5 Thoughts — August 28, 2021
Outlines are an exercise in fractal thinking. Unlike every other era, ours is truly unique. Smart glasses with context. Doing for the self is better than doing for others. Life is non-Markovian.
Day 2 begins of my journey to chronicle whatever thoughts I can. Forcing myself to spend 10–15 minutes daily to write down 5 things is my way of committing to myself. Join me.
Outlines are an exercise in fractal thinking
People get stuck on the brilliance of an idea, often tot he point of excess, but neglect the necessity and impact of proper execution. Whether executing a startup, novel, research or whatever, an outline is a great tool to get going. A fractal is a pattern that repeats at different scales and an outline can be much the same. Starting with the most important things, and drilling down, helps build what might otherwise be impossible.
Unlike every other era, ours is truly unique
It’s a truism that every generation thinks their struggles are unique in time. But we went from the Wright Brothers first airplane in 1903 to landing on the moon in less than 1 lifetime. Just 66 years. Technology, historically, has made small continuous progress over the millennia, punctuated with a few significant ideas (writing, the wheel, printing press, etc), but over the past 100 years, it’s really let loose. The first silicon transistor was invented in 1954 and in the 6 decades that followed, entirely new industries, jobs and forms of entertainment were created. The confluence of AI, IoT, and high-speed connectivity mean that more is tracked about us by more players than ever before possible. While history does repeat itself, that may be because the present resembled the past for much of it. But not today.
Smart glasses with context
Whether considering Iron Man from the Marvel Universe, Owl Man from Watchmen or perhaps just the Terminator, the idea of having augmented vision certainly is a captivating one. I think it’s increasingly possible to actually achieve. So called “smart glasses,” like the Google Glass, Snap Spectacles and so on have already demonstrated how information can be displayed on the glasses. Computer vision technology has gotten amazing at detecting things and people, so why not combine the 2?
Doing for the self is better than doing for others
I’m choosing to write these thoughts on Medium.com and share them publicly. The alternative would be private journaling. It’s my belief that private journaling (something that only I know of) would result in more sincere thoughts than a public post. But I hope to kick start the flywheel by committing to a schedule.
Life is non-Markovian
The Markov property states that the current state of a system is all that’s needed to determine the next step. History can safely be ignored since it is incorporated into the current state. An example would be a game of chess between mathematically optimal players. If we take psychology out of it, then the position of all of the pieces on the board is sufficient. When deciding what move to make. However, when playing poker, it is impossible to discount the historic actions of the players. Life seems to resemble poker a lot more than chess.
Read more in my daily 5 thoughts:
August 27, 2021 — Gratitude is overlooked. Staring at a thing robs it of its essence. Humans create nothing great the first time. Engagement is a prerequisite for attention. Disagreeing with your earlier self is growth.
August 28, 2021 — Outlines are an exercise in fractal thinking. Unlike every other era, ours is truly unique. Smart glasses with context. Doing for the self is better than doing for others. Life is non-Markovian.
August 29, 2021 — We like babies and dogs because their intention is not clear. To make something automatic, work tirelessly at it manually. A smart civilization should fear smarter ones. The pace of technological innovation cannot continue. The study of education is less than 100 years old.
