Ripple in Abyss

Reading Notes

 Life  1627  8 mins  

《跃迁》 (The Leap)

  1. Look for value first, and start from the head.
  2. Place steady bets with a 51% win rate, and iterate toward success.
  3. Seek out first-hand information to save time and improve quality.
  4. Divide work into four quadrants by value and advantage, and think carefully.
  5. Always start from value, never from advantage.

Solo learning: think-integrate-learn. Networked learning: think-integrate-share-connect with the outside world-learn. A good method must run counter to human nature. When you encounter a problem: who is most likely to know the answer? How do you reach them? What do you need to prepare beforehand?

On reading

  1. Blind learning has negative effects. You need to improve cognitive efficiency (cognitive return divided by energy invested), set goals, and allocate resources.
  2. Use fragmented time for informational reading. Before searching, judge whether the knowledge is useful, and only then decide how deeply to engage.
  3. Reading from page one is the most foolish approach. Read the table of contents first to understand the most important chapters. If there is no framework at the start, there will be none at the end either.
  4. Don't buy books blindly. Look at reviews and the table of contents first. Read with questions in mind.
  5. The concept of "knowledge crystals," structured knowledge: tree structures, associative structures, sequential relationships, data structures.

On asking questions

Be a lifelong questioner. Start from a tree of questions, and learn only the knowledge that solves problems. Three key points for asking questions: 1. Be well-prepared and have clear goals. Ask questions with concrete pointers, and present your own attempts and thought process. 2. Compose questions: ask several deep questions in a row to push thinking forward. 3. Output the answers. Record, organize, and feed back the answers, then propose further action plans.

Angles for thinking: evidence (how to prove what is right or wrong), perspective (how others see this question), connection (whether there are patterns and rules between things, whether similar situations have appeared before), conjecture (what it might look like), relevance (why it matters).

On learning

The point of learning is not to acquire knowledge, but to solve problems. While learning, you must constantly remember: can the thing I'm learning right now solve my problem? Can it solve the problem in front of me? If not, mark it and stop. Otherwise you'll spend hours on it and end up with nothing.

On output

Output doesn't have to be large, but it must exist. A little accumulation gradually takes shape, and with a touch of polish it can produce the effect of "the sum of the individuals being greater than the whole."

On sharing

Complete output through sharing, and test input through sharing. Helping others solve problems is sharpening your own thinking.

《思考的艺术》 (The Art of Thinking)

  1. Don't define yourself by other people's evaluations. The past is merely the past; the future depends on the present.
  2. Acknowledge that your thoughts are deeply influenced by your environment. Your mind is full of other people's views and attitudes, many of which have already hardened into principles and beliefs, but some are surely wrong or out of step with the times. You need to figure out exactly how they affect your behavior. If you wish to be a person of character, you must ask yourself for your own opinions on matters, carefully discern whether they originate from others' thinking, then judge them from every angle and accept the most reasonable view.
  3. Concentration doesn't mean never being distracted; it means correcting course as soon as you are distracted. Just as driving doesn't mean clutching the steering wheel to death, but rather adjusting it constantly.
  4. Overvaluing yourself can lead to undervaluing others.
  5. If you don't understand both sides of a contradiction, you don't understand the contradiction itself.
  6. Overcome six habits that hinder thinking: the "mine is better" mentality, saving face, resistance to change, conformity, stereotyping, and self-deception.

Carrying out systematic thinking

  1. Read the problem and decide how to approach it.
  2. Recall the knowledge needed to solve it.
  3. Solve it systematically: for instance, simplify the problem, find key points, decompose the problem.
  4. Trust your own reasoning and have confidence.
  5. Stay prudent throughout the entire problem-solving process.

Holding more meaningful discussions

  1. Prepare in advance whenever possible.
  2. Set reasonable expectations.
  3. Avoid self-centeredness and personal preferences.
  4. Speak in moderation.
  5. Avoid speech habits that distract people.
  6. Listen actively.
  7. Make responsible judgments.
  8. Restrain the urge to shout and interrupt others.

Recovering curiosity

  1. Be a good observer: observe the words and gestures of those around you and capture details.
  2. Look for the imperfections in things.
  3. Pay attention to your own and others' dissatisfactions.
  4. Search for causes.
  5. Be sensitive to possible consequences.
  6. Spot opportunities within disputes.

Distinguishing problems from controversies

  • Express problems with "How can we...", and gradually refine the solution.
  • Express controversies with "Whether (or whether one should)..."
  1. Identify the challenge, and distinguish problems from controversies.
  2. Express the problem or controversy in as many ways as possible.
  3. Refine the expression: use precise, concrete words.

