Re-Engineering Thought and the Practice of Greatness
Don't be a loser
“We live in an age of exponential growth in knowledge, and it is increasingly futile to teach only polished theorems and proofs. We must abandon the guided tour through the art gallery of mathematics, and instead teach how to create the mathematics we need. In my opinion, there is no long-term practical alternative”
Richard Hamming, one of the all-time greats in mathematics and computer science, worked on Project Y (Manhattan Project; Atomic Bomb development), early work in transistors, error correcting code, elasticity theory, and many more.
In Hamming’s talk “You and Your Research” from the Bell Research Seminar in 1986, he surmised it is not only allowable to aim for greatness, it is cowardly not to. How does one become a great person who does great work? As an athlete, engineer, and active duty military, I am highly interested in the intersection of physical performance and the application of technology (engineering + mathematics), scientific literature, and micro-experiments to attain peak physical form and elevate performance for those around me. At the end of the day, what good is science and engineering if we cannot apply it to our respective fields?
Do not be discouraged by the math + science of this write-up. I aim to break things down for the knuckle-dragging window lickers, scientists, and everyone in between. The goal is to present a method of approaching thinking and learning to practice Greatness in our daily lives.
From Hamming’s quote, we are really in a period of exponential growth in knowledge, but still seek the perfect equation to solve your problems. That could be fat loss; what pill, exact routine, or things do I eat to achieve my desired outcome? It is never that simple. It is increasingly futile to approach the complexity of the human body from polished theorems and proofs, but instead it is a requirement to create the solution we need utilizing the combination of technology, advanced solutions via high quality data fed algorithms, high volume of micro-experiments, and constant pressure to elevate humanity to a higher form of living.
The knowledge in this world has doubled on every 17 years since Isaac Newton’s time (1642-1727) which can be measured from books published, hiring at Bell Labs, or the growth of scientists worldwide. In fact 90% of scientists who ever lived are currently alive. Furthermore, the average half-life of information taught in school is 15 years, and the technical knowledge in our life will quadruple in 34 years. What does that mean for us? One primary derivation is we will be forced to master new emerging fields on our own as they arise, rather than passive learning in an educational setting. This mass of knowledge is growing exponentially and includes everything from technical results, places to go skiing, shows on Netflix, or crypto-driven insurance projects.
Not only is just understanding the mass of knowledge hurtling at us in our short lives crucial, but learning how to learn is massively important. And how do we approach the action required to develop ourselves in accordance with this growth? A well known story is the drunken sailor who takes n random steps at will. On average, he will end up sqrt(n) from the origin. But, if there is a pretty girl in one direction, he will go a distance proportional to n. What does that mean for us, presented with endless decisions every day? The path with vision will lead to a distance proportional to n, going far in our careers + goals. But No vision will only get us the distance sqrt(n).
One of the primary reasons for this write-up is to guide us in developing detail in the vision of our future. The accuracy of your vision is less important than you may think, and getting anywhere is far superior to drifting our whole lives. There are infinite paths we may take with our vision to greatness, so long as the path takes us to greatness. In developing our personal style, we must find our vision for our life, physical fitness, and careers.
In guiding our vision, we must distinguish three important questions Hamming mentions:
What is possible?
What is likely to happen?
What is desirable to happen?
He goes on to use science, what is possible? Engineering; what are the human factors which choose the future that occurs? And how we value judgements to what is desirable. By examining the three questions, we gain an idea of how to alter things to make the most desirable future occur instead of letting the inevitable happen and suffer the consequences.
In approaching our thought and path to greatness, we must also look at the spiritual side. We have only one life on Earth, and a worthy goal of that one life is to achieve excellence in an area we value. “A life without a struggle on your part to make yourself excellent is hardly a life worth living (Hamming).” We may pick our goals in the pursuit of excellence, and living a life without such a goal is simply existing. Rather, we look to Socrates: “The unexamined life is not worth living.” It is not an option, rather a duty to struggle and pursue excellence in our lives. We can extrapolate this pursuit to multiple aspects of our lives. This includes our careers, but also our physical fitness which will only increase the likelihood of a longer, happier life and more capable body of pursuing career goals.
Thus far we should understand a little more about approaching goals in life. But what about learning and solving the inevitable problems we will come across?
There are multiple frameworks to choose from, and often none really learn HOW to learn early on, making school a tremendous uphill battle. But that is not to say that school is where the majority of our learning should be. Rather, our own ideas and projects built individually or in teams leads to the most rapid learning. And this is because it is a “creative act”, rather than a forcing function for you to learn a fundamental, even as basic as higher and higher levels of “hello world.”
Hamming discusses the observed pattern of creativity: which begins with recognition of the problem in “some dim sense.” But this will only be followed by further solidifying what the actual problem is over a short/long period of time. At this point, your emotional involvement becomes crucial to commit to actually finding a solution to the problem. This is the critical driver in creativity as well as finding a novel solution. Deep emotional involvement, it seems, applies to many aspects of our life. If not our creativity and our problem solving abilities, then our relationships in both romantic and platonic settings. CARING to solve the problem, build something new, and experience the struggle of a life worth living.
Returning to solving the actual problem: We’ll experience a long gestation period of intense thinking, often followed or replaced by temporary abandonment of the problem. Often reported as the cure for a lagging issue, removing the issue from your daily thoughts allows for your subconscious to develop a new approach.
Soon after, one hopes to experience the moment of insight, or creativity, that allows you to see the solution to the issue at hand. This may or may not be wrong, but at least there is one less approach to explore mentally. We’ve sharpened our approach, limited the outcomes and will be more tightly guided to solving it.
Why is anything we have discussed important? For that we refer back to our boy Hamming, “it is important because as far as I know each of you has but one life to lead, and it seems to me it is better to do significant things than to just get along through life to its end.” We conclude (1) it is worth trying to accomplish the goals we set for ourselves and (2) it is worth setting ourselves high goals. “Trying” to accomplish the goals we set for ourselves entails a great deal, but understanding (2) allows for validation in our struggle.
P.S. Working on a secret project for AG. Your feedback on the below polls is greatly appreciated in shaping what the future of AG looks like! I aim to build a product for mass adoption of like minded individuals focused on fitness in their specific niches (bodybuilding, powerlifting, endurance sports, mil fitness, etc.) If you have additional input or thoughts on this, feel free to DM me on instagram @ acidgambit