Swart Donkey

Raising the bar

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor Black) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 22:56:00 +0000

Movember has just finished. I think the idea is great. The 'About' section of the website tells a little about the tale of Movember. The cause is serious. To quote a friend who participated...

'My Mo Aint serious...but ball cancer is.....FRIKIN BALL CANCER!!!!' DL

What I find fascinating is the way the idea spreads. From a standing start in 2003, each year they have raised more money and had more participants. It is an idea virus. Each year more people spread the meme. Last year Movember raised £48.5m and had about 447k participants (Mobros and Mosistas). This year about 850k people have raised about £70m.

Last year, I did it by myself in my office and raised £1423. This year 11 guys participated and we raised just over £8000 as a team.

It is a mix of fun and fundraising. Some people may find that to be a problem. Cancer is serious. So, they may feel a light hearted approach degrades things. That it becomes about being silly.

As the world becomes more and more empathetic, which is a good thing, it also means there are so many more things that get you down. The world is progressively becoming a much better, far safer, significantly wealthier and happier place. Movies like Avatar (which I enjoyed) may glamorise a hunter gather world, but don't be fooled. The world is getting progressively less violent.

What added empathy means is that we care about starving children in other countries. We even care when protesters get pepper sprayed in other countries. We care about people with clef lips who can't smile. We care about children whose parents smoke in the car with them. We care about children growing up as mercenaries in war torn countries. We care about people who lose their jobs. We care about people who have to retire a few years later than planned. We care about people who aren't exactly the same as us. We care about people from completely different cultures. Our caring recognises we are all human. In fact, our caring even extends beyond our species to animals of all shapes and sizes.

Some of these problems are 'first world problems' that pale in significance against others. That doesn't make them not worth caring about. It just means we have raised the bar.

But it can also feel overwhelming sometimes. All this caring. So, when some good comes out of a little silliness. I don't think that is bad. You can care, and do good through, while dressing the problem up with a little fun.

That is why I think the Movember Meme spreads. It is silly, and we like being silly. It is a visual way of people joining in the fun and doing some good.

Sounds like a win win.

Arbitrary Rules

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor Black) — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 18:59:00 +0000

Arbitrary rules can be powerful. They help overcome Inertia.

Seth Godin writes a blog post every day. That is an arbitrary rule. Does it really matter if he misses a day? Probably not, but it forces him to write every day. Eventually it becomes a habit... so it doesn't feel like force.

I am writing far less regularly than I would like. I realised this. I also realised that I had still written at least one blog post a month for quite some time. Hardly enough to form a habit, so fair to say that it doesn't compare to Seth's rule - and so is more arbitrary. But it was enough to force me to write one yesterday.

I used to use arbitrary rules to help me get through my studies. If a subject took 300 hours, I would break it down into the hours necessary per week and then plan how many to do each week. I would try stick to that. Again, maybe that is not arbitrary as it let me get to the end without any panic. The arbitrary part was that I would break it down into segments - study for 50 minutes, 10 minute break, repeat.

Why 50, why 10? No particular reason. It just seemed to help me get through.

Now, if the arbitrary rule gets in the way of something that is not arbitrary. That can be a problem. But otherwise, if it helps you get off the couch...

Sharing Ideas

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor Black) — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 19:12:00 +0000

I can't call myself an early adopter of blogging, and with just a post here and there, other than an 18 month splurge of posts - I am hardly a regular poster. The end of the splurge is partly connected to the fact that the only other friend I knew of who blogged quit blogging in December '09. Ideas tend to feed off each other, and I used to find myself always thinking about what I was going to write about next, so it is a slippery slope. Writing every day is much easier than writing when the mood takes you. It is a habit much like anything else.

I have never quite taken to twitter, with just 32 tweets. I did take to Facebook. As Social media has evolved though, they do seem to be slowly ironing out cracks. I am chuffed to see Google really giving Facebook a go with Google+. A little competition goes a long way to inspiring some innovation.

