Subtractive knowledge

Monday Map

Hello reader, you already know what you are reading. This is Monday Map from Busyminds Newsletter. My Monday publications usually consist of a commentary, a mental model, and a picture. Today will feature a little detour. Thanks for understanding.

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Aphorisms on Epistemology and Subtractive Knowledge

-The problem of knowledge is that there are many more books on birds written by ornithologists than books on birds written by birds and books on ornithologists written by birds.

-It takes extraordinary wisdom and self-control to accept that many things have a logic we do not understand that is smarter than our own.

-Knowledge is subtractive, not additive—what we subtract (reduction by what does not work, what not to do), not what we add (what to do)

-They think that intelligence is about noticing things that are relevant (detecting patterns); in a complex world, intelligence consists in ignoring things that are irrelevant (avoiding false patterns).

-Happiness: we don’t know what it means, how to measure it, or how to reach it, but we know extremely well how to avoid unhappiness.

-Conscious ignorance, if you can practice it, expands your world; it can make things infinite.

(Culled from Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms by Nicholas Nassim Taleb).

Maximising Your Ignorance

There are many things we do not know. And there are many things we will not know. So, I think it makes sense to live a life that maximises both your knowledge and ignorance. How is this possible? I do not know. But it is something I am willing to try out. You will get the results over time (fingers crossed).

Thank you for reading.

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Of course, I do not leave you comfortless. I shall leave a picture for you that will be with you forever. Take one:

See you around,

Jegdy.