WHY WE NEED FRICTION

Friction is a word that is prevalent today – I first heard it from another blogger and thought, yes, that refers to inconveniences in life that we have to face, in an increasingly convenient world; in contrast to long ago, when basically our whole life was friction ie. rubbing up against the material world. I think that a lot of people would prefer to live completely in cyberspace, without the pesky problems that come from having to deal with our own bodies, nature, and natural laws that govern our lives, in other words the material world. The moment when we can survive completely in cyberspace is not far off. Perhaps for this very reason, the “friction” in life is trickling back.

One example is my Facebook feed. When I look at one thing, it automatically tweaks the algorithm so that I see lots of ads for the same thing (which leads me to think that these algorithms aren’t really so smart –why would I need to look at exactly the same thing that I just bought?). Sometimes it shows me similar things, such as various types of analog watches. This is interesting, but why analog and why the emphasis on watches with hands but no numbers? This would require the wearer to (gasp) think, and to relearn something that everyone once knew, the constantly changing geometric relation between two hands of the clock. In other words, to add friction to life, to make something deliberately harder than it needs to be, when we are all so used to telling time with digital clocks that leave nothing to the imagination. The elegance of telling time by geometry is lost, sacrificed to the clarity and no-nonsense quality of the digital readout. Maybe some people want the thought and unnecessary elegance (or friction) back?

I heard that one of the ways to head off dementia is to make use of simpler tools that require us to think about what we do, instead of just doing it in the most convenient way. The example given was to peel potatoes with a knife instead of a peeler. Negotiating each little curve and hill of a potato with a knife requires hand-eye coordination, which is much lessened when a peeler is mindlessly passed over the potato until no brown remains.

As a farmer, I am familiar with simple tools that help me do things in the garden – cut apart or put together, fasten or release, lengthen or shorten – the requirements are simple and simple tools are all that is needed – blades, rope, tape and sticks of various lengths. I have learned to do things with these simple tools and a little ingenuity. There is plenty of friction in my life because my tools are simple, and any slack they have is taken up by my brain. It seems that the more one has to think about a problem, and the more the ancient partnership between eye and hand is used, the more friction one has in one’s life.

In my University teaching days, I was shocked to find that my students generally didn’t have much imagination when they were thinking about getting a job. They didn’t ask what suited them personally or what kinds of things they liked – would they prefer working outdoors or indoors, alone or with others, etc. Instead, it seemed they were interested solely in the job security they were being offered, so most of them wanted to enter the public service. There is nothing wrong with that on the face of it; but so many people’s lives now seem to revolve around typing on a computer while sitting in the same seat surrounded by the same people for years. Is this death in life worth a secure weekly paycheck? It depends on the economic climate, but increasingly, people don’t even weigh the risks but accept an easy or convenient (frictionless) lifestyle without question.

One source of friction is “trouble” which Japanese people are taught not to cause to others (meiwaku wo kakenai). Of course they don’t define it, so it remains a wordless bugaboo. It would be nice, wouldn’t it, not to cause or be caused any trouble by other people. The only problem is that without trouble of this kind, life would be so monotonous that we would all go crazy. Every one of us is causing trouble to each other from the moment we are born. I wonder why the Japanese decided that not causing trouble to others was the pinnacle of a life well lived. It would be interesting to examine the history of this concept. If you don’t take on the troubles of others – if you don’t help someone in distress instead of wondering why they don’t just endure it quietly without making a fuss – can you say you are fully human?  

A person who falls down in a crowd, or has some kind of accident, or needs others in some (usually fleeting) way, is not causing trouble. He or she is a teacher that can point the way toward how to act and feel compassion and thus improve the life of not only the person that is helped but also the helpers. The Dalai Lama once said that compassion is actually a selfish act. You get to feel good by doing good to others. This “trouble” is an excellent source of friction because it engages our brain (how exactly can we help?) and also our heart, because we can feel sorry for the person no matter who they are – whether they are in one’s “circle” or not, whether they can “pay back” or not.

In another essay long ago, I pondered the relationship between the two “M’s” of Japanese society – mendokusai (“stinking trouble”) and mottai nai (waste). If you think of something or someone as mendokusai, you are likely to waste a precious experience or an actual commodity. This kind of friction is everywhere, and just requires a little bit of courage and risk-taking to feel it.

It seems that the more related to human contact something is, the more friction is involved – from actual humans taking your money in stores and not relaying on “self-checkout” machines, to humans taking your order in restaurants, to buying air and train tickets from an actual human instead of several machines. Yes, your life is more convenient without all these other people, but is that all there is? You can save time, but what are you going to do with the saved time?

Try adding a little friction. It can breathe fresh air into your life.  

(I’m sorry that the prevailing society prevents me from simply writing this by hand in a posted letter to a few of my friends. That would feel so much better.)