Some random observations...

It would be cool if you could write blog posts that only selected individuals could see, without them having to sign in - Google+ has this, maybe blogger will soon. You can do private blogs, but the additional layer of having to sign in is irritating.
Pre-signing in remove anonymity. I think this is a good thing. People say silly things when they think it is anonymous.
Twitter was the less private - everyone can see version. Google+ added the ability to choose which groups to share status updates with (including public), and I think Facebook will follow. I like the idea that ideas can be shared freely, and private stuff can be kept private.
Filtering remains a big problem. Google Reader does a decent job, but I still struggle getting through the clutter. Relying on friends 'liking'/sharing things doesn't always help, since if lots of them do it, and only a some of the articles are relevant to you, you still have to filter through that too.
Of course, sharing ideas takes time. Unless you are Tim Ferris, finding the time is tough. And even if you would love it if certain of your friends were into sharing their ideas, finding your own motivation is tough enough. And then there is the day job.

All being said, I do think watching things progress is exciting. I particularly enjoy the experimental nature of it all. I thought Google Wave was pretty cool, but it never took. Bits of it get incorporated into new ideas, and some code is made open source so others can try use it. Some stuff fails, some stuff like Facebook takes off.

At the end of the day it all comes down to sharing ideas.

Exciting times.

The Creative Process

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor Black) — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 12:20:00 +0000

'You see the crossings out, you see the agonies this man went through'

- Leonard Bernstein on Beethoven

Reading Nancy Duarte's 'Resonate' led me to search for a video of Leonard Bernstein as an example of a great communicator. Here he is talking about about Beethoven.

I imagine what he says is true of most aspects of greatness. The end product looks clean. Every note is exactly where it should be. It all makes sense.

Behind that is the toil. Behind that is the ten thousand hours. Behind that is the head clasped in the hands in shear desperation that leads to that moment when you are finished and smile.

Perfect.

A Few More

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor Black) — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 13:41:00 +0000

My studio is rather packed with paintings now, and I have had a great time of it. After a drought of a few years, I have been making up for lost time.

I missed the exhibition the Wimbledon Art Studios hold as I was on a work trip, but it seems the others had a good time. They did say that people were holding back in terms of purchases, which is a reminder of the hard times.

It is also an advantage of being able to paint for pleasure! I do feel for people who make their living from what is considered a luxury. When times are tough, they feel the squeeze.

A Crazy Potter Who Likes Tea

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor Black) — Mon, 30 May 2011 09:22:00 +0000

Whenever I visit John Bauer, it is like been transported into some parallel, rather odd universe.

John is a potter. A crazy potter. A crazy potter who likes tea. And John the crazy potter who likes tea will have a cup up tea with you in his rather odd universe in Greenwood Road, Harfield Village. You would not need a house number. His house/study/universe is rather obvious.

John reminds me of the movie 'The Prestige'. The reason for this is that when you first meet him, it seems like he is acting. Think of some amalgamation between the Queens English, a libertine, a conservative, a west end theatre actor and you may have a taste of his strange world. Why I say he reminds me of 'The Prestige' is the consistency with which he lives this life.

It is not stretching the truth to say he lives pottery. It is everywhere, and he lives within his workshop - constantly producing.

John is a good example of Malcolm Gladwell's 10,000 hours combined with no fear of making mistakes. There is stuff he does which can't be taught. He has stumbled across new techniques as he becomes fascinated by the 'errors' he makes and tries to build on their beauty.

Needless to say, I am a big fan of his work.

The Bees that came to live with John...

Fallen Heroes and Banter

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor Black) — Sun, 29 May 2011 10:53:00 +0000

I am busy reading 'Contrarian Investment Strategies', by David Dreman. While I normally avoid talking shop in this blog, I did think there was something worth smiling at and commenting on.

