I've been listening to this song for 39 years.
New Order's Age of Consent.
The song is from the band's second studio album, Power, Corruption & Lies, released on May 2, 1983.
So I would have been in sixth grade and 12 years old.
So yeah, I've been listening to this song for 39 years.
Thirty-nine years for one song, what's this all about?
Is something wrong with me?
No.
Why?
The challenge of explore vs. exploit is real.
We want to explore new music, but we want to exploit our knowledge and play what we like.
We know what we like.
We know what music is best for us.
I like New Order's Age of Consent and have for 39 years. So I keep playing it.
In Algorithms to Live By, authors Brian Christian and Tom Griffiths devote an entire chapter to how computer algorithms deal with the challenge of explore vs. exploit.
Few people know this experience as deeply as Scott Plagenhoef, the former editor in chief of Pitchfork. "You try to find spaces when you're working to listen to something that you just want to listen to," he says of the critics' life. His desperate urges to stop wading through unheard tunes of dubious quality and just listen to what he loved were so strong that Plagenhoef would put only new music on his iPod, to make himself physically incapable of abandoning his duties in those moments when he just really, really, really wanted to listen to the Smiths. Journalists are martyrs, exploring so that others may exploit.
According to Christian and Griffiths, "Choosing a restaurant of an album is, in effect, a matter of deciding which arm to pull in life's casino."
Do I choose a restaurant I know (exploit)?
Do I choose a restaurant I don't know (explore)?
Do I choose a song I don't know (explore)?
Do I choose a song I do know (exploit)?
The challenge of explore vs. exploit is real.
The challenge is what's new vs. what's best.
The same thing is happening to your communications.
Should you stay on a path of exploration?
Should you stay on a path of exploitation?
Exploration is about gathering information, and exploitation is using this information to execute the task at hand.
Never exploring is not the right path. Same as never exploiting is not the right path.
When it comes to your communications, the stage of your company or your career matters immensely.
Like childhood, a stat-up can be curious and full of exploration. Whereas, like adulthood, a more mature company can be knowledgeable and full of exploitation.
A start-up can explore different tactics and tools.
A more mature company can exploit a well-performing strategy and organization.
Don't be afraid to end the exploration and exploit what you know you like when it comes to your communications.
Much communication comes from being comfortable sharing your ideas and expressing yourself, liking what you are saying, and liking what you know.
Even if these ideas and expressions are something you have communicated for 39 years.
The communications you like, keep playing it.
By the way, I'm still open to new songs.
Please send some suggestions my way, but know New Order's Age of Consent will get more playing time.
-Marc
