4 lines to rule them all

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Heres a visual representation of what your life looks like if you live above the statistical benchmark to the age of 80. Each square here represents one week at an average of 53 weeks per year To some this might seem morbid, but I find it fascinating, humbling. You see a box I see milestones; birth of a child. The passing of a loved one. Graduation. The first paycheck. Marriage. Happiness and sadness and everything in between all rolled into 4 lines connected together. I like to fill in each week as it passes, it serves the following purpose - acts as a reminder on how far I have to go, so I contemplate and reflect on mistakes to learn from them - helps in keeping my self aligned to my values and stick to my smaller seemingly mundane habits that will only benefit me in the long run (like staying active/ keeping relationships) - keeps me grounded on how much I do not know - a constant reminder on not to take small things too seriously as it will all eventually come to an end - lastl...
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Patents, Patience and Polymaths



A friend recently filed for a couple of Patents after completing their PHD in Deep Learning in Medical imaging, I was trying to understand their thought process to finding solutions to complex problems and they said simply "I try to ask why a lot, why are people doing it this way, why not that way, and what happens if I try it some other way"

Asking why recursively seems to be an great way to break down and analyze problems, and if you have an interdisciplinary view of the world, you might be able to come across a revolutionary novel way of solving the problem which could be simpler and faster than what was being done before

At face value it seems to be a simple approach, I mean all you have to do is dive into your existing pool of knowledge and try to connect as many different disciplines as you have knowledge of, NASAs famous James Web Telescope needed to be folded and deployed in space and unfolded, the solution was inspired by the art of Oragami

But what troubles me is that this skill of cross referencing and developing a multi-solution mindset, needs to be practiced for hours on end to yield mastery and produce any benefit. My friend has arguably spent three decades doing just this, and now it bears fruit

But even though this multi solution approach maybe valued and lead to major impact in society, it is not encouraged or prescribed in our current educational systems. When was the last time you were given a math problem and asked to find as many solutions to the problem as possible? probably never.

The book below is one I'm in the process of finishing, but in it, Peter Hollins seems to describe the art of being a Polymath as mastering different disciplines and integrating them into each other to find solutions, exactly what we are talking about above. So this seemed like a good resource to tag here, though it does contain some fluff so be warned.

Patience, Practice, Persistence, Polymaths and Patents

Theres always more than one way to solve problems we have in life, that is my learning for today. More to come




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