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My top four: Behavior is hard to fix. People say they’ve learned but they underestimate how much of their previous mistake was caused by emotions that will ret

My top four: Behavior is hard to fix. People say they’ve learned but they underestimate how much of their previous mistake was caused by emotions that will return when faced with the same circumstances. Being good at something doesn’t promise rewards. It doesn’t even promise a compliment. What’s rewarded in the world is scarcity, so what matters is what you can do that other people are bad at. People learn when they’re surprised. Not when they read the right answer, or are told they’re doing it wrong, but when their jaw hits the floor. Most fields have only a few laws. Lots of theories, hunches, observations, ideas, trends, and rules. But laws--things that are always true, all the time--are rare.

gonzo41 6y ago
Worth thinking about with that rule on scarcity. It can also be about what you'll do that others will balk at. Plumbers being a great example of this.
- infogulch 6y ago
  A scarcity of willingness one might say.
  - CapitalistCartr 6y ago
    My favorite subject to teach is electrical. No one is ambivalent; they're either completely on board or want no part of it. And students pay rapt attention. Well, at least if they don't, it's only once.
- dredmorbius 6y ago
  Adam Smith identified five factors, which seem durable: The five following are the principal circumstances which, so far as I have been able to observe, make up for a small pecuniary gain in some employments, and counterbalance a great one in others. First, the agreeableness or disagreeableness of the employments themselves; secondly, the easiness and cheapness, or the difficulty and expense of learning them; thirdly, the constancy or inconstancy of employment in them; fourthly, the small or great trust which must be reposed in those who exercise them; and, fifthly, the probability or improbability of success in them. https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Wealth_of_Nations/Book_I/Chapter_10 https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Wealth_of_Nations/Book_I/...
narag 6y ago
Most fields have only a few laws. When I've had the opportunity to talk with true experts in different fields, I was surprised to find that they tend to focus in very few factors, unlike books or other practitioners. Wasn't Karate Kid training something like that? The master was only interested in a few exercises that were done doing repetitive tasks apparently unrelated to fight.
- watwut 6y ago
  Reality check is that real world martial arts are not taught like that. While there is repetition, focusing on few exercises and doing repetitive unrelated tasks will make you slightly better beginner. Then you will stop improving. Karate kid is fantasy of getting victory with easy effort solely because who you are. (It is also fantasy of having sudden role model treating you with kindness)
- powersnail 6y ago
  That’s probably because the experts are focused on their current task at hand, and most easily recalled the few things that are relevant to the task. Movies and stories don’t portray real life experience, as they cannot juggle all the relevant factors of an expertise without confusing the audience. I don’t know about martial arts. But at least in the few professions I do understand, you cannot just do a few exercises diligently for ten years and come out a master.
  - codr7 6y ago
    What about code katas? I have five or so software designs that I've implemented several times for practice. A database, a bytecode VM, a serverside web framework etc. I'm not so much porting them, rather trying my best to reimagine them in a new context. It helps me see similarities and differences between languages/platforms and find better ways to solve problems. I've been practicing software for 35 years, martial arts for 25; every day I become more convinced that mastery is a journey, not a goal.
    - powersnail 6y ago
TeMPOraL 6y ago
> Behavior is hard to fix. Scott Alexander over at SSC has a lovely phrasing for this rule applied at scale: society is fixed, biology is mutable. https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/09/10/society-is-fixed-biology-is-mutable/ https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/09/10/society-is-fixed-biolo... The money quote from the middle of the post: "See, my terrible lecture on ADHD suggested several reasons for the increasing prevalence of the disease. Of these I remember two: the spiritual desert of modern adolescence, and insufficient iron in the diet. And I remember thinking “Man, I hope it’s the iron one, because that seems a lot easier to fix.”"

gonzo41 6y ago

Worth thinking about with that rule on scarcity. It can also be about what you'll do that others will balk at. Plumbers being a great example of this.

infogulch 6y ago
A scarcity of willingness one might say.
- CapitalistCartr 6y ago
  My favorite subject to teach is electrical. No one is ambivalent; they're either completely on board or want no part of it. And students pay rapt attention. Well, at least if they don't, it's only once.
dredmorbius 6y ago
Adam Smith identified five factors, which seem durable: The five following are the principal circumstances which, so far as I have been able to observe, make up for a small pecuniary gain in some employments, and counterbalance a great one in others. First, the agreeableness or disagreeableness of the employments themselves; secondly, the easiness and cheapness, or the difficulty and expense of learning them; thirdly, the constancy or inconstancy of employment in them; fourthly, the small or great trust which must be reposed in those who exercise them; and, fifthly, the probability or improbability of success in them. https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Wealth_of_Nations/Book_I/Chapter_10 https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Wealth_of_Nations/Book_I/...

narag 6y ago

Most fields have only a few laws. When I've had the opportunity to talk with true experts in different fields, I was surprised to find that they tend to focus in very few factors, unlike books or other practitioners. Wasn't Karate Kid training something like that? The master was only interested in a few exercises that were done doing repetitive tasks apparently unrelated to fight.

watwut 6y ago
Reality check is that real world martial arts are not taught like that. While there is repetition, focusing on few exercises and doing repetitive unrelated tasks will make you slightly better beginner. Then you will stop improving. Karate kid is fantasy of getting victory with easy effort solely because who you are. (It is also fantasy of having sudden role model treating you with kindness)
powersnail 6y ago
That’s probably because the experts are focused on their current task at hand, and most easily recalled the few things that are relevant to the task. Movies and stories don’t portray real life experience, as they cannot juggle all the relevant factors of an expertise without confusing the audience. I don’t know about martial arts. But at least in the few professions I do understand, you cannot just do a few exercises diligently for ten years and come out a master.
- codr7 6y ago
  What about code katas? I have five or so software designs that I've implemented several times for practice. A database, a bytecode VM, a serverside web framework etc. I'm not so much porting them, rather trying my best to reimagine them in a new context. It helps me see similarities and differences between languages/platforms and find better ways to solve problems. I've been practicing software for 35 years, martial arts for 25; every day I become more convinced that mastery is a journey, not a goal.
  - powersnail 6y ago

TeMPOraL 6y ago

> Behavior is hard to fix. Scott Alexander over at SSC has a lovely phrasing for this rule applied at scale: society is fixed, biology is mutable. https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/09/10/society-is-fixed-biology-is-mutable/ https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/09/10/society-is-fixed-biolo... The money quote from the middle of the post: "See, my terrible lecture on ADHD suggested several reasons for the increasing prevalence of the disease. Of these I remember two: the spiritual desert of modern adolescence, and insufficient iron in the diet. And I remember thinking “Man, I hope it’s the iron one, because that seems a lot easier to fix.”"