tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56701675342193640432024-03-14T03:50:54.858+08:00CanvasDocumenting my craftUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5670167534219364043.post-44032640954169076152023-07-01T21:30:00.006+08:002023-08-13T12:41:54.850+08:0040 LESSONS FROM MY 40 YEARS<p><span style="font-size: medium;">I turned 40 years of age on the 14th of August 2022. I began creating a mind map containing forty lessons I had learned over as many years. However, I did not publish them as I was being too wary about sharing them. I'm not sure why I was being so cautious, especially since one of the lessons I have learned is about valuing progress over perfection.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Therefore, following my own advice, I am publishing it even if the writing is not as polished as I want it to be. These lessons and my personal growth hold great value for me, and perhaps they will be valuable to others as well.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">So, here I go.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">#1 <b>The master appears only when the student is ready</b>. This is the first lesson. What it means is what I have to say in the following thirty-nine lessons may not resonate with you at all, and that is fine. The learning will only be relevant to you when you are ready. So ignore those that do not matter to you, even if it is all of them, and move on. Don’t try to force anything, it's futile. You will be ready when you are ready</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">#2 <b>Deep breathing for 10 minutes a day is life-changing.</b> This is no understatement. This wisdom might seem woo-woo as it is ancient and it is also new-age. I resisted it for these reasons for 34 years of my life. Then I started doing it. Now I cannot resist deep breathing. It is very possible also that it will not have any effect on you initially. You will be skeptical about its use and relevance. But then suddenly it will become transformative for your life. That change happens all of a sudden. This is one of those areas where you have to just do it to know it. The deep breathing I do is the Wim Hof method. It’s exactly 11 mins daily if you follow that popular YouTube video of Wim’s. But do whatever works for you. But ensure you breathe thru your nose deeply for 10 uninterrupted minutes daily.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">#3 <b>There are seasons in life. And like seasons they are cyclical</b>. For me, it is about the seasonality of how disciplined I can be in my life. Sometimes I need to hold a tight leash and be very disciplined and stick to every routine and habit. I have the mental strength to push thru. This leads to the leash becoming taut and tense. That’s OK. Because this is followed by a time when there is a general sense of looseness. Things are relaxed and you are missing your habit markers. The learning from this is to not beat yourself up about it. By design, life is cyclical this way. Trying to adhere religiously to one state or another, despite the internal change of seasons causes misalignments. I have learned that one needs to introduce the mind to a concept of flexible discipline. Another way to look at it is to have healthy addictions and obsessions. But remember to switch between the addictions and to cycle through between them. Don’t be addicted to being addicted.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">#4 <b>Incentives in life seem to be biased toward the fast and the agile. I believe it is a FALSE motivator to succumb to</b>. I use the word succumb as it is easy to do so and in fact, society will incentivize you to succumb to it. It might be a good motivator in the short term and in some seasons surely one needs to go at it fast. But know that it is not useful in the long term and in fact, can affect you negatively. The true joy in life is found in slowing down, backing yourself, and in fact, getting bored. Mono-tasking is such a tremendous source of joy. In fact, it's a luxury. If you are able to mono-task, you are actually winning. It comes when you are able to resist the urge to get more done in the short term.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">#5 <b>Books in all forms make life worth living</b>. Not much to elaborate on here, but I genuinely believe this to be true. Something about books makes learning from them, fun and life truly enjoyable. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">#6 <b>Life changes from moment to moment.</b> And it changes every instant. When the spotlight is on, say for example when a loved one is going thru a health challenge, you can feel the change. Everything seems to be different. Everything is noticeable. At other times when most of life is running smoothly, you don't see the changes. But change is happening. These imperceptible changes can be momentous or insignificant. Therefore resisting changes is sort of futile and makes no sense. It's easier to assume that because of the changes that are imperceptible, one's life can dramatically change at any given moment. But, I will be the first to concede that when you become mature enough to understand this, it sucks. It is not a pleasant insight. To appreciate it, one needs to also understand the paradox of control.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">#7 <b>Paradox of control is real</b>. Because of the previous point, one obvious conclusion to come to is 'nothing is in your control'. Which is mostly true. But it's also mostly irrelevant, as there is one very important thing that is in our control, which is crucial. We can control how we react, and what we choose to think. That is the most important. The paradox is this - don't try to control change because you cannot; control your reactions to change i.e. be accepting of it, fully. Then the change will be under control.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">#8 <b>Acknowledge the separation of action and reaction</b>. An extension of the paradox of control is that one cannot actually make someone else happy or sad or even angry. That is a reaction that is not in your control. Your actions can certainly evoke certain feelings in another, but what that feeling is, is never in your control. By understanding this you set yourself up for a life of less misery as you can live without having to overthink everything. Don't try to willingly hurt someone, or do hurtful things, but at the same time do not censure yourself.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">#9 <b>Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional</b>. Pain is the first arrow that is shot at you. But suffering is the second, third, and n-th arrow you shoot at yourself. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">#10 <b>Beyond a certain threshold, there is more joy found in eliminating than in adding.</b> Nothing feels as good as not having one more thing to be responsible for. Especially if you can eliminate the things which can cause niggling issues - pain, repeating setbacks. In fact, removing something that is an issue is more likely to bring you happiness than incremental improvements in some aspects of your life. One of life's purposes is to lower that threshold to the bare minimum so that not much is needed to find joy.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">#11 <b>Simplicity unlocks a power that can surmount the challenges that complexity imposes</b>. We often underestimate the simple as we seem to think the complex is better. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">#12 <b>Lowering one's expectations actually helps one enjoy things more.