“Superthinking,” by Gabriel Weinberg
Become One with Nature
“It is not the most intellectual of the species that survives; it is not the strongest that survives; but the species that survives is the one that is able best to adapt and adjust to the changing environment in which it finds itself.” That is, you need to change color like the peppered moth did.”
“scientific method. Formally, the scientific method is a rigorous cycle of making observations, formulating hypotheses, testing them, analyzing data, and developing new theories. But you can also apply it simply by embracing an experimental mindset. The most successful (and adaptive) people and organizations are constantly refining how they work and what they work on to be more effective.”
“As a metaphor, inertia can describe any resistance to a change in direction. In Chapter 1, we explained how you tend to have significant inertia in your beliefs because of confirmation bias and related models. This adherence to your beliefs can hamper your adaptability. By questioning your assumptions, you can adapt to new ways of thinking and overcome this personal inertia. Inertia can increase the longer you hold on to your beliefs. If you’re like most people, many of your core political, religious, and social beliefs can be traced to the family and geographic culture in which you were raised as a child. Have you reevaluated these views recently?”
“The Shirky principle states, Institutions will try to preserve the problem to which they are the solution.”
“flywheel, a rotating physical disk that is used to store energy. Flywheels are still used in many industrial applications, though a more relatable example to get the concept is a children’s merry-go-round. It takes a lot of effort to get a merry-go-round to start spinning, but once it is spinning, it takes little effort to keep it spinning.”
“A common example of a forcing function is the standing meeting, such as one-on-one meetings with a manager or coach, or a regular team meeting. These are set times, built into the calendar, when you can repeatedly bring up topics that can lead to change. You can similarly build additional forcing functions directly into your personal or company culture. For instance, you can set the expectation of producing weekly project updates, which serve as catalysts to think critically about project status and communicate progress to stakeholders. A more personal forcing function would be a regular appointment with a trainer at a gym, or a weekly family meeting or budget review. These set blocks of time will grease the wheels for change.”
“Critical mass as a super model applies to any system in which an accumulation can reach a threshold amount that causes a major change in the system. The point at which the system starts changing dramatically, rapidly gaining momentum, is often referred to as a tipping point. For example, a party needs to reach a critical mass of people before it feels like a party, and the arrival of the final person needed for the party to reach the critical number tips the party into high gear.”
“butterfly effect to explain the concept that chaotic systems are extremely sensitive to small perturbations or changes in initial conditions.”
“One way to more systematically take advantage of the butterfly effect is using the super model of luck surface area,”
“In the same way that it is a lot easier to catch a fish if you cast a wide net, your personal luck surface area will increase as you interact with more people in more diverse situations.”
“black-and-white fallacy—thinking that things fall neatly into two groups when they do not. When making decisions, you usually have more than two options. It’s not all black and white. Practically, whenever you are presented with a decision with two options, try to think of more.”
“win-win situations, where both parties can actually end up better off, or win. How is this possible? It’s because most negotiations don’t include just one term, such as price, but instead involve many terms, such as quality, respect, timing, control, risk, and on and on.”