A transducer is an electronic device that converts energy from one form to another-- a tool for transforming and organizing data. Microphones, thermometers, and radio antennae are examples. Like transducers, people convert input energy into output energy. The input is a chaotic and unorganized environment. The output is a moral or aesthetic code.

A transducer is never 100-percent efficient because a measure of power is always lost in the process of conversion. For the self as transducer, this loss, I think, is the result of language. Language enables us to think, but it is an imperfect medium. We experience much more than we can articulate, but without articulation, we can't know what we are experiencing.

This is a good reason to read a lot. The more words you know, the more you can define your perceptions. And the more you can define, the more you can differentiate. Your experience of the world becomes more complex.

At some point when you're a kid you learn the difference between "cloudy" and "foggy" skies. From that point on you can differentiate between the two, and your world is more complex than if you only knew the word "cloudy". If you only know the word "cloudy", then foggy skies wouldn't exist to you; you'd look at a foggy sky and see it as a cloudy sky.

This is all very subjective, and the distinguishing of weather patterns is not crucial to developing patterns of thought. But what about terms like "morals" vs "ethics" or "love" vs. "lust"? If you only knew one half of the comparison, how could you differentiate between them?

This puts me in a mood to read and absorb ideas so I can improve my transducer efficiency. There are some transducers-- like radio antennae-- that approach 100% efficiency, and although no person can do that, I bet certain people have come close.

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