Just Because it is Green

Pure equality would restrict us. Like the monoculture of a Palm Oil Plantation versus the rich biodiversity of a Rain Forest. One may be green, but the life disappears. Daniel Dennett’s book “Darwin's Dangerous Idea” reframed the concept of evolution in a way that I had not understood before. I always had the sense that it was important to have some driving sense of progress. We want some knowledge of how things are going to play out. That is why we love this idea of cause and effect. Then we can control what is going to happen. Letting go of that control is very difficult. That is Darwin's dangerous idea. It talks about the Red Queen, in Alice in Wonderland. Where she has to run as fast as she can just to stay in the same place. We have to step back and start looking at our idea of progress.

A Palm Oil Plantation in Malaysia

Colourful Delight

To really gain an understanding of the world, you need a pinch of salt for the way you think things work. Understanding that can be quite frustrating when things do not respond the way you thought they would. When we are children, we are much more willing to let things play out. We enjoy being surprised. It delights us when things are interesting. Rather than the joy of a fascinated two-year-old, we can be enraged. 

Ken Robinson pointed out that almost all children believe they can draw when they are 5 years old. You learn your way out of creativity. By the age of 15, someone has convinced most of us we cannot draw. Our creativity is bounded by the belief that we need to be sorted by conspicuous, immediate, competency. We stop learning as we create a story about who we are, and how we control the world. We specialize to get recognition for how we are special. We tell stories so that we can categorise and create boxes in which we can find comfort. A safe space we understand. That allows us to ignore the world that is not the way we want.

See then Nudge

Acceptance is difficult. I have always been a bit of a “try hard”. That was what we called people at school who were constantly doing something. The implication being that you are trying to impress the teachers. Like the idea of a “Teachers Pet” or “Brown Nosing”.

The world is structured towards encouraging activity, and the conspicuous things that we can see. We look for cause and effect, so that we can control our environment. The assumption being that we are the reason for things, and knowledge will allow us to act with dependable outcomes. By acting, we further our goals. Which seems logical, and Cartesian. We think, therefore we are. Think then do. Try.

Through Josh Waitzkin, and his book “The Art of Learning”, I was introduced to the idea of Wu Wei, which means action through inaction. You start by seeing things as they are, rather than living in our minds. Rather than living in how we want things to be. See then nudge. A less anxious way of engaging with the chaos.

Self Worth

It is comforting to think we get paid based on effort. If we can look at the world and believe the trick is to understand cause and effect. That actions lead to reliable, predictable, consequences. Unfortunately, that is not how it works. Sorry If you worked really hard and are a really good person. If your solution is the same as someone else’s, then the only way you get paid more is if the person with the money (1) likes you, or (2) doesn’t know about the equivalent solution. We have a long history of roles, class, and standing in society. New solutions shake things up. Price is based on supply and demand. Knowledge spreads and more people can provide the solution. The word Capitalism has almost lost its meaning, but I think it is worth thinking of separately from Corporatism and Pricing. Capital is breathing space. It’s not about you, your effort, or your solution. It can morph. Corporates are just how we create barriers to protect effort. Prices are just a way of counting and communicating. All three are tools. Learn to use them and you build the ability to value yourself, rather than being priced by the market.

Degrading Categories

I hate feeling incompetent. Almost as much as I hate the feeling of having gotten it wrong by someone. In a way that I can’t correct. Intellectually I get the idea of the importance of not caring what other people think. But I do care. And people, all people, have limits to their skills and knowledge. Money lets you hide it somewhat. You can pay people to do the things you can’t do. You can even convince yourself that that is because your time is worth more than theirs. That the thing you specialise in is more important than the thing they do. Particularly if it pays more. So, paying them to do the thing you can’t do is protecting your time. You can even convince yourself that you could do the thing they do, if you chose to. Underlying a lot of problematic prejudice is a fundamental belief in superiority. Dividing people into binary categories of “good enough” and “not good enough”. Second class citizens. Surrounding yourself with people you feel are good enough. Not doing the work to see the others. Underlying that is probably the internal voice telling you you aren’t good enough. The voice that is secretly aware of all the things you can’t do.

Uncontrollable

I have always envied Hole Diggers. Someone whose job it is to dig 6 holes. They dig 8, drop the mic, and leave work early. The ask and offer is incredibly clear. I used to love Maths at school. Yes, Mrs Chick used to tease me about going via Cape Town to a solution, but it was either right or wrong. And she could show me the short cuts. Mr Lichkus and I would go head to head in epic battles in the Art Room. I had to lean into chaos. I once let my classmates have an hour to do whatever they wanted to my piece. Flames and burnt plastic followed. As I coughed and sneezed black stuff from my nose during the next period in English class (similarly ambiguous), I did have a break through on reflection. Much harder won. In the Investment world people pretend it’s maths. That their track record points to their success. Except when that track record disappears. Then it is church, or art class, or English. Anything with wiggle room. Ambiguity provides space for BS. It also provides space for beauty. In the eye of the beholder, and in the control of the beholden.

Fire and Earth

In the Stillness

The Gambler’s Fallacy stems from our obsession with patterns. Our desire to attribute to the world cause and effect, in our attempt to control it. When something has no memory, history is irrelevant. People have memory. It colours our world and is the basis of our personal hallucination that is our interpretation of reality. Real Reality regularly has no memory. Whatever happened before has no bearing on what happens next. The Gambler will believe that there is more likelihood of a six because there hasn’t been a six for a while. The Fair Dice doesn’t care. The probability is the same. There is something empowering about not trying to make sense of everything. About not attributing cause and effect to everything. Of accepting that every decision is complicated and has advantages and disadvantages. Every decision has unintended consequences. The only thing that is all-knowing, all-powerful, and ever-present is Silence. That moment you pause to breathe.

50-50 and the Law of Large Numbers

Demonstrable Value

We learn best through instantaneous feedback. Particularly if it is repeated every time we do the same thing. Predictable cause. Predictable effect. This is true even if we aren’t conscious about the lessons being learnt. Muscle memory kicks in. Slow is harder. The 18-year-old still lights up despite the threat of blackened lungs, bloody coughs, and amputated limbs later in life. Particularly because everyone knows a belligerent Grampa who drinks like a sailor, smokes like a chimney, and can still beat you in an arm-wrestle. Single counter-factual stories carry far more punch than spreadsheets and charts of long-term data. This leads to a bias towards demonstrable value. Things you can count, contain, and importantly, understand, get far more resources. Things you can contain make good businesses. At the expense of things that are good ideas, but subtle, nuanced and difficult to demonstrate. A lot of our knowledge is tacit. Communicating it is hard. That is why I believe in bottom up empowerment. Giving people the space and time to do their thing. Trusting each other.