I loved the story about Kaldor. It reminded me of something I may have already written about, namely that at university I did not attend other students' orals because I did not want to be influenced by them, i.e. I did not want to have expectations either in a positive or negative sense. I have never regretted this choice. You could say that there are inherent biases and induced biases: the former we learn unconsciously and they influence our actions but the latter we can control, like deciding that we do not want to be influenced by something. Often - I reflected - we cannot distinguish information and influence. Specifically: to have information about something is important but to be influenced by something is different, like you with the terrible professor you then faced with great and natural naivety. You have to try to be informed and never let yourself be influenced, even if it's not easy.
Thank you, Martino. I might have missed what you wrote about not attending orals in college. Would love to read it!. Regarding biases, it's a mysterious domain that's hard to navigate. I've always failed, or maybe experienced a wide gap between words and actions. Not easy at all. But I've given up and I'm happy like that.
Great reflections Silvio, I'm with you on this (as with many other things). It also matched something I recently heard from Shane Parrish on Tim Ferriss' podcast (ironic, since Shane used to be very big on mental models and such): "Writing is the process by which we realize we don’t understand what we’re talking about. And it’s only when you sit down and put pen to paper or even type out an idea that you have, a decision you’re making, an idea you’re wrestling with, that you sort of see where you don’t understand it. And the process of writing is not only refining that idea and helping you reflect on it, but you actually generate new ideas in the process of writing."
That, more than the craft and all those things you're avoiding, is what we should be aiming towards every time we sit and write.
Thank you, Oscar! Very nice quote, you shared there. And powerful. Love it. I think being authentic may sound banal, but it's the most difficult thing to do. Well, you can do it, but to endure being authentic in the midst of a continuous bombardment of ideas, opinions, tastes, people yelling their lifestyles at you, etc, is probably hard. So I guess that's what we should strive to be, always authentic, no matter what. And if people like us for this, even better. But if you make yourself liked because of some made-up narrative that's not really you, then sooner or later that's going to crack.
Thanks for sharing this. Defined behavioral biases are allowing society to self diagnose and then claim the victims card so easily. “I can’t help it that I have a Cognitive Dissonance for Blonde People bias!” So they justify action rather than reeling it in and being more mindful beyond what they want. I appreciate the broad range of topics you tackle, Silvio.
Completely agree, Stan. Thank you for this reflection. Life seems to have gotten a continuous quest for the excuse, for the scapegoat, because we need to find a justification or a culprit for anything. And that sucks, if you ask me. :)
AND I liked this too ! I don't know if it was due to the fact that I found myself pure in the dynamics of how to present myself for university exams (same "steps" of acquired awareness) but then perhaps even in the face of today's tests it shouldn't change that much; or for the fact that I think that writing is much more fascinating when it is "vomited" like a turmoil of the soul, which is then revised, corrected and so on... but all this only if it essentially responds to one's own internal laws.
Yes, I left out the question of prejudice tout court. We live with it, sometimes more, sometimes less
You know, like all things I think it depends on the perception that everyone has and how they then internalize it. For me, yes, or rather I have always experienced it lightly (which does not mean superficiality: I like to know, to see similar words explored, to correct myself, to re-read them after some time, to understand how the construct could work better, etc.); sometimes I took it as a necessity to clarify my ideas, to stop, to overcome certain passages. Others have decided to ensure that their passion for writing takes a more precise path, perhaps, I have never made the decision to ensure that it becomes a source of something else. And perhaps at the beginning we all understand it and live in another way, almost cathartic, then there comes a turning point in which inevitably, having made a "commitment", you live it in a dutiful sense. I do not know. Perhaps we start from a "wrong" assumption: negative meaning of the word 'work', utopian to turn one's passion into a job? And continue to live it like this, even more !? I would like to think that for some writers, journalists over the years it still applies, that they have maintained the same unconscious approach as the first time they picked up pen and paper.
The professor story is wonderful! What a delightful little tale. I think, on balance, industrious innocence is bound to eventually triumph over clever strategies to snatch the gold ring of success off the merry-go-round. It's been true for me in the speaking business. Never joined a speaker's association, studied the rules and craft of professional speaking, or watched and hung out with industry pros. I just tried things that felt right to me, and I wound up with a very unique product that no one can duplicate and the market finds favorable. I think we'd probably go off the deep end without the buffer of biases to find meaning in our time here. But now I have to take my jacket off. Is it just me, or is it caldo in here?
