The Facts
by Psudo
The right way to find the solution to a problem is to get together all the relevant facts, find the theory that best fits those facts, and act however will get you the best outcome according to that theory.
The most obvious problem with this idealistic approach is that getting all the relevant facts gets progressively harder the more important the problem is. If you're taking a math quiz, you can be pretty sure you have all the facts you need right away. If you're trying to catch a serial killer before he strikes again, it's impossible to get enough information fast enough. Most of life, especially the important parts, will be guesswork. It's important to learn how to do research, both the quick and the deep, but life is a sequence of "good enough" evidence and best guesses.
That is why other people matter. Other people know more than you about almost everything, and you know more than any specific other person about something. Even if everyone's judgement and talents were identical (which, of course, they're not), even if we didn't need social contact (which, of course, we do), we'd still need each other's expertise and experience to get the best out of life.
That's two different approaches to greatness: the specialist and the leader. Specialists study in preparation to address problems, but leaders decide when it's time. Specialists always want to debate a little longer because the worst thing a specialist can be is wrong. Leaders want things decided quickly because the worst thing a leader can be is too late.
Both groups need the other; even if the leader is a specialist, they need specialists in every other field and someone keeping up with their own field while they're distracted by leading. For any significantly ambitious goal, you have to have a team.
The most obvious problem with this idealistic approach is that getting all the relevant facts gets progressively harder the more important the problem is. If you're taking a math quiz, you can be pretty sure you have all the facts you need right away. If you're trying to catch a serial killer before he strikes again, it's impossible to get enough information fast enough. Most of life, especially the important parts, will be guesswork. It's important to learn how to do research, both the quick and the deep, but life is a sequence of "good enough" evidence and best guesses.
That is why other people matter. Other people know more than you about almost everything, and you know more than any specific other person about something. Even if everyone's judgement and talents were identical (which, of course, they're not), even if we didn't need social contact (which, of course, we do), we'd still need each other's expertise and experience to get the best out of life.
That's two different approaches to greatness: the specialist and the leader. Specialists study in preparation to address problems, but leaders decide when it's time. Specialists always want to debate a little longer because the worst thing a specialist can be is wrong. Leaders want things decided quickly because the worst thing a leader can be is too late.
Both groups need the other; even if the leader is a specialist, they need specialists in every other field and someone keeping up with their own field while they're distracted by leading. For any significantly ambitious goal, you have to have a team.
February 2012
January 2012