Growing up, you see the 'Adult World' as this place that makes sense. Teachers and Grown-ups know stuff. Kids are learning. As time ticks by you start realising that this isn't quite the case. Dreman takes Professors Banz and Reinganum to task on the theses that gave them their Phds. Effectively what he is saying is that what they said was wrong. In the book he even taunts them, and suggests they take up various challenges to prove him wrong.

My point is that you can often find Nobel Prize winners on both sides of an argument, and elaborate theories that seem to hold for years and then fall flat.

The great part about it is that it matters not one little bit if you turn out to be wrong - since that pushes you closer to being right. The scary part is if you get so attached to what you thought was right, that even if someone turns up with great evidence that you are wrong - you just close your eyes.

Leopard Seals

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor Black) — Sat, 28 May 2011 12:52:00 +0000

Another awesome TED talk. If you aren't a http://www.ted.com/ fan yet, do yourself a favour and change that. The variety of speakers is incredible, and the 18 minute format means you get a taste of things without being overwhelmed.

Paul Nicklen's story of the Leopard Seals is a great example of people categorising based on a few incidents without spending the time to understand. In this case, the seals are vicious and scary. He attempts to dispel that. Turning the example to people, it always amazes me how little we know of each other - yet, how much we think we know. Making snap judgements helps us survive. We can't really spend the time Nicklen does getting to understand every 'Leopard Seal' we come across. But a healthy dose of realising we could be wrong is useful. That is where family, friends and the people who really care about you the most comes in handy. For those occasions when you appear to be a scary Leopard Seal, you are given the benefit of the doubt. They make the effort to carry on figuring things out, and like Nicklen, they will jump into the water with you even when you are bumping the boat.

The Wouter Basson Effect

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor Black) — Sun, 01 May 2011 19:16:00 +0000

Most of us have opinions on a whole bunch of issues we haven't given much thought to. Sometimes, we have given the issues some thought, and sometimes a lot of thought... and what we think is still rubbish.

Growing up I was always an optimist. I thought that eventually, if someone was vaguely intelligent, they wouldn't be racist. My rationale was that racism was dumb and there was no rational reason for it. It followed that even if someone was brought up to believe racist things, that they would eventually 'figure it out'.

Slowly the penny dropped that this was not the case. You could get very intelligent people like Wouter Basson, nicknamed "Dr Death" for his alleged actions in Apartheid South Africa, who was clearly very intelligent and racist.

I continue to come across people on a regular basis who seem to ardently believe things that to me seem incomprehensibly ridiculous. As Schulz says in "Being Wrong", we don't know what it feels like to be wrong. In fact being wrong feels exactly the same as the feeling of being right!

The thing I think about often is which of my beliefs fall into that category. Where is the way I think inconsistent, and when will I figure this out. What is it that years (or months or days) from now, I will look back in astonishment that I believed what I believed?

Washing the Dishes

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor Black) — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 18:23:00 +0000

The perfect version of you all starts with washing the dishes.

Apparently. My mother, aunt and middle brother having been telling me this for more than 30 years. In a similar vein, Gretchen Rubin told me to make my bed. This weekend I read another 'one sitting book'* called The War of Art: Winning the inner creative battle, which seemed a drug free version of the movie Limitless. Both start with the protagonist washing the dishes.

The point isn't clean dishes. The point is getting beyond inertia. There are much bigger battles we all want to win to move closer to what we want to achieve. In The War of Art, Pressfield says:

"There's a secret that real writers know that wannabe writers don't, and the secret is this: It's not the writing part that's hard. What's hard is sitting down to write."

later he adds a quote by W.H.Murray:

"Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, magic, and power in it. Begin it now."

Now whether these inspirational movies and books can get me to paint regularly, write more, read more, communicate better, be fitter, eat healthier, and love deeper... I don't know.

But... my dishes are clean.

* These are great. The other two I have read which I can recommend are 'Poke the Box' by Seth Godin, and 'The Great Stagnation' by Tyler Cowen. The idea is that most books have a core idea, but then often retell this idea in a variety of ways and add some fluff. 'One sitting books' are like long essays you can read in 2 hours and get straight to the heart of the issue.