Thank you, Rick! I knew you might like the professor story, I thought of you when writing it. It's an indelible memory. Yes, I think you put it well: there's no need of complicated superstructures to navigate life happily and rewardingly, no matter what we do.
And this, "But now I have to take my jacket off. Is it just me, or is it caldo in here?", just gave me the good laugh that I needed (I'm home with covid lol). :)
Silvio. The last three weeks I’ve avoided writing because for some reason it felt like work. You hit the nail on the head for me, and your essay comes at the perfect time. I’m deeply grateful it’s what you chose to riff on this week. Oh and I was an Econ major and loved the first half too.
Thank you, James! You know, I've got covid and yesterday I was going to take that as an excuse and skip the week without publishing. I would have broken an unblemished streak that has been going on since the days of WOP 9. But then I got down to it and in a few hours I had something I was content with. All this because it's not a burden. It's actually a moment of lightness and freedom.
...you may have accidentally stumbled on the proper technique to cure a jerk....just hear the next closest thing to what they ask you...classic misdirection...the right answer is the wrong answer if it is the only answer you got...thanks for this Silvio...
...that's true...the fact that you nailed that w/o a sweat and entertained him at the same time is a true gift...love this remembrance...and have so many thoughts on that italian school process...in the USA we actively avoid attending classes we are supposed to attend, let alone attending them ahead of our actual attendance...slothing...
Beautiful Silvio. Big yes to taking risks, daring to do so with ease, and that delicious sense of mystery
Thank you, Kristin. Taking risks with ease is so well put! :)
I loved the story about Kaldor. It reminded me of something I may have already written about, namely that at university I did not attend other students' orals because I did not want to be influenced by them, i.e. I did not want to have expectations either in a positive or negative sense. I have never regretted this choice. You could say that there are inherent biases and induced biases: the former we learn unconsciously and they influence our actions but the latter we can control, like deciding that we do not want to be influenced by something. Often - I reflected - we cannot distinguish information and influence. Specifically: to have information about something is important but to be influenced by something is different, like you with the terrible professor you then faced with great and natural naivety. You have to try to be informed and never let yourself be influenced, even if it's not easy.
Thank you, Martino. I might have missed what you wrote about not attending orals in college. Would love to read it!. Regarding biases, it's a mysterious domain that's hard to navigate. I've always failed, or maybe experienced a wide gap between words and actions. Not easy at all. But I've given up and I'm happy like that.
Fun fact: I don't remember where or if I wrote it, but in my mind I did it! Maybe I just wanted to do it, who knows. Thank you Silvio!
Great reflections Silvio, I'm with you on this (as with many other things). It also matched something I recently heard from Shane Parrish on Tim Ferriss' podcast (ironic, since Shane used to be very big on mental models and such): "Writing is the process by which we realize we don’t understand what we’re talking about. And it’s only when you sit down and put pen to paper or even type out an idea that you have, a decision you’re making, an idea you’re wrestling with, that you sort of see where you don’t understand it. And the process of writing is not only refining that idea and helping you reflect on it, but you actually generate new ideas in the process of writing."
That, more than the craft and all those things you're avoiding, is what we should be aiming towards every time we sit and write.
Thank you, Oscar! Very nice quote, you shared there. And powerful. Love it. I think being authentic may sound banal, but it's the most difficult thing to do. Well, you can do it, but to endure being authentic in the midst of a continuous bombardment of ideas, opinions, tastes, people yelling their lifestyles at you, etc, is probably hard. So I guess that's what we should strive to be, always authentic, no matter what. And if people like us for this, even better. But if you make yourself liked because of some made-up narrative that's not really you, then sooner or later that's going to crack.
Thanks for sharing this. Defined behavioral biases are allowing society to self diagnose and then claim the victims card so easily. “I can’t help it that I have a Cognitive Dissonance for Blonde People bias!” So they justify action rather than reeling it in and being more mindful beyond what they want. I appreciate the broad range of topics you tackle, Silvio.
