I love the outlier.  Most scientific people discourage the outlier as an anomaly, an outsider, a “something that must be identified and then discredited.”


I, on the other hand, think the real truth speaks outside the mainstream meme, and in the outlier we find the nuggets of perspective and understanding the median mind — or result, or analysis, or argument — cannot hope to provide.

In the outlier, we find a view of the bigger picture and with that perspective we gain insight and an annulment of the middling mindset.

You do not discount the outlier. 

You must become the outlier. 

You are required to find out the why of the outlier — and then apply the outlier thinking to the mainstream and not the other way around — even if the presence of an outlier makes no sense at all.

5 Comments

  1. ANNE – I live and teach on the upper West Coast of the United States. My interests are Philosophy, English, and Social Communication.
    ANNE says:

    I like outliers too. They do have value. They frame the bigger picture. Becoming them? Maybe not.

  2. David Boles – New York City – David Boles was born in Nebraska and holds an MFA from the Oscar Hammerstein II Center for Theatre Studies at Columbia University in the City of New York. He is an author, dramatist, editor, publisher, and teacher who writes across the live stage, print, radio, television, film, and the web. With more than 50 books in print, David continues to write 2MM words a year and has authored over 25K articles. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Authors Guild, and PEN America, and founded The United Stage advocacy platform on the principle that playwrights have a duty to direct their own work. Read the Prairie Voice Archive at Boles.com | Buy his books at David Boles Books Writing & Publishing at BolesBooks.com | Study with Script Professor at ScriptProfessor.com | Touch American Sign Language mastery at Hardcore ASL at HardcoreASL.com | Explore the Human Meme podcast at HumanMeme.com | Train with Boles Bells at BolesBells.com.
    David W. Boles says:

    I think becoming an outlier provides greater depth of experience, Anne, because it is beyond normal expectation.

  3. Kathakali Chatterjee – Hyderabad, India – Professionally, I have an interesting concoction of experience -- from entertainment industry to retailing to executive education -- the journey is still on. When I don't work, I love to travel, read, listen to music and watch movies.
    Kathakali Chatterjee says:

    Hi David,
    I agree with you – 100%. It’s tough to swim through the opposite direction though!

  4. David Boles – New York City – David Boles was born in Nebraska and holds an MFA from the Oscar Hammerstein II Center for Theatre Studies at Columbia University in the City of New York. He is an author, dramatist, editor, publisher, and teacher who writes across the live stage, print, radio, television, film, and the web. With more than 50 books in print, David continues to write 2MM words a year and has authored over 25K articles. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Authors Guild, and PEN America, and founded The United Stage advocacy platform on the principle that playwrights have a duty to direct their own work. Read the Prairie Voice Archive at Boles.com | Buy his books at David Boles Books Writing & Publishing at BolesBooks.com | Study with Script Professor at ScriptProfessor.com | Touch American Sign Language mastery at Hardcore ASL at HardcoreASL.com | Explore the Human Meme podcast at HumanMeme.com | Train with Boles Bells at BolesBells.com.
    David W. Boles says:

    Yes, Katha! It is difficult being an outlier because the mainstream want to protect their own from outside, wild, ideas that are “out there.” It’s too bad the scientific method doesn’t place more value on the when and the why of the outlier. Too often outliers are rejected out-of-hand as inconsequential. In fact, you can have outliers automatically wiped from the results as if they were never there and you’ll never see them. There might be dangers and secrets there that are being discounted for no other reason except that they’re out of the main blob.

  5. Pingback: Petting the Mainstream Middling Mind: An Indictment Against Standardized Testing « Boles Blogs

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