Parr’s post really resonated with me. How do I measure the gap that I see between my intelligence and progress and that of my peers? What form does this system of measurement take? Is this ‘”gap” quantifiable at all, or only qualitatively defined by how I perceive its distance from day to day? Her connection between Barthe’s concept of tmesis and our discussion of “the optimum” explains so much of the dissatisfaction and insecurity we feel in comparing our lives to others. The optimum can exist in many forms (media and capitalist consumption being the one we spoke of in class), but I believe that there is a specific social optimum through which we perceive the achievements of others as always being slightly ahead of our own. In this sense the optimum is really never attainable. It calls to mind for me Disney’s now antiquated Carousel of Progress, in which we as a society are always striving toward something greater than even the pinnacle of an age as it passes (from the invention of the automobile in the 19^th century to the invention of the computer, and then a glimpse into a predicted future in which virtual reality supplements our own). This ties into Morgan Saunders’ post about the “accelerated American dream.” The idea of an ever-rolling optimum increasing in speed as time and society progress is mirrored by the ever-shifting definition of the American dream, and the evolution of an American dream that is, as Morgan puts it, “unrealistic, unsustainable, and completely random.” Yes, our constant need to strive toward this contrived pinnacle of success has driven and continues to drive progress, but it also creates a definition of success and happiness that is nearly impossible to attain. The concept of the optimum is interesting, but even more so are the repercussions such a concept has had not only on history, but continues to have on our own lives. I’m interested by the idea that the optimum lives in the gap between how we perceive ourselves, and that which we envy and desire in others.