Schoolwork@home Homework@school

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor Black) — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 19:20:00 +0000

This is brilliant. khanacademy.org flips the classroom. Using game dynamics and the ability for students to learn at their own pace, combined with plenty of data for teachers to know exactly how students are progressing, this man is onto something.

What is really awesome is that this is borderless. If you want to join the site as a coach in some of your spare time you can. If you are a teacher in Pofadder, Philly or Paris... you can flip your classroom using this.

Much like kids prefer the internet to the dumb box, and love playing games, this type of learning could make a huge difference.

Exciting times.

Good Will vs. Bad Amy?

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor Black) — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 10:56:00 +0000

'I haven't read Battle Hymn (or the others) but from reading an excerpt I think I get the general idea. My impression is that its almost the antithesis of those films (not sure about proof). Will Hunting pretty much cant help himself and Dead Poets society is all about making the kids actually want to do the stuff.' - Stuart

I do get Stuart's point in the comments of my last post, but I wouldn't say anti-thesis. It isn't so clear that the pushing was completely one sided in Battle Hymn. The older daughter in particular took a lot of potentially 'unnecessary discipline' since she had a lot of internal motivation.

I think Stuart is focusing on whether the hard work that went into it is voluntary or forced (so anti-thesis) - with which I would agree. I am focusing on the incredible achievements reached, and so find both inspirational.

In Battle Hymn, it isn't even clear that the second daughter who rebels against the hardcore parenting was actually rebelling against everything. I suspect that she was rebelling primarily against the delivery which from the book seems pretty tough to bear. The story in Bounce about the professor who chose to raise his daughters to be Chess Champions took a similarly intense approach to parenting, but did it less with a whip and more with a carrot. Polgar made chess into an exciting story for his girls. Chua uses all out warfare.

My response in the comments may have read incorrectly into Stuart's comment that he values Will Hunting and Dead Poets more. I am not sure a 'can't help yourself' is more inspirational.

I think I identify more with the idea of something I really want to do, but often just can't be bothered. For example, I would love to have the discipline to wake up just a little earlier every morning to do Yoga. I would love to write a blog post every day, and spend pretty much every spare waking minute reading, painting, learning something or making some sort of progress to further things I am interested in. I would love to be better at contacting family and friends. I don't have that motivation. Saying I don't have the time is not completely true - I spend a lot of time doing nothing. Maybe less than others, but through years of (admittedly forced) focus, the girls in battle hymn manage to develop incredible self motivation.

I would love to develop that focus.

Purpose

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor Black) — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 22:23:00 +0000

If you don't have a Kindle, get one. They rock. The first three books I read on mine have been:

1) Bounce by Matthew Syed

2) Committed by Elizabeth Gilbert

3) Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua

Bounce extends Gladwell's 10,000 hour principle, but rather than focusing on whether people achieve what they do through talent, hard work, luck or a combination, it looks at the concept of purposeful practice. If you ponder the things you have spent 10,000 hours doing, it is likely you will concede that you are not an expert at all of them. In many cases we are on Auto-Pilot, and so most of the hours smudge into one big blur of plodding on - even if they are funnish and pass the time.

Committed was purposeful in a different way. Gilbert was forced to confront something she was dead set against, and was yet forced to do. She didn't just accept it but really confronted and studied the thing she feared. Yup, she knew the conclusion in the beginning. There was no escape. So her book is not an example of really challenging a deeply held belief with the possibility that you may be wrong - it is more an example of creating a story that you can accept that helps you accept the cards you are dealt. We all do that all the time. If we weren't able to create (often false) stories to make us feel better, we would be doomed to a life of regret. She just upped the rigour of her story creation to a new level, and the resultant book was entertaining.

