Monday, November 6, 2017

BEING META

The example that started this entry was "Stay meta". In colloquial terms, this seems to mean "self-aware".

From organic chemistry, I remember meta being a position on an organic ring. The position near the R group is ortho-, the next position is meta-, and the position opposite (third from the R group of a hexagon) para-. Meta comes from the greek, signifying the middle.

Meta is self-referential. It is art that reflects on art. It's a movie about making movies. It's the data about data.

So if you came from the generation I did, the Greek version still applies to the middle position of the benzene ring.  Metadata is still at data about data. But now a new generation is using it to talk about themselves. I am mindful. I am introspective and extraspective simultaneously. I am meta.

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