As I systematically wound strings of leather around a wooden container in an attempt to make a talking drum, as a cool breeze blew, making my brass bells flutter on the ground, as the string section on Broken by Little Simz played somberly, and as we sat on the balcony watching the sun set behind the horizon beyond us, Wenzo (W) asked me (T) suddenly;
W: How often do you ask yourself “what do I want?”?
T: Honestly, not that much these days. I think I do know what I want.
W: And that is constant?
T: I mean, it’s always good to revisit and redefine, but it doesn’t change too much beyond terminologies.
W: Terminologies as in?
T: The fundamental truth about what I want, is that I want a good life doing what I want to do. What I want to do is seek truth and pass that truth on. This is wisdom from prophet Muhammad’s Hadith about how the best of humans is the one that seeks knowledge and teaches it to others. My philosophy is largely built on that Hadith. The kind of person I am, the kind of things I indulge in. I love reading, I revel in philosophical conversations, I enjoy writing and creating, and I enjoy correcting misconceptions. Both in myself and other people. That’s who I am deep down. Terminology changes because knowledge isn’t one dimensional. It’s not niche. It’s why I didn’t like being a student in university. Most university systems force students to study one course and that just leads to a burn out for me. I want to be diversified in my learning.
Today, I’m making this drum for our film, terming myself a filmmaker when really, what I want to do is create beauty and pass information while at it. Tomorrow, I’m a designer because I’m designing solutions to problems. Yesterday, I was a writer because I was writing and I enjoyed the way I strew out the words -which are all the same; information from my head- and reconstruct them to form a beautiful piece of art.
W: You keep doing several different things daily though. How often do your daily activities reflect what you want to do?
T: I think they pretty much augment it. Today for instance, when I woke up, I started my day by writing code for websites for three companies- websites that are all going to get àyàn’s work out there.
W: But what about your interests in science and technology? How do you reconcile those interests with this general purpose?
T: Right now, science and technology are just hobbies. And I won’t even term them “science and technology”. I would say philosophy. It subsumes my interest in physics, biology and anthropology. It’s really my love for philosophy that gets me interested in all of these. I love thinking about the world, and ultimately when you think enough about the world, you want to solve some of the problems of the world. My interest in them isn’t deep like anyone that’s doing a PhD in any of those subjects. My interest in them is philosophical. How they fit in the world.
Technology reconciles in the future. Where I could get to, not where I am today. I’m more media oriented today. With time, àyàn would grow on from media to general design. As in stuff like transport, city design, and all, and that’s where subjects like anthropology and biology would come in.
W: Don’t you think technology plays a role in where you are today too?
T: The technology that plays a role today is just one part of technology; code. I don’t like thinking of technology as computers and code because technology is happening in many other places that isn’t the internet and computers. Today, because Web2 is a head-start to getting àyàn out, computers and code do play a major role. In 5 years, when Web3 is the more popular form of the internet, it might not play that much of a role. The innovation àyàn wants to do is more physical and down to humanity and the third world than it is digital and up there with the first world.
W: I meant technology precisely in that way, not particularly computers, but technology as a means of making the world better. Technology as the commercialisation of scientific advancements and discoveries.
T: We would be involved in technology in very vague and diversified ways. Like in building better roads for instance. I had this idea when I was about 14. There’s a road called Agunbiade Street in Agege where I walk through on my way home from school. Today, it’s very developed and there’s a flyover bridge there, but back in my day, it was a very dirty street. The gutter by the sides, from start to finish was filled with plastic bottles. I thought about how I could harvest those bottles and sort of compress them to be as thick as cement bricks, which could then be used to fill potholes or build actual roads. That might be the kind of technology àyàn would be involved in. Innovative creations, borne off what was initially an adverse situation.
W: So my major concern is that, if we were going to make bricks from plastics for instance, I would like to understand how the science, thus technology would work.
T: A vague, foundational understanding of science is always the place to start. The average person understands that to make those bricks, we need heat to melt the plastics, and we need moulds to make them into bricks. That is hurdle #1 crossed. All that average person would need to do now, is employ someone that can build machines that generate heat, and one that can build moulding machines for plastics. What we really need are the basics.
W: That foundational understanding is what I am interested in. The first principle of everything. For example, the little knowledge I’ve gained in the Theory of Computation has changed how I see computers. I now understand code and how any software works. I actually think I can build any software now. I might just need more time than an actual computer scientist who has dedicated their life to computers. I want to understand everything or at least, everything that I am interested in, like that.
T: David Deutsch’s idea is that if someone understands the Theory of Evolution, Theory of Computation, Quantum Physics and General Relativity, and Epistemology or the Theory of Knowledge, the person understands everything else. This is wisdom from his book; The Fabric of Reality. I understand these four in foundation, but I can’t say I understand the world how I want to. In subjects like human relationships (I want to call this the Theory of Incentives), wealth creation and maybe history, I do not think I understand enough. And all these make up the world. My search for knowledge has been about working on these. Deutsch’s four, and figuring out what the rest are. Deutsch is more concerned with reality and physics and philosophy, but I want to go deeper than that because what we want to do focuses on the human and the human’s interaction with reality, and not just reality itself.
W: So what would you say are the strands of the Fabric of Reality?