Finally, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother is actually quite close to Bounce, but in this case the 'purposeful practice' is anything but optional. This is the story of a Chinese woman with deeply held beliefs about parenting that are very different from the society she lives in fighting like the title of the book suggests. In some ways I am jealous of the heroins of this story. I would love to play the violin or the piano like they do. I have never had the focus to pursue a single activity with the laser pointed devotion (that was admittedly forced on them). Mine has been more of a scatter gun approach, with a fair dose of lying on the couch watching cricket (come on South Africa! AB and Tahir you boytjies!). Books like this get me going though. It is like watching Good Will Hunting, Beautiful Mind, Dead Poets' Society or Proof.

Exciting times.

Making Sense of the Squiggles

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor Black) — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 21:23:00 +0000

I was very inspired by Elizabeth Gilbert's talk on TED when I first saw it in Feb 2009. This blog has become something of a log of my study of happiness, creativity and passion. Her talk seemed to touch on all of this, and so I eagerly got her book, 'Eat, Pray, Love'.

This is not normally a book I would have stumbled across. It is firmly in the 'Chic Lit' category, and was sitting on the bedside table of almost all the women I knew, and not a single guy. But if I learnt anything from the chap who got me started writing on this site (former blogger Mutt), it was to search out books I wouldn't normally read.

On first read, I was hooked and I got one of my favourite quotes:

'Happiness is the consequence of personal effort'

My enjoyment faded somewhat as I struggle to reconcile the decision she had made with the real world impact it had on others. So, I wasn't sure whether I really wanted to read the follow up, 'Committed'. Well... I read it, and did enjoy it. Here is how she describes the exact thing that gave me uneasiness about the first book.

'When the dust has settled years later, we might ask ourselves, "What was I thinking?" and the answer is usually: You weren't. Psychologist call that state of deluded madness "narcissistic love." I call it "my twenties".

I guess we are all just trying to figure it out, and there are casualties along the way. The question is, do we really wish for simpler times? Times when you lived where you were born, did what your Dad did, and spent your time with the people from the village. At times I think I would like that, but I also think it is impossible.

When you first see writing, it might just be squiggles. But once you know how to read, no matter how hard you try you will never be able to just see squiggles again.

Its not easy, but I think it is worth making sense of the squiggles.

Unleashed

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor Black) — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 19:29:00 +0000

Half the battle is finding what makes you tick. One of the things that makes me tick is painting. I hadn't done any in about 4 years. Partly because I haven't had a space to do it - I am a VERY messy painter.

Well, about a month ago I stopped making excuses. Happiness is a verb.

And I am feeling unleashed!

Some Lucky People

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor Black) — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 20:28:00 +0000

Great talk. I do worry though when I see the Chinese synchronised swimming team. How on earth does balance compete with obsession? I like the idea of 'flow'. Finding something where the edges between work/life blur. If you are doing something really challenging, and really enjoying it... more chance of a win win. I also think there is a degree of 'first world luxury' about it. Feeding the family you want to spend time with comes first.

Retirement is an industrial age concept. A better concept is financial independence. As you gain independence, your 'job' is likely to become less something you have to do and more something you want to do. A random retirement age likely based on when your body runs out of steam is a silly idea.

Some lucky people find flow early on. Though maybe it isn't luck at all?

Books as Art

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor Black) — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 09:22:00 +0000

I have just got a new Kindle - it is great!

The price has come done significantly since the first reader I bought, and having the 3G connection really makes it much more user-friendly to actually get the books to read. You still can't just think of a book and have it 30 seconds later as a number of books aren't available in the right format yet.

But rather than talking about its features, I wanted to go back to what I was writing about in my post 'As Technology Disappears'. Seth Godin is working with Amazon on something called 'The Domino Project'. As a best-selling author, he is moving away from traditional publishing, and will only be printing a limited number of books. In his post entitled 'The joy of collectibles', he talks of how different it is to think about how you would print a book if you were only doing 400 or a thousand (or fifty).

