Meaning of Puzzles in our Lives by Marcel Danesi - Essay Example

Marcel Danesi’s meaning of puzzles in our lives Marcel Danesi contends that our fascination on working with puzzles has been with us throughout the ages beginning from the ancient times when Kings appointed mystics to solve or interpret certain phenomena for them to our recent fascination with games that involves puzzles. It started as a myth, magic and other occult arts that our numbers, words and our surroundings have significant meaning among themselves (Danesi). According to Danesi, our ability to solve puzzles is instinctual because they are deeply embedded with us to make sense of the things around us in a way that fascinate and entertain us. To quote Danesi, solving puzzles is “An instinctual need to search out definite, reassuring, small-scale answers. ... Filling in the little squares with clear-cut answers seems, in its own minuscule way, to negate the existential emptiness that human beings unconsciously feel" (Romano). It is an innate knowledge that is within all of us that it only needs to be teased for our puzzle solving capability to come out (Infantry). In other words, puzzles are our attempt to find answers to our universe and the phenomena that surrounds us. We find it engaging because it is fun and amuses us that we usually respond when we are challenged by a puzzle. Since puzzles are within us and our ability to respond to the challenge of puzzles is instinctive, culture is not a factor to it because we have it regardless where we came from. It can be psychological in a way because our curiosity to solve puzzles is embedded in our psyche and all it takes for that capability to come is to be challenged or teased by a problem, be it a word riddle, an abstract problem or a mathematical problem. This natural ability of man to solve puzzle has served us well because through our natural inclination to solve puzzles led us to the discovery of many disciplines in arts and sciences that ranged from mathematics, economics, cognitive science, philosophy among others. From the problems posed by building the great pyramids of Egypt came the invention of the Pythagorean Theorem which in itself a riddle because it will allow us to solve the length of one of the lines once we know the other two lines. In modern times, our curiosity with how the market work is best explained by solving the various variables of how supply affects demand and vice versa. This inherent penchant for engaging in puzzles has also helped expand our horizon seeing worlds beyond us that extend to the realm of imagination as narrated by fictions and novels that keeps us hooked on what will happen next. We inadvertently learn because we became so engrossed in the narration not noticing that we have been drawn to an entirely different universe. Indeed, our natural fascination with solving puzzles has benefited us in countless ways. Civilization and its accompanying technology may not be as what it is as we know today without the discoveries that was initiated by our curiosity to solve puzzles. My personal experience with puzzles My personal experience with puzzles used to be equally puzzling until I stumbled on Danesi in class who explained the reasons of our natural curiosity to solve things. I never thought of myself as a puzzle solver or really into it. But strangely, I noticed that I have not reneged any invitation to solve a puzzle. Once I started, I cannot even help but to be engaged with the challenge and do my best to solve it to the point that I lose track of time. The best example I can give is the Sudoko game which involves heavy mathematics. I thought I would never be interested with it knowing that math is not my forte but when a friend taught me the mechanics of the game, I cannot help but dabble myself into it, taking challenge after another until I got it. I progressed without even noticing it. I can remember that I got addicted to it that I used to spend the whole day solving Sudoku puzzles without even realizing how much time has lapsed. I also now understand why I am addicted to video games. The graphics and scene may be visually fascinating but I believe what really get us hooked to it is our anticipation of what will happen next after overcoming a challenge. The harder the game gets, the more engage we become that again, we usually lose track of time. In the process, I improve my cognitive skills, psycho motor coordination skills and abstract reasoning without even realizing it. The strange thing about games that involves puzzles or problem solving is that we get to solve it without anybody’s help. For example, we play video games by ourselves overcoming one challenge after another and those problems presented to us are not easy. Yet, we are able to solve it albeit after several tries. This best explain Danesi’s thesis that our ability to solve problem is within us because we are able to solve problems presented before us especially when we are challenged. We find amusement to it and in a way gives us an escape or a relief from our real world problems and immerse in an activity of having to resolve a problem at hand giving us a psychological gratification that we are in control of solving a certain problem. Perhaps the video game developers know this phenomenon as explained by Danesi. As I write this paper and recall the video games I have played that involve solving a puzzle, I realized that all of them involved overcoming a challenge with varying degrees. Some are very obvious such as finding certain elements before the character gets promoted and some are very subtle that you have to do certain things in the game before you can get past through a certain stage. I also observed that dabbling in other discipline can also enhance our ability to solve puzzles and problems. It enhances our ability to solve them because they provide technical capability and techniques to our already inherent capacity to solve puzzles thus making it easier for us to solve more complex problems. For example, our knowledge in math gives us the ability to calculate mathematical puzzles presented to us such as Souk. With the use of statistical analysis, we can count the number of probabilities that a problem can be solved and use our internal instinct to elect among those possibilities the one that can solve the problem. Our knowledge in algebra gives us the ability to translate problems in numerical form that is easier to solve in solving riddle that involves numerical reasoning. Awareness with literature not only enhances our vocabulary and understanding of various concepts, but it also facilitates easy answers to crossword puzzles due to our deep database of words and concepts. Having given much thought about Danesi’s puzzle, I realize that even the classroom itself is a big place for solving puzzles. In fact, puzzles there are deliberate and carefully prepared not only to gauge understanding but also to encourage us the exercise of inquiry and research in solving any problem. And come to think of it, the classroom may just be the biggest place of puzzle that an individual will ever be because each class has its own set of puzzles or problem aimed at making us better understand a certain phenomena in science, math, social relations, current events etch., that would make us better prepared in facing real life after we have graduated. The new phenomena in integrated learning, that is, all disciplines intersect at some point that aims a holistic development among students best prepare us to solve a puzzle. It is because we will be trained to use various disciplines that range from math, literature, social science, etch in solving any puzzles or problems before us. In effect, we are given various perspective and tools drawing from various sources in solving any given problem. The beauty of constantly being challenged by puzzles, problems or riddles is that it keeps the mind at work and active. Danesi and other experts even encouraged it among those who have Alzheimer’s disease because puzzles help mitigate the ill effect of the disease. Also, the more we solve puzzles and problems, the more we get better at it and this capability transcends to other area of skills making us better students, professionals or plain member of our community. Unlike other resources that diminish when it is used, constant use of our inherent ability to solve problem makes us sharper and not only better at it, but also enhances our “brain power” to engage in any exercise that involves thinking. It expands our attention span, helps us focus, and think clearly; it also enable us to discern the best way to solve a certain problem in a puzzle which could translate in other avenues of life as well. This could be our improved ability to decide which course of action to take be it in business, relationship or just life in general affording us better alternatives which could not have been possible if we did not have instinctive ability to solve puzzles. Works Cited Carlin, Romano. "'the Puzzle Instinct' by Marcel Danesi; Indiana University Press ." Knight Ridder Tribune News Service: 1. Oct 16 2002. ProQuest Central. Web. 13 Oct. 2012. Infantry, Ashante. "A Seven-Letter Word for a Popular Pastime." Toronto StarNov 05 2011. ProQuest Central. Web. 14 Oct. 2012 . Interview: Marcel Danesi Talks about the Puzzle Instinct. Washington, D.C., United States, Washington, D.C.: National Public Radio, 2002. ProQuest Central. Web. 14 Oct. 2012. Read More