🤯Unknown Unknowns #85 - Do YOU get the Joke?
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🤯Unknown Unknowns #85 - Do YOU get the Joke?
Heraclitus wrote, “No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man.” I've always thought this saying applied to knowledge. Depending on your circumstances, a book can be perfect or useless.
But I'm thinking of this saying in terms of life now. At different points in time, you're ready for different things. You might be ambitious and extroverted when you're young and introspective when you're older.
Because you have different goals at different times, there's no linear path. Your goals and aims in life will drift.
But since most people think their life follows a default path, they try to follow it as quickly as possible. As their path naturally deviates, attempts to go faster on the default path pull you off course faster and faster.
I’ve realized this because I used to feel the need to improve as a person. To be better at whatever I do. Okay, fine - I still do. But I've realized that there's a time and place for everything. Trying to optimize your path may make an alternative path harder.
Your desires when you're younger are different than when you're older. And they may conflict. You can't base your decisions when you're younger on what your later desires will be. First, because whatever you think they will be will probably be wrong, and second, they will probably not lie in the same line. Preparing for what you think you might want in the future may contradict what you want to do now. And maximizing for what you do now may hurt you in the future.
We need to listen to ourselves. I'm against doing an activity to recover from an activity. For example, the whole "work hard, play hard" mentality. If you need to have a massive release in order to recover from work, you're better off understanding why you feel the need to have this job in the first place.
Judge yourself less. You don't know who you are and you don't know what water you're in. Be present. It's called present for a reason.
Discoveries:
I’m sharing three tweets today.
1️⃣
Interesting thread on how new ideas can be stifled by existing authorities. Physics was at a dead end for decades until a conference of young physicists spawned many breakthroughs. I’m reminded of the Max Planck quote, "Science advances one funeral at a time."
It’s important to incubate your ideas in a safe space before exposing them.
2️⃣
I like this distinction between idea people and status people. Discussing ideas is energizing while thinking about how other people think is exhausting.
3️⃣
Guides are important, but it’s equally important to reflect on what utility you get from them. Are they knowledge, permission, or example?
Blast From the Past:
In the finance world, "Get the joke" is a common refrain. Talking about closing a deal, someone might say the counterparty "gets the joke." Or talking about compensation, you might say "I get the joke." I've never been 100% clear on what this actually means. What I think it means is that you understand that you're playing a metagame. The counterparty is going to take a slightly worse deal because they'll get better terms next time. You're ok with your compensation because you're taking a hit now but you'll be taken care of next time.
I say I think this is what it means because I've never heard anyone actually explain what it means.
I've been thinking of this concept lately because of my exploration into spiritual practices. I'm unsure if these practices are metaphorical or literal. When a teacher says that we're all one consciousness do they mean that we literally are the same being and I'm not aware of that or is it a metaphor, that everything in the world is so connected that we should act as if we're all one being?
Is it a joke I just don't get? Or an understanding I’m not ready for yet?
Quote of the Week:
“Men and women were divided into three classes mentally. The first and lowest class talk of persons; the second talk about things; the third and highest about ideas.” - Henry Thomas Buckle
Something Fun:
I’m not into poetry, but I like these three poems from a poet I’ve never heard of before, Piet Hein.
First, a quote from the poet:
“Art is the solution to problems which cannot be formulated clearly before they have been solved".
This fits in nicely with my theory of learning - as a cycle between abstract theory and concrete experiment. You try to prove a theory with an experiment, but the experiment often reveals things that you don’t understand, causing you to come up with a new theory.
My favorite of the three poems, but click through for the other two, plus an interesting backstory.
You can find more of my writing at chr.iswong.com.
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Leaving you in peace,
Chris
🤯Unknown Unknowns #85 - Do YOU get the Joke?
I feel so seen by that visa tweet ha!