LEARNINGS OF 2020 #3 CONTD.

 


                                               NEERAJ MAHAJAN




REDUNDANCY

This is the opposite of debt, something not of use, or The Margin of Safety in Investment Parlance. In Modernity, it is counterintuitive. Lemme explain. Mother nature has built redundancies everywhere like two kidneys, appendix, two eyes, and ears, huge brains in humans to similar types in trees. A tree regenerates itself if a trace of the root is left behind, birds like Bar Headed Geese have such reserves in its system that it flies at over 30000 feet over Mount Everest in summers to reach Rajasthan. Redundancy is everywhere except in our lives, the modern man. We are optimized and, in debt. Want a house, car, holiday? Don't rent, Don't save but take a loan as it is easy. Have extra money lying in the bank account? Let's leverage it for some extra bang for our buck. But do we realize, it fragilizes us? In an increasingly random world, what if a crisis hits suddenly? It Could be economic, natural, personal health, or anything. Are we ready to endure it? Probably no. Can there be a greater epiphany of it than the current Covid times? Those with redundant money in their systems or nonmorbid folks coasted along well while the rest struggled. Redundancy in all matter is the central property in the risk management systems of Nature and we ought to ignore it at our peril. Let us build redundancies in all our spheres and shun debt. And remember the Yiddish proverb, PROVIDE FOR THE WORST, THE BEST CAN TAKE CARE OF ITSELF.


Teleological Fallacy

It means the central illusion that we know where we are going ie there is no uncertainty and that others have succeeded in the past by knowing where they are going. Most spend their lives being victims of their plans, goals. The worst advice one can give a teenager is to follow his passions, dreams. As adults do we know what our passions are ? or when we were in teens did we know it?  At least I didn't. Neither did I ever get any advice on self-exploration. The results have been fraught with mediocrity. The great Steve jobs knew it when he said, You have to work hard to know what you want and then the rest is quite simple. He knew humans and created iPhones which all aspire for. Ditto for Sir Henry Ford. Had he listened to popular opinion or the hoi polloi, we wouldn't be cruising in Endeavours or Porsches. We would be riding a faster horse carriage instead.  What does this mean? Doesn't a plan work?  Most plans fail in real life. We get our cues on money, career, power, relations from our society and we plan in accordance. Even if it works, what use is it from the Happiness Index point of view if we end up sadder? Zilch IMO. We end up paying up the ultimate price by bowing to popular wisdom most of which is deluded. I keep Grandparents' wisdom on a pedestal though. What works, in the end, is the spirit of adventure, self-knowledge, flexibility, skepticism in decision making coupled with the spirit of acceptance.


many thnx for reading me again.


Photo credit: Sajad Nori on Unsplash. 




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