Bhajan, Gita and Veda level thinking of CryptoAssets and Token Economics
Bhajan, Gita and Veda are hindi words when translated into english it stands for Metaphor, Mental Model & First Principles level of thinking.
As I was explaining blockchain, bitcoin, ethereum to few folks interested in ICOs I found it useful to explain it through above three levels of focus. Being a new space there is ton of information out there, folks end up mixing all different level thinking and it confuses more than clarifying.
Not just blockchain any novel or unprecedented topics it is useful to dial focus with the above depths of thinking.
To define something at Bhajan (metaphor) level is to ask if it passes the ‘Grandmother’ test for comprehension and ‘Chinese whisper’ test of repeatability.
Gita (mental model) level is arriving at the right mental model for something that makes it tractable to address most aspects related to it. Farnamstreet blog is a treasure trove for thinking about mental models in general in life.
In the Veda(first principle) level everything is questioned, sometimes recursively till one runs out of question and asks what has changed in the most fundamental way and how to adjust our understanding of current mental model.
99 % of the world operates at the Bhajan (Metaphor) level, < 1% like Charlie Munger attempt to learn the Gita (Mental model) level, a very tiny fraction amongst philosophers, scientists & certain type of entrepreneurs (Elon Musk) question in first principle.
Key point of my explanation to ICO interested folks was that enthusiasts can suffice with Bhajan (metaphor) level of understanding, most investors may operate at Gita(mental model) level but entrepreneurs and investors must operate at Veda (first principle) level & easily traverse all the the three or it may end up being too risky.
Few things that stood out for me when thinking about cryptoassets
- We don’t have very good Bhajan (metaphor) yet in the cryptoassets world.
- No other space like crypto where the changes across Bhajan (metaphor), Gita (mental model) & Veda (first principles) level are so interconnected and rapidly changing.
- Regulator who eventually decides something to be legal is most often a Gita (mental model) level thinker and gets swayed by strong Bhajan (metaphor) movements. (Ex - Net Neutrality)
- Veda (first principles) level thinkers are public intellectual or thought leaders, thought leaders usually have an agenda. So when following someone here have to make this distinction
There are many good thinkers out there in the crypto space and it is attracting some of the best thinkers towards it. Below is my mental map of the various type of thinkers that are out there. How would you revise it ?
Veda thinkers — Naval Ravikant, Nick Szabo, CryptoMedici, Zhao, Vitalik Buterin
Gita level thinker — Ari Paul, Fred Wilson, Andreas Antoupolous, Chris Burniske, William Mougayar
Bhajan level thinkers are most of the blogs and youtube videos out there.
