intro: acquiring wisdom Flashcards
thinking better isn’t about being a genius but…..
its about the process we use to uncover reality and the choices we make once we do
what is a mental model
its a representation of how things work, kind of like a manual for your brain
in order to see a problem for what it is we must…
first break it down into its substanted parts so its inner connections can reveal themself.
being able to accurately describe the full scope of a situation is
the first step to understanding the inner connections of something
simple and well defined problems don’t need many lens because
the variables are already known and obvious, for example how to put gas in a car
when a problem is more complex you need more lenses because
the solution isn’t readily available and requires you to tackle the problem from different angles
true or false: all lenses apply to all problems
false
most problems are
multidimensional
understanding must be what
tested against reality
if you never test your ideas then
you’ll never know if they are rooted in reality
what is the biggest weakness we all have
we have blindspots that we don’t see or notice
what keeps us from interacting from reality? hint 3 things
- not having right perspective or vantage point 2. ego induce denial 3. distance from consequences of our decisions
perspective flaw?
we have a hard time seeing any system we are in. we have limits to our perspection
ego flaw?
we have too much opinion and unable to learn from the world.
distance
the further we are from the results of our decisions the easier it is to keep our current ignorances. for example touching a stove immediately lets you know not to touch the stove. but if the stove never burns you then you don’t learn or have that immediate feedback
why is it so easy to keep our current beliefs
because it takes more time to update and change our beliefs
understanding reality isn’t enough why?
because understanding means nothing if you don’t take actionable step to change your current thinking, kind of like when someone keeps interrupting people and knows it but doesn’t do anything about it
the world doesn’t act on us rather it
reveals itself to us and we respond
how does ego work for our benefit
because if we always had a rational view of the world, we’d never attempt to do amazing things, basically our ego is the dumb friend who pushes you to do things even though from another perspective might be dumb
wrapping ego up in outcome instead of ourself
we evolve our knowledge
models that don’t hold up to reality do what
cause massive mistakes, for ex blood letting
its only through what can we determine our mental model to be true
when we test and get feedback on our mental model
what is one issue that might hinder updating your mental model
some of us we focus too much of one specific discipline instead of looking at different disciplines, so you only see things that makes sense to you so you only see 10% for ex, of a problem
the psychologist, financial manager and engineer might have flawed systems because
they only see things from their perspective discipline instead of multi perspectives
not every problem is a nail to a man with a
hammer
our lenses are dictated by what
our discipline, for ex an engineer might see things as systems
more mental models =
a better perspective on the world and how to solve its problem
better models make
better decisions
