The Sound of Silence

Hello darkness my old friend. I've come to talk with you again.

What an unexpected phrase to be rolling around in my head as Spring becomes blistering summer here on Florida's Gulf Coast. There's little shade to be found under the mean old sun, and my farmer's tan burned in from afternoon walks proves it.

As we rush into the longest daylight of the year, Helios rules. His chariot glitters.

Where, then, are you darkness?

There was all the hubbub about the total solar eclipse back in April. I remember that. And I recently read that China has landed on the dark side of the moon. So we know that (maybe) happened. But that's not enough.

The night is always filled with a bit of light.

The deepest darkness is silence. Maybe that's the darkness, my old friend, that I'm searching for—the sound of silence.

The beautiful, sweet sound of nothing at all.

We hear so little of it today.

Whirring leaf blowers disquiet your peaceful Maple Street. Music is shellacked everywhere, and soundtracks are in everything you do in public, from buying milk to renewing your vehicle registration. And my least personal favorite, the ice pick over-modulation of sound effects boring into an otherwise pleasant day at the ballpark. Why do we need 125bd cellphone tone to punctuate a strikeout?

Why? And what does it mean for a person to live in a culture that can't be quiet?

More below, plus all the other good stuff you're used to hearing from me.

Prima Parte: Philosophy on News?

Why restaurants are so loud, and what science says we can do about it

An acoustics professor, a food critic, and an audio producer measure sound levels at a Peruvian restaurant in Washington, D.C. It sounds like the setup to a good joke.

It's not.

Instead, it's the entree to problematic questions I've long lamented: Why are our public spaces so loud, and what is that kind of noise level doing to us?

This week's news item discusses the persistent issue of loud restaurant environments, which can negatively impact patrons' and staff's health and experience. The experts cited advocate for better sound mitigation measures and design changes to address this problem, as noise remains a top complaint in dining establishments.

Let's level-set.

The average urban noise level in the United States hovers around 50 to 60 decibels. In other words, if you live where most Americans live, that's the volume you're used to hearing when you're not noticing sound. And that's just the average: heavy truck traffic can reach around 85 dB, while the sounds emanating from construction job sites (ie, jackhammering) can reach 95 dB if you're standing less than 50 feet away. For comparative sake, regions like Yellowstone National Park have background noise levels down at around 20 decibels, which is about as hushed as things were before European colonization.

Tom Sietsema, The Washington Post's food critic, comments in the article, "This is the loudest restaurant I've ever reviewed in D.C." "Here, it was 100 decibels at the bar during happy hour, and not much better in the center of the dining room."

That's the equivalent of sitting there, enjoying your salmon, while listening to a motorcycle engine.

Absurd.

Why are our public spaces so loud?

I'm not getting older (I am, but that's not the point); it's simply getting louder out there. Why?

Several reasons are dialing up the volume knob at restaurants these days.

Chief among the reasons is the villainous bane of "Modern" architectural design trends, with aesthetics favoring hard, reflective surfaces like painted concrete, metal, glass, wood floors, and sleek furniture. These choices reflect sound rather than absorb it, leading to higher noise levels.

Think about the last restaurant where you dined. Was there carpeting? Wood framed walls? Plush, fabric seating? I'm sure there wasn't. I'm kind of sure it looked something like this:

It will be loud when you throw 150 people into that room and encourage them to eat, drink, and be merry.

High ceilings with exposed vaulting, an affinity (inexplicable to me) for open kitchens, and the music-everywhere-mentality of Millennials on down, all governed by that old-fashioned capitalistic crowding for the dollar, round out the reasons why restaurants are now hovering at a level where sustained exposure may contribute to hearing loss.

Our brains have a tough time sorting through the cacophony in crowded dining rooms, which can influence our behavior. Multiple studies show that prolonged noise exposure has physical effects such as increased anxiety and fatigue.

Ironically, the word "restaurant" comes from the French word "restaurer," which means "to restore." Loud and chaotic restaurants have strayed far from their original purpose as places of rest and rejuvenation, prompting us to reflect on this shift.

What is that kind of noise level doing to us?

The dining experience is just the loudest canary in the coal mine. It's time to reevaluate and reshape our daily urban/suburban Main Street life to reduce the noise levels.

Martin Heidegger, a giant of 20th-century thinking known for his existential and phenomenological analysis, would have much to say about our over-audial stimulation.

We make space inside ourselves so that being can speak. "Being and Time" (1927)

In his brilliant "Being and Time," Heidegger argued that silence creates the necessary space for authentic experiences and understanding what it is to be who we are.

In the context of modern America, sitting at noisy restaurant after noisy restaurant, he would likely express concern that the constant, cacophonous audial stimulation and information overload prevent people from genuinely engaging with and understanding the essence of their existence in these spaces—let alone truly engaging with one another.

What would it be like to just be with yourself and others being who they are without mechanical noise or technological stimulation?

When was it last just us people in a public space--no machines blinking or sounds. No noise.

We can't leave a reflection on silence without stopping to say hello to Henry David Thoreau, one of philosophy's greatest champions of finding inner peace in our natural state.

I love to be alone. I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude. "Walden" (1854)

Thoreau celebrated the virtues of solitude and silence, seeing them essential for contemplation and communion with nature. He would likely critique modern American society for several reasons, but most assuredly, he'd decline your dinner date RSVP because of the restaurant's busyness and sheer volume.