The reading experience on a Kindle is great, but perhaps books (the ones made from trees) will become more of an art form. The covers don't have to have lots of salesy text on them. The paper can be really high quality. They can be designed to last. If you do your reading electronically and then buy the books you really enjoy, it is like cutting back on corner cafe chocolate so that every now and then you eat Swiss.

Exciting times.

Give or take

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor Black) — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 21:55:00 +0000

Tyler Cowen calls Outliers 'a good book and a fun book', but that is at the end of a post pointing towards other more powerful (in his view) arguments. I really enjoyed Outliers, and am now really enjoying what I would think is a book in a very similar mould - Bounce, by Matthew Syed.

At the heart of Outliers seems to be the message that circumstance plays a huge role in success. Bounce (though I just on the second chapter) - follows up the Outliers' ten thousand hour rule and the impact of practice.

I like philosophies that emphasise accountability. More and more, I believe that within the boundaries of circumstances we are given extraordinary power to do things. Power we can use or not. It seems obvious beyond stating that someone who eventually succeeds will have had circumstances align. We don't live in isolation. When you do something, circumstance and effort align. If you are really passionate about something, and willing to put in the effort you can do incredible things. Perhaps the effort is through flow (something you love and don't notice the time passing when doing), or perhaps it is through brute force. I am more of a fan of the effort theory, than the circumstance theory. That probably goes without saying since it opens up more possibilities and is perhaps more PC.

I don't believe that 'we can do anything we put our minds to'. There are limits. I will never win an Olympic 100m gold medal. Even if I drop everything else. The art is knowing the limits, and testing the limits - and perhaps if you love it enough, ignoring the limits and finding they disappear.

At the end of the day, we all have about 100 years. Give or take. What you do with it is up to you.

Exciting times.

Lost Hours and The Year of the Mojo

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor Black) — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 22:40:00 +0000

There is a part in the movie {Proof} where Anthony Hopkins and Gwyneth Paltrow start talking about how many hours, how many days she had lost. Proof is right up there with A Beautiful Mind, Good Will Hunting and Gladiator as a movie to watch when I need to be inspired.

We only live for a limited period of time. Every moment matters.

Some people, like Tim Ferriss, seem to be able to get so much more out the 24 hours we are given in a day.

Don't get me wrong. I don't suggest we run around like headless chickens trying to cram as much as possible into every day. Sometimes quite the opposite. I am sure I am right up there with other fans of sleeping in late, and lazying on the couch watching Test Match cricket.

The balance comes in getting in the good stuff, but also savouring every moment... and avoiding those lost hours. If you are sitting on the couch doing nothing and enjoying it - all good. If you are sitting on the couch and feeling blah - no good. It is a lost hour. A lost day. You don't get it back.

I am not one to make New Years resolutions. They always seem to be done and lost by the end of January. But this year, I am making an exception... In 2011 I am going to have fewer lost hours.

2011 is the year of the Mojo. Exciting times.

Hardcore Mothering

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor Black) — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 15:09:00 +0000

Stuart points to this article on Chinese Mothers. It is a rather hectic account of the differences between Western and Chinese parenting according to Amy Chua. She has a book which is about to be released called 'Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother'.

This reminded me of a reference to an essay called 'What is it like to be a bat' by Thomas Nagel. Nagel argues that you can't imagine what it is like to be a bat. You can imagine what it is like to for you to do bat like things, but not what it is like to actually BE a bat.

'Our own experience provides the basic material for our imagination, whose range is therefore limited. It will not help to try and imagine that one has webbing on one's arms, which enables one to fly around at dusk and dawn catching insects in one's mouth; that one has very poor vision and perceives the surrounding world by a system of reflected high frequency sounds; and that one spends the day by hanging upside down by one's feet in the attic. In so far as I can imagine that (which is not very far), it only tells me what it would be like for me to behave as a bat behaves. But that is not the question. I want to know what it is like for a bat to be a bat.' - Thomas Nagel

Empathy is important, but empathy is limited. By being empathetic you try get into the head and experience of others - but that is only half the trip. Westerners and Chinese are both people, so it clearly not as difficult as empathising with a bat! But you can never completely understand any other human (including girlfriends and exes) through their own eyes. I can imagine the different response to Chua's piece. Some will read it and think she is crazed and draconian. Others will read it and think she is on the money. Some will contextualize it and say that they understand why she thinks the way that she does given her upbringing - but that she is wrong. Everything will be based on their own world views.

