MONDAY MAP

CHESTERTON'S FENCE, BAD MENTAL MODELS, FAT LADY SINGS

Chesterton's fence states that "don't ever take a fence down until you know the reason why it was put up." You will find this model to be practical in many areas of your life. 

Welcome to another Monday Map. Today I will just share something about Chesterton's fence (a good mental model), and point out some bad mental models that are common today. They will help you.

Chesterton's Fence: Chesterton's fence is practical and useful because not everything unpleasant or seemingly uncomfortable deserves to be taken down in a hurry. I will explain. 

It is very possible and even common that some practices and norms are obstructive in nature, compared with what we want to achieve. Take for instance, I know a lot of people who are angered with the fact that we must take Mathematics and English Language as subjects in school regardless of what we want to become. There are people who count these subjects as irrelevant to their pursuits and dismiss their need because "how does trigonometry and figure of speech help me make money?" If given the choice, they would prefer to scrape off those subjects from the curriculum. But who says they are useless?

Chesterton's fence is a model that reminds us that some things don't have obvious functions, but there are good reasons why they are where they are and removing them is bad.

Before you think of removing or abolishing something, ask yourself why such a thing is there at all. Even better, meditate to know if you have a suitable replacement. Don't abolish it in a hurry. Be guided.

Terrible Mental Models: In the course of the past week, I observed some discussions that showed me once again how things that don't work can be as popular (if not more than) things that work. Sitting atop the list are two mental models I call The Haters Model and Shallow Agreement.

The Haters Model: You know this one and you will get it in a minute. It is put this way: "if people hate you, it is a sign that you are doing something right."

I could not disagree more. People hating you and what you do is not always a sign that you are doing something right. There are too many factors at play in life for this singular marker to indicate if you are doing something right or not.

Two factors obvious to this condition is the possibility of delusions and misperceptions.

Delusions in the human mind can alter your perception of everything. Once you internalise the claim that hatred is proof of right actions, you might take all hatred as proof of right actions even when your actions are utterly poor. The dude who thinks people are hating on his talent might just be deluded into ignoring that his music track is horrible and his voice is terrible. The man who thinks persecution is proof of his righteousness may really just be suffering for his misdeeds. Even Peter the Apostle admonished persecuted Christians in the Bible "not to suffer as thieves and murderers" (1st Peter 4: ). The Nazis in Germany saw themselves as the good guys and counted everyone not on their side as a 'hater.' We know in hindsight that they were the bad guys. But I am sure that they were bolstered in their actions by the thought that hatred and resistance was good proof that they were on the right side of history. 

The best thing you can do is to watch your craft every step of the way to determine if you are making the right moves or not. Introspection will save you from the errors of external validation. You need several other signs set up to measure your success or track your progress to know if you stand right or not. Being hated is no sufficient proof that you are taking the right steps. Not all criticisms and resistance stem from hatred. Some resistance is appropriate to help redirect you. Be guided.

Shallow Agreement: I have mostly seen this online, but in my life I have only seen fewer heuristics that are worse than this. It is put this way: "if members of x group (where x is any collective demography) agree with your claim or statement, you are wrong, should most likely be ashamed, and go have a rethink."

This model is so simplistic that it abuses the sophisticated levels of man's intelligence. It assumes that collective demographics have a special way of thinking which cannot be altered and does not intersect with any form of thought outside the group. It elevates group thought. It assumes that we are hive minds, where the competence is found in the hive, and hives are compared to other hives. It also assumes a black and white view of the world where you can detect correctness based on what the hive is saying. And at any point where you have opinions correlating with the wrong hive, you are wrong.

Critical example:

To think that many men (or women) agreeing with a statement is proof that someone is wrong is just shallow. We are more sophisticated than that. We are so complex in thought that one day you might find yourself agreeing with whom you disagree with the most. This is why it is advised that you take each idea on its own merit. 

We will not always be divergent in our thinking. That the 'wrong' person agrees with us should not be what throws us off balance as long as the idea is correct. It is then worse when people ask others to cower because they are in agreement with the 'wrong' people. If this is you, it means your allegiance is not to truth but to hive correctness and one day you will be asked to sacrifice your head too and you would not have the courage to stand for what is right. You would lie, and lying would be your second nature. Learn to be courageous. Develop intellectual courage. Be bold with truth in the face of tyranny.

It is not over until the fat lady sings: Yep, the year still has 18 days to go. You still have time to do the things that will give you a good advantage in the new year. Seize it. It is not over until the fat lady sings.

Ciao,

Emmanuel.