There was a time when mankind marveled at the very fact of rain. We could only imagine what order could explain the phenomenon of precipitation. Condensation? Never heard of it. As is typical for humans, when we don’t understand something, we imagine a central and complex solution to explain it. Water is falling from the sky? It can only be the work of God.
This is not an atheist rant, dear reader; please bear with me. I’m not even sure I’m an atheist.
Condensation and precipitation discovered, we moved God further out to the less mundane events of life that we still couldn’t explain. Seasons, droughts, floods, illness, etc. All surely at the mercy of providence.
In other instances, we refuse to push God away from parts of life that we do have a logical explanation for.
Death, rationally the mere cessation of all vital functions, is a widely unsatisfactory culmination to all experiences, problems, and thrills that is life. Many refuse to believe life would be so pointless as to simply end in this manner. Fair enough. That one is explained through psychology, which we humans have mainly to explain everything we don’t do rationally. Most of the world subscribes to ideas beyond rationality, and a tiny-but-influential group (sometimes in power) pretends they can’t understand any irrational motives (which itself is quite irrational if you think about it). But I digress.
You probably think that much of this doesn’t apply to you. You know how and why rain happens. Maybe you’re young and have managed to put off the thought of death. But think about conspiracies. “I can’t comprehend how the Americans were able to walk on the moon in the sixties, so I choose to believe in a central and complex explanation: It was all a tightly coordinated hoax in which not even the person who mopped the floors at Conspiracy HQ spilled the beans.” Sound familiar?
There’s another phenomenon at play that we can’t ignore: many have “killed” religion in their lives. And I say kill — not abandon — due to the Nietzsche-like violent rejection of values involved. I’ll admit it’s merely coincidental, but have you noticed that most conspiracy believers defend their theories with what can only be described as religious fervor?
If you’re snickering imagining a dumb right-winger with a tinfoil hat, stop. Despite everyone involved rather hilariously trying to deny it, there are plenty of Christian values in the left’s playbook. Oh, you believe the entire world needs to share political correctness standards along with your worldview? It’s almost like universal Christian justice. Oh, you think you’re personally liable for what your ancestors did, and you need to express your guilt at all times and especially in social settings? It’s almost like Christian guilt, repent, and flagellation. None of these traits exist in non-Christian societies.
Here’s something I consider liberating, but others seemingly can’t accept. Nothing really relates you to a 1900s inhabitant of your region. It’s why nationalism doesn’t really do it for me. Actually, you have far more in common with anyone in your generation anywhere than any person alive one hundred years ago. Why is that?
Well, here’s where it all ties back together. Remember those centrally and complex solutions that we dream up when we’re ignorant about something? I used to think that everything was ruled by a “system.” This “system” had “junior” and “senior” people in it, and I had to figure out how to enter the system that I wanted to be a part of and “climb the ranks.”
Of course, this worldview is absurd. How do you explain 23-year-old CEOs? How do you explain managers with people doubling their age in their teams? I’ll give you a hint: there is no system. Those “young promises” didn’t share your worldview. Through clairvoyance or privilege, they saw the world for what it is: a group of people interacting in simple ways. There are no “rules,” just “people.” People that change every generation. The future judges of the world were in the same classroom as you. Let that sink in for a moment. What a “mighty” system, eh?
Even the most trivial peer-to-peer interactions would require a complex system to be explained centrally. To think that things are centrally managed seems to be at the core of many conspiracies. I think it rather debunks them. How hard is it for two governments to work together on something? Do you realize the number of people of all ranks it takes to create even a mediocre diplomatic relationship? And you think COVID is a global hoax? Rest easy.
Everything can be explained through simple peer-to-peer interactions; every element has its own rules and reacts quite predictably to its environment. You just need to figure out each part’s motivations. After a life of struggling to understand “the system” as a central piece, it’s almost infuriating how simple it is to predict by just understanding “individual aligned incentives.”
Take an ant colony (or Conway’s game of life). To write a single set of rules to control every ant centrally is impossible, especially as the number of ants grows. But with a straightforward set of rules that each individual ant must follow independently, the system as a whole appears to be extraordinarily complex. The colony finds food and tells each other about it! And ants don’t have brains!
I highly encourage you to watch this fantastic Youtube Video. A program is written to create such a distributed system. The result is organic-looking https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-iSQQgOd1A. Even the human body’s most complex behaviors can be explained at least in part by distributed systems. The digestive system, for one, has “its own neurons.”
So, what’s the conclusion? What can we learn from all of this? Here’s a summary:
- When engaging with something new in life, don’t assume it’s complex. Try to dissect it into its moving pieces. It’s not “the Google.” It’s a company. How does it make money? Ads. How do they sell Ads? Advertisers go compete in an auction for keywords. How much money does that earn them? Seventy USD billion a year. Do they have other lines of profitable business? The cloud, but it’s a competitive space. So Google looks like a single point of failure desperate to diversify rather than an unkillable Goliath. Isn’t it weird how long they’ve had seventy billion dollars yearly without managing to diversify? Come up with a revenue-generating business that would fit in nicely at Google, and you might have a very decent chance at working at Google and cashing out big. This is regardless of your background, age, or how many times you read “Cracking the Coding Interview.” Nobody will care where you came from. I meet people who take themselves out of this possibility simply because of a “college degree” they’re missing. They still believe there’s a system.
- Figure out what the elements of the problem are. Are you trying to sell to a business? That business will have sales goals set by management. What is the management’s definition of success for their salesforce? Don’t take the sales goals at face value. Remember: rules are just people. What incentives do the people “making the rules” at the company have? Don’t try to sell anything to the business until you can answer that question.
- If you think you’re on a righteous cause that nobody seems to engage with, stop and think. How many centrally managed miracles does your idea need to be true? China created the virus in a lab? China’s putting micro-chips in your masks?
- Stop trying to impose your worldview on others. This one is personal but for example: stop calling Latinos “Latinx.” For God’s sake! Do you not realize you’re a white person trying to tell others what to do and say? Maybe you do have something in common with your 1900s ancestors after all. Re-evaluate if your cause actually represents someone other than yourself.
