Qualia Anyone?

Remember when we wrote about Memes?

There is another term out there now, but I have no idea how new or how old it is, except to say it is new to me. Since my vocabulary is not too limited, a new term for me is sort of a surprise.

Apparently Qualia is a name for the positive feeling you get from experiences like listening to music and looking at a picture. It can also mean the sensation you have when you discover something profound, or more to the point, when you realize that what you already knew has a profound connection to something else you already knew.

Qualia is like discovering that the girl you have been searching for, ever since you met her, lives right next door. Or finding out that all geniuses are left handed. Or that all past presidents belonged to an exclusive and secretive club called the Skull and Bones.

More to the point, Qualia happens the first time you heard THAT song, which is the best song ever recorded. Or the first time you held an iPod and listened to the amazing sound coming from it. Qualia is the first time you saw a genuine Picasso or a Monet.

Qualia is what you felt when you first used a Mac.

Now comes along a company that is using the term Qualia for one of its products, sort of like Toyota employs with its Lexus line of cars. That company is Sony. Sony’s Qualia line of products is designed to stimulate your Qualia, or so they say.

Sony’s product designs are unique. However, I really don’t find Qualia in Sony products. In my opinion the can’t hold a candle to the Qualia that comes from using a Titanium G5, or a Powerbook, – or an iPod.