Why does this matter? Some people use culture as an excuse for behaviour others consider truly immoral. An obvious example being the abuse of women in some cultures. How on earth do we strip out the stuff we don't, and can't understand, (because we will never be able to truly see through another's eyes other than seeing their experiences through our own context) from the stuff we really should be kicking up a storm about and changing?

In this particular case, I think it is tough to argue that what Chua is doing is wrong. I suspect that it is just a different approach to parenting. But, while a little jealous of the level of dedication and achievement it can lead to, I can't quite wrap my head around the question 'What is it like to be the child of a Chinese Mother?'.

Your Inner 3 year old

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor Black) — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 18:12:00 +0000

Seeing a pigeon or an ambulance with flashing lights and jumping up and down!

Dancing wildly to someone playing guitar (who can only play one chord)!

Running up to someone you know every time you see them like it has been years!

Laughing a lot, smiling a lot.

While I don't mind getting older and am glad I don't have to cry when I am hungry, and can go to the loo all by myself - 3 year olds certainly have a lot to teach us about the good life.

This TED clip is AWESOME!

I can't wait to get the book.

Here is the blog.

Picking your battles

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor Black) — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 20:07:00 +0000

In my last two posts, I have talked about being blind to the fact that you are wrong, and if you try, the point when you realise that you were wrong.

In her book, Schulz goes on to talk about just why it is so hard to do anything about some of our mistakes. In it she refers to a book English philosopher and friar Roger Bacon wrote and sent to Pope Clement IV about error. He spoke of four key problems:
1) The tendency to cover up ignorance with the pretense of knowledge
2) The persuasive power of authority
3) A blind adherence to custom
4) The influence of popular opinion

Expanding on point 4, she cites a study by Solomon Asch which is rather well known. In the study a group is given a fairly simple task of comparing the length of a line to a choice of three others (A,B,C). The answer is obvious. The twist is that in the experiment, all but one are stooges (i.e. placed there by the experimenter). All the stooges give the wrong answer. 75% of the real candidates gave the wrong answer at least once in repeated experiments, and more than 25% gave the wrong answer more than half the time. More scarily, Gregory Berns extended this study using brain imaging, and concluded that the mistaken subjects weren't pretending - they actually did see the lines as being the same length. The mind is that powerful.

She goes on to cite numerous examples of the difficulty of disagreeing with your community from Western Astronomers ignoring stars, to the difficulties of religious conversion, to Switzerland (one of the world's oldest and most established democracies) where the vote was not extended to women until 1971!

More frightening, she also talks about the 'French Resistance Fantasy'. This is the fact that most of us would like to believe we would be in the correct minority. She is referring to how we would all like to believe that, had we lived in France during WWII:

'... we would have been among those heroic souls fighting the Nazi occupation and helping ferry the persecuted to safety. The reality, though, is that only about 2 percent of French citizens actively participated in the Resistance.' Being Wrong, Kathryn Schulz

The same can be said after the fact about finding those who actively fought Apartheid. Being part of the resistance isn't easy or necessarily desirable. Very few people have the energy to go against the crowd. On top of that - you can never be certain that you are right! (certainty in itself is an ill she goes on to discuss). And on top of that - if you are always against the crowd - will people even take you seriously? (oh there goes Stuart, he just likes to be different).

Perhaps it is a case of picking your battles (with yourself and your own views as your principal enemy).

Ooops... start from scratch.

