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Zeitgeist

Why the time is perfect for us to attempt to reach infinity

The Science

Science demystifies art, art dies without enigma. Art always comes first, it takes Science forward.

There are quite a few stages of brain and behavioral development in a human being, a few of the ones that I remember, vaguely, are these -

  • 0 - 3 years - 90% of the physical development of the brain happens during these years, we start to understand the physical constraints of the world, that is - the gravity, our mothers, when not in front of us, have not disintegrated and that they would be back, there are a lot of different faces in the world, etc.
  • 3 - 7 years - language development, if you want your kid to have a British accent while speaking English, this is the time.
  • 7 - 13 years - some sort of identity development starts
  • 13 - 19 years - “teen” years, peers are more important than self, peer-pressure is real, group identity is more important than self, rebellious nature, etc.
  • 20 - 25 (sometime till 30) - PFC development
  • 30+ - Not relevant for this essay, or for you. Brain development is complete at this stage, parts of the brain, but new neurons keep developing and old neurons keep dying. Nothing interesting, except for, yes the brain continues to grow. Also, human beings utilize 100% of their brain, not just the 20% capacity, as per the famous myth.

Anyways, the state (20 - 25, sometimes till 30) is an interesting stage, as at this stage the PFC part of the brain starts developing, which is responsible for Executive functions of the brain

  • making decisions
  • planning complex behavior
  • developing personality
  • social behavior.

Why are these years such crucial years? After this period, it becomes extremely hard to change the behavior, though not impossible, just 10X hard (not a real measure).

Ultimately, your PFCs neural pathways are extremely important, they control your perceptions, biases, reactions, emotions, they control the potential of what you could become.

The Mental Models

Mental models are how we understand the world, simplify complexity, see an opportunity, and how we reason.

Human beings are riddled with biases, we have individual biases, then we have group biases; biases themselves are neither good, nor bad; but, knowing when we are getting influenced by which one of our biases is extremely important if you want to live an uncomplicated life (with a probability between 1 and 0).

A few mental models that are relevant to the discussion here -

The map is not the territory

Whatever you think you know, about something that you have not developed from scratch, or thought about deeply, your knowledge would always be limited. Things change fast, what you know might not be relevant anymore. Always test your biases about knowing something.

Circle of competence

Those who have an answer to every question have the right answer to none. If you are standing up for something or rejecting something, your knowledge about a topic should be very deep. Always know what’s known-know, known-unknown, unknown-unknown.

Curiosity Instinct

A human being is the most curious species, among all the other primates. From being the weaklings of the animal kingdom to now controlling the environment, we had to develop a big brain, that can imagine and create tools, we can communicate facts and more importantly imagined stories. PFC in humans is disproportionately larger than in other primates. Don’t hold back your curiosity.

First Principles thinking

Because we have the propensity to imagine and communicate stories and larger than life facts, just to hold the attention of our listeners, always recheck the told facts, don’t get fooled by some preconceived notions and interesting stories

Compounding

When you read about two topics you don’t just get two thoughts, one for each topic, rather, you get three ideas, one about each and one about topics merged. Imagine this for n-topics. Imagine this for n-closely-related topics, and you build your circle of competence. Imagine this of n-totally-unrelated topics, and you spark your curiosity instinct.

The tendency to minimize energy utilization

Let’s just acknowledge, we are lazy, everyone is, you are not special, biologically (or might be you are, but that’s not the point). Whatever information intake, our brain compresses it to the extreme, in your subconscious and long term storage; not just the brain, but our muscles as well, store the experiences (muscle memory has been proven). This is to make sure that while performing a task, you are utilizing the least amount of memory, all the actions are triggered subconsciously. “Practice makes a man perfect”, is true, scientifically.

First conclusion bias

This is the negative side of the point described above, we don’t want to double think about something, that’s why our idea is the best idea. That’s why it’s good to have brainstorming sessions.

Confirmation bias

We have a tendency to ignore the information that goes against our belief system.

Emergence

The complex systems evolve from simple systems. Complex ideas evolve from simple ideas. Complex organisms evolve from simple ones. You get the idea. Thinking from the first-principles helps you decode the complex ideas, compounding lets you build complex ideas.

Social Proof

In a group, you do what the group does, however wrong or right the action might be. Mobs would kill innocents, burn busses, don’t raise questions, don’t rock the boat, don’t stand up to leave the meeting before anyone else (even when there is a fire in the room).

The fuck this has to do with the infinity?

Can I get my infinity now?

“How you do anything is how you do everything” -- Buddha (or someone)

  • Invest in building your knowledge base
  • Read, Listen, Watch to people who are building something, who have invested their life in creating something
  • Go deeper into the topics you like
  • Go wider into the topics that you feel are cool
  • Go deeper into the topics that revolve around your field/ work
  • Invest in building good habits
  • No work is unimportant (work != job)
  • Don’t cut corners
  • Know when you don’t know something
  • Don’t hold yourself back, be bold, be brave
  • Keep your biases in check and you curiosity unleashed
  • Unsubscribe from the notion of - “I am this and I can do just this”
  • Subscribe to everything
  • Eventually, you would know what interests you and why
  • Invest in building good health
  • Sleep well
  • Eat good
  • Exercise some

“Our life is what our thoughts make it.”, Marcus Aurelius

Now, something controversial -

Remember, not to become a modern-day slave

You are getting paid for your skills, you are a one-man company in yourself

  • Question everything
  • Don’t accept hierarchy for the sake of it
  • Do things your way
  • Align your goals and your work
  • Find something that you love about your work
  • Find work that you would love to do, even for free
  • Remember, all your thoughts are just that: thoughts; and, they can be controlled
  • the mind is a good slave and a terrible master
  • Remember, ideas need to be built
  • Keep building
  • Skills are cheap, attitude is what matters

“There is no secret ingredient”, Kung Fu Panda (Po)

References

A few ideas I have created by myself, others I have observed, and others I have read

Post Script

“Heroes are heroes because they are heroic in behavior, not because they won or lost.”, Nassim Nicholas Taleb