Can't Know Everything

There are limits on what each one of us individually can possibly know about the world, regardless of applicability.

Although it seems nice to want to learn "everything" it doesn't actually make sense to do that.  We need shortcuts to the conclusion that a body of knowledge produces, and that's why we rely on experts, or refrain from making decisions.

Still, there's a push with some people, I think, to try to understand every field, and generally, if you think you can do this, you're over-estimating your capacity and severely under-estimating the complexity of the stuff that you hope to master.

I have to tell myself this more often than not, especially lately.  I can't do everything.  I've got to choose what it is that I want, and spend time going after it.

The Ideal of Capitalism

Is it this:  That our most selfish is actually our most altruistic?  I.e. that by specialization and focus on our own personal goals, we naturally benefit others the most?  Is that too simple?

Intelligence and Extroversion

There are lots of personality attributes that will get in the way of intelligence (or making money from one's intelligence).  This seems odd.  Allow me a few examples.

Extroversion/Introversion.  The capacity to be overt and interactive may help show off one's abilities and get access to applicable skills and opportunities.  Being too inhibited can stifle opportunity making events.

Laziness. Plenty of very smart people are lazy. They seek minimal work for sustenance.  Perhaps this makes them smart, I'm not sure.

Openness to new experience:  This cuts both ways.  If you tell yourself you're only good at a set of items, but you hold the potential to be better at a different set, only to exclude the latter set because of perceived difficulty, well, you're setting yourself up to be lazy and unchallenged, and you're also telling yourself something that isn't true, but is convenient.

Capacity to verbalize thoughts and convey them.  Not everyone is good at this.  This is, perhaps, a skill that is developed through time, and one that isn't intuitive.  I'm not sure whether, given an idea, it is best to talk about it from your own perspective, or try to alter how you describe it to fit your perception of the person with whom you speak.  Either way, effective communication is hard going.

Depression.  This seems obvious.

Cultural stuff and overconfidence (insecurity):  Americans like to think they're the fucking best at everything, a priori, with no effort.  This is, at best, a form of dangerous adolescence.  At worst, it will sink the country.  I'm not saying it isn't hard to say "I don't know," but I'm saying that Americans have a really hard time saying it.  Because they think they know.

Getting Hammered Isn't Relaxing.

It in fact stressed out almost all functions in your body.  It seems relaxing because it disengages the rational parts of our brains, and makes us stop thinking as intensely, or as manically, as before.  And it slows us down physically, too.  All at a cost, though.

Pain Can Calm.

Little bits of pain can provide relief and peace in a way that is highly addictive.   There are explanations.  Of course, if you don't expect pain and have it inflicted on you, it will not prove calming.  But if self-inflicted, and controlled, once gotten used to, it can provide some comfort, if you will.  Hence cutting, self-mutilation, etc.  Once you gain a 'tolerance' you can go too far.

Exhausted -

Apologies for the lack of posts recently.  Suffice it to say that I'm probably trying to do too much.

Stopping Time.

A comment pointed out that the idea of stopping time, and then thinking about stuff, that is, looking around stopped time and conceiving of separate ideas or thoughts or observations, is inherently illogical, because, if time stopped, or if I could freeze it, I would indeed also be frozen, or merged in, what have you.  But if I could stop time and simultaneously think about the stopped time, well then, there'd be some time going forward, and I'd violate my own preposition for thought experiment.

And yet.

I still want to assert something about expectations.  Within any given moment, there are literally billions of people thinking about what they're going to do next.  They are also telling themselves stories, histories, really, about what they'll base their "what to do next" decisions on.  What I'm fascinated with is the idea that we could cut out their justifications, their histories, and the world would look pretty freakin' weird.  All these structures of thought, culture, currency, language, etc., exist only within human interaction, and propel themselves from human interaction in the past.  Without memory and justification, we don't have much to ride on for our behaviors into the future.