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor Black) — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 21:51:00 +0000

Schulz calls it the Greenspan moment - 'what happens when our beliefs, including our most fundamental, convincing and important ones, fail us'.

We simply don't live long enough to know everything. So, we have a bunch of beliefs. Things based on what people who we trust have told us, and rough guesses and theories based on the way we see the world around us working.

But what happens when you suddenly find out that, perhaps for a very large chunk of your life, you were wrong. Undeniably wrong. Perhaps you just choose to carry on, and try to find another reason to support what you now know is wrong - perhaps even subconsciously (confabulation). This may especially be the case if it is really hard to change your mind. Maybe you have build a career around that false belief. Maybe your whole social network still holds the belief, and to reject it is to cast yourself into the wilderness.

Or, you do what Stephen Hawking did and you change your mind when facts present themselves differently. Admittedly, being a scientist - there is no harm in admitting you were wrong. You are not cast out. There is no excommunication for changing your mind.

'On the mountains of truth you can never climb in vain: either you will reach a point higher up today, or you will be training your powers so that you will be able to climb higher tomorrow.'
- Nietzche

I guess it boils down to who you surround yourself with. It is tempting to say that if they are worth their salt - people should celebrate self-criticism and taking another step up the mountain. It is hard though. We invest a lot of emotional energy in our beliefs. Perhaps we only have capacity/courage to change our minds so often.

The Feeling of Knowing

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor Black) — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 12:30:00 +0000

We all love being right. We also enjoy knowing why things are the way the are, or why they happened the way they did. It is very uncomfortable not having an explanation.

Thing is... even when we are most convinced, there needs to be some doubt.

In 'Being Wrong', Kathryn Schulz tells the story of a woman in Vienna, Austria. She tell of neurologist Georg Goldenberg doing a simple experiment. He asked the woman to describe his face, and an object that was in front of her. She did this. Easy enough.

Except she was blind.

"To be blind without realizing our blindness is, figuratively, the situation of all of us when we are in error" - Schulz

Before you write this off as just a disease (called anosognosia), she also talks about an extensive 9/11 study where they asked a number of volunteers detailed questions the next day about their whereabouts the day before.

After all, we all have those events where we 'know' exactly where we were, who we were with and how we felt. For me, these include Nelson Mandela's release, Diana's death, the 1995 Rugby World Cup Final :-), the 1999 Cricket World Cup Semi-Final :-(, and 9/11 amongst others.

Turns out, in one study less than 7% could remember the details accurately just 3 years later. 50% were wrong in 2/3rds of the detail and 25% were wrong in every detail. They all thought they remembered perfectly!

So next time you are so certain about something - perhaps a pinch of salt is necessary.

Being Wrong

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor Black) — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 21:26:00 +0000

As often happens, I went into the bookstore to ask for a copy of a book I was looking for and they didn't have it (sucks to be a brick and mortar book store). The advantage of this though is that while you will eventually get to the book you were looking for, sometimes another one grabs you... one you weren't looking for.

To set the record straight... the reason my nickname is Swart Donkey, is partly because I am very noisy, and partly because I am very stubborn. Neither those who grew up with me, nor those who know me today will dispute that. Hopefully though, those who know me today know that I both acknowledge and work on my stubbornness.

I have changed my mind about some far too significant things to think I am always right. One of my favourite quotes is

These are men with bold ideas, but highly critical of their own ideas; they try to find whether their ideas are right by trying to find whether they are not perhaps wrong. They work with bold conjectures and severe attempts at refuting their own conjectures.
(Karl Popper)

This is however far easier said than done. Being a rather enthusiastic chap, I sometimes get really passionate about an idea, and can make no claim to being its biggest critic.

So then... perhaps it is no co-incidence that while walking into a bookstore to look for an altogether different book, I should stumble upon one with a simple bright red cover, and bold white writing for the title:

Being Wrong - Adventures in the Margin of Error

by Kathryn Schulz

I will let you know where it takes me.