In most cases, both sides of a controversy tend to develop biases, and memory is being constantly reshaped. You must investigate thoroughly and exclude bias.

Generating ideas

The more ideas you have, the greater the chance of a good one appearing. Initial ideas are usually inferior in quality to later ones. The success of creative thinking depends on producing a steady stream of new ideas, until ordinary, taken-for-granted ideas have been swept away, and unusual, imaginative ideas can be produced.

  1. Force yourself to make unusual responses: no matter how absurd, otherwise you will unknowingly discard the seeds of originality.
  2. Use free association: let go of control over your thinking and observe what ideas and associations may emerge.
  3. Use analogies: ask yourself what these problems and controversies resemble, and what they remind you of.
  4. Look for unusual combinations.
  5. Visualize the solution: imagine the scene after it has been solved, and reason backward to the conditions it should meet.
  6. Construct arguments for and against: but be careful to fight bias and understand both sides fairly.
  7. Construct related scenarios.

Don't pass judgment too easily: the time to judge is after ideas have been generated. Don't filter out ideas that haven't yet been fully conceptualized. Don't judge ideas while they are still being produced.

Overcoming obstacles

  1. Mental block: leads to an inability to produce ideas, sitting there waiting and growing more and more nervous. Cultivate the habit of not passing easy judgment while producing ideas. Carefully read what you have written down and let it lead to new ideas; copy existing ideas repeatedly and watch for ideas at the edge of consciousness; set the problem aside for a while; reconsider other expressions.
  2. Bewildered confusion: the most common cause is forgetting the problem.
  3. Rigidity: too many ideas of one kind and no variation, because thinking has been led down a narrow path. You need to deliberately stimulate the imagination.

Critical thinking

  1. Focus on your own ideas.
  2. Overcome the obstacles to critical thinking: force yourself to make critical, fault-finding examinations; use your self-respect, and imagine the scene of someone pointing out a serious flaw.
  3. Apply curiosity: ask yourself how it could work in application, and how others might react to it.
  4. Don't make assumptions: don't assume that other people familiar with the problem or controversy will be enthusiastic about your idea — in fact, the more familiar they are, the more they tend to have ideas of their own; don't assume that the flaws in your ideas won't affect others' acceptance; don't assume that because your view is clear to you, it must be clear to others; don't assume that those who would benefit most from your idea will accept it without thinking.

Improving the solution

First, understand the solution:

  1. How is the solution to be applied? List all the steps and important details.
  2. What difficulties will arise in implementing the solution? How can they be overcome most effectively?
  3. What reasons will others find to oppose it? How can it be improved to dissolve that opposition?
  4. Whom must you persuade of the solution's value? What kind of presentation is most likely to persuade them?

Then proceed from three concrete steps:

  1. Pin down the details: determine how the solution will be applied. Exactly how is it to be carried out step by step, by whom, when, where, who provides the funding, what tools and materials might be needed, how to obtain them, how to transport them, how to store them, and what special conditions might be required.
  2. Find the flaws: clarity (is it hard to understand), safety, convenience, efficiency, simplicity, comfort, durability, aesthetics, compatibility; compare it with competing solutions; consider what changes the solution will bring about; consider the effects the solution will have on people.
  3. Make improvements: change the terminology, change the way it is explained, change the way it is applied.

Considering errors that affect truthfulness

  1. The "either... or..." mode of thinking: stubbornly believing there are only two options.
  2. Avoiding the controversy: shifting from resolving the dispute to attacking the person.
  3. Hasty generalization.
  4. Oversimplification: ask yourself which important aspects of the controversy your formulation has ignored, and settle on a fitting, accurate one.
  5. Double standards.
  6. Shifting the burden of proof.
  7. Irrational appeals.

Considering errors that affect validity

  1. Pay attention to causal logic.
  2. Identify the hidden premises of an argument.

Evaluating arguments

  1. State the argument completely, achieve clarity, find all the hidden premises, and articulate every part of a complex argument.
  2. Examine each part to find errors that affect truthfulness.
  3. Examine the argument to find errors that affect validity.
  4. If you find errors, you need to revise the argument.

Expressing ideas and persuading others

Merely possessing high-quality ideas is not enough; you must also help your audience perceive their quality.

  1. Figure out why people reject new ideas.
  2. Anticipate the audience's objections.
  3. Understand the specific audience you wish to persuade.
  4. Present the ideas effectively.