T: From Deutsch we have; Epistemology, Quantum Physics and General Relativity, Computation, and Evolution. I’m adding two. I’m hoping for better terms, but the two are Game and Wealth. Game is understanding the human on an individual level. Wealth is understanding the human on a collective level. Wealth subsumes civilisation. With both, we’d understand stuff like economies and cultures. I have a pretty good understanding of Wealth, so I would theorise and summarise it to also have four strands; Warmth, Food, Art and Breath.
W: Is money part of Wealth? What role does money play in reality?
T: Money is a means of exchange to acquire the four strands of Wealth.
W: Can you elucidate on Game too?
T: Game is the Theory of Incentives. What makes humans move. What will is. What freedom is. Game is wisdom from Von Neumann’s Theory of Games and Economic Behaviour. Game is Anthropology. Game is politics. Game is economics. I think it would have to do with history too. i.e The personal connection an individual has with their history.
W: How do you mean?
T: From your family to your clan to your tribe to your nation to your continent to your race. Understanding the history of the world and your place in the world by understanding your people’s place in the world. For me, this is understanding Nigeria. This is understanding Yoruba civilisation i.e Ifá Theory. This is understanding religion and this is understanding colonialism.
W: How deep do you think the damage slavery and colonialism did to us is? I believe it fed into the belief that we’re an inferior race.
T: Anyone that understands Evolution and Epistemology understands that we’re not an inferior race. The goal is understanding all six strands. Colonialism did a lot of damage, yes, but not so much that it can’t be rectified. There’s no point seeking vendetta in reparations. No point fussing over that history. It’s spilled milk.
W: I think it is deep and very important. This is why; Countries should be formed based on cultural interests. Even though America was built on colonialism, the caucasians were able to unify cultural interests and in so doing, made room for other races and ethnicities. America has all its problems today but it is a top immigrant destination for some reason. They must be doing something right. Unlike here where our nations are a colonial master’s fever dream. Our cultural interests don’t align at all and it is our single biggest problem. It is why I think Nigeria has a very long way to go. Countries flourish because there’s at least a common interest. As long as the majority stand for a common cause, there’s likelihood for growth and progress.
T: This is funny because I think our diversified interests might be our strength too. Feels like a Catch-22. Let’s break it down; circling back to EndSars and why àyàn was conceptualised. What àyàn really wants to do is promote these basic, first principle understandings so more people can understand it right?
W: Yes. Encouraging first principle understandings and applying it in different ways.
T: Because we saw that enough people do not understand why Nigeria exists or what wealth is and Nigerians are all talking over ourselves. When in fact, we want the same things. Everybody is ignoring the real question; What do we really want? Deep down, it’s just good lives; from a good economy. The peculiar requests we ask for, are because we think they’d help us get better lives. I want to use education as an example because it’s the same example in the wisdom of Madam Sophie Oluwole.
Northwestern Nigeria would say they don’t want western education. Southerners might think them ignorant, but really the epitome of education isn’t western. We could design a system that would accommodate the Islamic culture they want, while fostering a good Theory of Knowledge. Contrary to popular belief, Islam doesn’t oppose seeking knowledge. This is wisdom from prophet Muhammad’s Hadith on the importance of seeking knowledge even if you have to travel to China for it. There was a time that Arab Muslims were the leading scientists, thinkers and innovators of the world.
If the education system in Northwestern Nigeria is built on Islamic values, beautiful. Say the one in Southeastern Nigeria is built on the business and apprenticeship system. Equally as beautiful. The one in Southwestern Nigeria is built on the arts; Yoruba culture and the philosophy in Ifá. All these systems, peculiar to each region. If a man in the Southwest doesn’t like Ifá, say because of his religion. Maybe he’s a Muslim. He easily moves to Northwest Nigeria. A Southeasterner doesn’t want to go the business and innovation route? Maybe he wants to be an artist? Let him move to Southwest where they cherish the arts. This is how Ìlosíwájú comes about. If you look around, to some degree, this is already happening. There’s a reason every underground Afrobeats artist wants to move to Lagos. There’s a reason why, in the history of the world, development and innovation has always been spearheaded by a small, particular geographic region. Today it is the State of California. Both in technology and the arts. Every young filmmaker or actor aspires to move to Los Angeles. Every young computer scientist aspires to move to San Fransisco. There was a time it was the Italian city-states. That gave us Da Vinci and dem. There was a time it was Arabia. During the time of the alchemists in the Abbasid era. It’s all for a reason. There needs to be some degree of freedom. In migration and ideologies.
This is just theory, a spherical cow. It might not apply directly to reality, but it’s a stepping stone to understanding how to solve what is wrong in reality. In Nigeria, everyone just needs to talk after one another. We’re all talking over ourselves and that’s the reason for all this division. Going back to your America point, their common goal is freedom. Freedom is the reason American embassies have long queues in front of them in every country in the world. Freedom is the reason Einstein fled the Nazis to America. Freedom is the reason those 135 Brits sailed the Mayflower across ocean to an alien continent. It took a hundred wars and the slavery and subjugation of a particular race for them to figure it out. America still has its problems till today, but that’s just the nature of knowledge. No human is God almighty that would get everything right at first try. We try stuff out and fail till we get it right. America has made those very shitty mistakes so other growing nations will not make the same mistakes. This is wisdom from Jay Z and Isaac Newton. Newton had to stand on the shoulders of giants in order to be able to see further than the rest of us. The giant we need to stand on, exists there as America.
What should be our common goal and theme? Are we to find one and preach it to people? Or do we all dialogue and find a common ground? These are the questions we should be asking.