Seconda Parte: Your Philosophy is Your Business

A mid-sized SaaS firm has been groaning through the last few quarters: missing revenue, customer acquisition, and profitability targets. The management team is considering implementing a new software tool that monitors employees' computer usage, including tracking websites visited, time spent on different tasks, and even recording keystrokes. The plan is to onboard this software without informing the wider team. This initiative aims to assess customer success' and the product team's average daily productivity in particular. The goal is to identify areas where efficiency can be improved and to ensure employees are staying focused on their work (ie, corporate-speak for disciplinary action and reducing headcount).

Is this ethical? Should those working in customer success and product be made aware?

Jürgen Habermas's "Moral Consciousness and Communicative Action" tackles a variety of difficult and controversial problems that are at the center of current debates in philosophy and social and political theory.

The contemporary German philosopher and public sphere theorist (still alive at 94 years old!) would categorically disagree with the management team's withholding of information about the software release.

Only those norms can claim to be valid that meet (or could meet) with the approval of all affected in their capacity as participants in a practical discourse. "Moral Consciousness and Communicative Action" (1983)

Habermas's theory of communicative action emphasizes the importance of open, rational dialogue and consensus in ethical decision-making. He believes ethical norms should be established through discourse in which all affected parties can participate to seek agreement (consensus).

Applying Habermas's framework, the management should consider the ethical implications of their actions through inclusive and transparent communication with their employees.

Parte Terza:?Notables

Here's a list of any new, notable reading, art, and media on my desk with a short commentary:

Reading:

• "101 Essays that will Change the way You Think" by Brianna Wiest:?This is a re-read of selected essays for me. In the binary world of, "Are you a new book reader or re-reader kinda guy," I'm more apt to sail new waters. It's just that Wiest is so good. It's a pleasure (and comfort) to return her thoughtful writing. If you pick it up, "Breaking Your Upper Limit …" is a favorite.
• "Antony and Cleopatra" by William Shakespeare: I've only read a handful in the Bard's canon. I'm fascinated by the debate whether or not one man could have written all these language-defining, culturally foundational plays. I think about that question as much as I think about the Roman Empire, which is a lot.
• "Mindset" by Carol S. Dweck PhD. Here's one that's long been on my business-ish book list. I enjoyed the author's fixed vs. growth mindset argument, albeit somewhat belabored over the nine sections. The last section proved to be her standard: "Changing Mindsets." If you're me, you start with "Business: Mindset and Leadership" and then go to "Changing Mindsets" before the rest. I never let the author (or editor's) structural decisions influence how I want to read nonfiction.
• "The Writer's Library" by Nancy Pearl & Jeff Schwager. I never knew how much I'd enjoy reading about writers discussing books. This book takes you through twenty-three conversations with living literary legends, revealing the books that inspired them, challenged their craft, and brought them joy. Donna Tartt is as weird and flat an interview as I would've guessed!?
• "Swingtime for Hitler" by Scott Simon. Ehhh. It's a fascinating topic, right up my alley, but Simon's writing is so obvious and sanctimonious. I also found it annoying to wade through his shoe-horned, biased grand take on political propaganda in today's climate. I would've preferred the history without the agenda.

Art:

The master works of Impressionism always hit differently in the late days of Spring. Monet, Manet, Renoir, Matisse, Cezanne: they give me the most during these days. The vibrancy of their works, in these weeks of light and color, billboard the promise of oncoming summer.

Media:

• WTF Vinyl: If you asked me a couple of weeks ago, "Do we need twenty-four tracks of 2000s crappy pop-metal and alternative songs redone as 1980s Nu Wave hits," I would have said, "Umm. Yes. Yes, we do need that." And I would have been absolutely right then, as I am now. Limp Bizkit's Nu Wave Nookie is a high-water mark.
• Bald and Bankrupt: I love a good YouTube travel Vlog. B&B has really grown on me over these last couple of months (shout out to Kurt Caz, I'm still in your army VIP Man). I find myself watching more of his videos these days. It could be because of my incoming foray into the travel-content-creation space this summer. More to come on that!

Parte Quatra: My Back Pages

• Check out my?YouTube channel for ongoing videos in my series on "Catholicism: A Complete Introduction." Four lectures have been posted, with a fifth soon to come! We're in the thick of unpacking?"Catholicism—The Basics."
• The second Your Philosophy Your Business content series on Don Miguel Ruiz's "The Four Agreements"?continues! My LinkedIn page will host?written posts and short videos (YouTube for unedited, longer takes).
• Did you miss the first YPYB content series? It was a treatment of my Nine Principles of Stoicism, and you can find it by tracking back on my LinkedIn page or more easily here on?Substack.?
• You can subscribe to my?Substack for extra written content on "Your Philosophy Your Business."

Parte Quinta: Under Glass

Notre-Dame has?ten bells in its bell towers. The oldest, known as Emmanuel, dates back to the 15th century, although it was recast as recently as 1681! Ringing in F sharp, the bell is "considered one of the most harmonically beautiful in Europe," per the Art Newspaper.

Think about it. These beauties used to be our public noise-makers. We've traded for the blaring sounds of Bad Bunny in between pitches at the ballpark...

And the people bowed and prayed

To the neon god they made

And the sign flashed out its warning

In the words that it was forming

Then the sign said, "The words on the prophets are written on the subway walls

In tenement halls"

And whispered in the sound of silence

Riferimenti

Habermas, Jürgen. Moral Consciousness and Communicative Action. Translated by Christian Lenhardt and Shierry Weber Nicholsen, MIT Press, 1990.

Heidegger, Martin. Being and Time. Translated by John Macquarrie and Edward Robinson, Harper & Row, 1962.

Thoreau, Henry David. Walden. Ticknor and Fields, 1854.

https://www.science.org/content/article/new-map-shows-americas-quietest-places

https://www.hearingconservation.org/assets/Decibel.pdf

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/secret-sounds-notre-dames-bells-180980313/