Completely agree, Stan. Thank you for this reflection. Life seems to have gotten a continuous quest for the excuse, for the scapegoat, because we need to find a justification or a culprit for anything. And that sucks, if you ask me. :)
AND I liked this too ! I don't know if it was due to the fact that I found myself pure in the dynamics of how to present myself for university exams (same "steps" of acquired awareness) but then perhaps even in the face of today's tests it shouldn't change that much; or for the fact that I think that writing is much more fascinating when it is "vomited" like a turmoil of the soul, which is then revised, corrected and so on... but all this only if it essentially responds to one's own internal laws.
Yes, I left out the question of prejudice tout court. We live with it, sometimes more, sometimes less
Ciao Mari, glad you're back commenting. And thank you for your thought. Working on writing sounds like an oxymoron, don't you think?
You know, like all things I think it depends on the perception that everyone has and how they then internalize it. For me, yes, or rather I have always experienced it lightly (which does not mean superficiality: I like to know, to see similar words explored, to correct myself, to re-read them after some time, to understand how the construct could work better, etc.); sometimes I took it as a necessity to clarify my ideas, to stop, to overcome certain passages. Others have decided to ensure that their passion for writing takes a more precise path, perhaps, I have never made the decision to ensure that it becomes a source of something else. And perhaps at the beginning we all understand it and live in another way, almost cathartic, then there comes a turning point in which inevitably, having made a "commitment", you live it in a dutiful sense. I do not know. Perhaps we start from a "wrong" assumption: negative meaning of the word 'work', utopian to turn one's passion into a job? And continue to live it like this, even more !? I would like to think that for some writers, journalists over the years it still applies, that they have maintained the same unconscious approach as the first time they picked up pen and paper.
Very good point. "Perhaps we start from a "wrong" assumption: negative meaning of the word 'work'" -- exactly. Thank you!
The professor story is wonderful! What a delightful little tale. I think, on balance, industrious innocence is bound to eventually triumph over clever strategies to snatch the gold ring of success off the merry-go-round. It's been true for me in the speaking business. Never joined a speaker's association, studied the rules and craft of professional speaking, or watched and hung out with industry pros. I just tried things that felt right to me, and I wound up with a very unique product that no one can duplicate and the market finds favorable. I think we'd probably go off the deep end without the buffer of biases to find meaning in our time here. But now I have to take my jacket off. Is it just me, or is it caldo in here?
Thank you, Rick! I knew you might like the professor story, I thought of you when writing it. It's an indelible memory. Yes, I think you put it well: there's no need of complicated superstructures to navigate life happily and rewardingly, no matter what we do.
And this, "But now I have to take my jacket off. Is it just me, or is it caldo in here?", just gave me the good laugh that I needed (I'm home with covid lol). :)
Oh man . . . sorry to hear you got hit, but glad you got the laugh.
It's my second one! But it's almost nothing. Very, very mild.
Silvio. The last three weeks I’ve avoided writing because for some reason it felt like work. You hit the nail on the head for me, and your essay comes at the perfect time. I’m deeply grateful it’s what you chose to riff on this week. Oh and I was an Econ major and loved the first half too.
Thank you, James! You know, I've got covid and yesterday I was going to take that as an excuse and skip the week without publishing. I would have broken an unblemished streak that has been going on since the days of WOP 9. But then I got down to it and in a few hours I had something I was content with. All this because it's not a burden. It's actually a moment of lightness and freedom.
...you may have accidentally stumbled on the proper technique to cure a jerk....just hear the next closest thing to what they ask you...classic misdirection...the right answer is the wrong answer if it is the only answer you got...thanks for this Silvio...
Thank you, CansaFis. Yours may be a good summary of that practice lol. Although, in all fairness, I did know the correct answer! :)
...that's true...the fact that you nailed that w/o a sweat and entertained him at the same time is a true gift...love this remembrance...and have so many thoughts on that italian school process...in the USA we actively avoid attending classes we are supposed to attend, let alone attending them ahead of our actual attendance...slothing...
LOL that's so interesting. Mine was a one of a kind memory in this particular field of occurrences, I have to say. A good one nonetheless!