</b> This is almost like a law of simple physics. Low expectations fulfilled consistently is more satisfying than high expectations which constantly fall short of being satisfactory. This can also help one mentally to simplify one's personal surroundings and more importantly, one's decision-making heuristics. It is beneficial in the short term and in the long term. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">#13 <b>Consistency beats intensity</b>. If one has low expectations, they can be met consistently without life interrupting them. This way you can reap the benefits of compounding. Intensity is good in short bursts, but cannot be maintained and therefore does not reap the rewards of compounding.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">#14 <b>There is a fine line separating being disciplined and being hyper-intentional</b>. The latter is just another form of perfectionism that is willingly inviting suffering. Trying to be hyper-intentional is like grasping at things that are outside your reach, for a reason. A deliberate life is better. There may be a season for hyper-intentionality, but it is something deliberately done, not because of the demands of society. In essence, hyper-intentionality and 'hustle' are unnatural.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">#15 <b>Life is meant for leisure.</b> We have been fooled into thinking that work is everything. Work needs to organize around leisure, not the other way around. We are human BEINGS, not human DOINGS.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">#16 <b>Focus on the big things first</b>. Don't sweat the small stuff, especially in the beginning. As Steven Covey said, put in the big rocks first, the other small stuff will organize itself around the important things. Also, you are what you give your attention to.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">#17 <b>Surmounting the fear of failure is pivotal in every endeavor</b>. It is the number one thing holding most of us back from living a deliberate life. To overcome this it is useful to start from knowing that it is biological. So, one has to find ways to manage the biology of fear. Courage, as Lewis Carrol said is the form of every other virtue at its testing point.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">#18 <b>Incompetence is better than insecurity</b>. I will go as much as to say that one of the lowest kinds of behavior is letting one's insecurity determine the interactions with others, especially those who are less fortunate. An incompetent, but kind person is better than a competent, insecure, and scheming person. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">#19 <b>Consumption without creation can be addictive</b>. One of the challenges of modern existence is a person can now easily survive by consuming more than creating. This can apply to almost all aspects of life including food, ideas, entertainment, relationships, work, etc. The antidote is to take breaks from consumption and create something, however trivial it is.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">#20 <b>Eat plants and food made from them.</b> Avoid at all costs, animals and their secretions as your sustenance. Voluntarily putting parts of a carcass never appealed to me. I am now also convinced that consuming dairy taken from a mother, while depriving her child of it, is even more cruel.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">#21 <b>Overeating is worse than fasting</b>. The after-effects of over-eating are a worse affliction than fasting for reasonably long periods of time. Occasionally skip meals. Fasting, done right, can be a panacea.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">#22 <b>Relationships can be hard but need not be.</b> Given time every relationship, even the one with yourself becomes fraught with burdens. Do not kid yourself that some will be easier than others. But this does not mean you should not have those relationships. In fact, 'you' exist mostly in the intersection of the Venn diagram of the relationships and roles you play. There is no escaping it. Instead, make the intersection large enough by being consistent and interesting enough by being unique. This way, you can enjoy every relationship you choose to have.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">#23 <b>Identify who you give your time to in life</b>. This may seem harsh, but identifying who you value in life (and give time to) and who you don't (and not give time to) is essential. Learning to do this deliberately and without drama will transform your mindset. Without prioritization, perfectionism will corrode your existence. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">#24 <b>When in doubt, put pen to paper.</b> If you are feeling frantic about anything, sit down with a pen and paper and write about it. This might give you insight which might solve the problem for you. If not, it will give you time. Either way, you will be better off.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">#25 <b>Iterate, Iterate, Iterate.</b> Learning to do this, taking small risks, experimenting, and treating every day as an experiment is contra-intuitive. It is actively discouraged in life. But you must. It is transformative. This can be applied in most domains of life - mental, physical, emotional, professional, and even spiritual aspects.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">#26 <b>Live life with a gardener's mentality</b>. Gardening requires persistence, delaying gratification enough, but not too much. It requires building systems and developing a craft. And above all, it values patience and a willingness to weed out the inessential. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">#27 <b>Competitiveness is an overrated mindset</b>. Like hustle, it is a false and dubious driver. We should treat competitiveness and the comparison it evokes as drugs. In small infrequent doses, they are helpful to alter your state and elevate performance. But they are highly addictive, and lead you towards a downward spiral. Beware while using competitiveness, to not end up abusing it. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">#28 <b>Shame is self-imposed.</b> It is not an emotion others can impose on you. Liberate oneself from shame and definitely don't feel a sense of it always. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">#29 <b>Short sounds confident. Elaborate sounds nervous.</b> Speak, write, and communicate with brevity as much as possible as it will make you appear confident. But do so with clarity and kindness. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">#30 <b>Leading is making others feel that they are important</b>. A manager casts the spotlight on him or herself. A leader, on the other hand, will make you feel important. Choose to be a leader most of the time and a manager only when necessary</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">#31 <b>Solutions can be found when those looking for them feel valuable</b>. Make oneself and others feel valuable and useful, the solutions to problems and issues will appear before you. It is indifference that blocks the obvious and makes us blind.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">#32<b> Praise them even when someone is not worthy.</b> Providing positive motivation rewards you as much as it helps others. Share the rewards, and acknowledge their contribution, vocally and publicly. It feels good and leads to better outcomes. Being stingy in positivity is of limited utility, and does not maximize potential. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">#33 <b>Strive to be worthy of what you receive.</b> Taking more than your worth and getting the praise that is not yours to take, will make them feel less rewarding. Greed deadens the senses and very soon even what you deserve will feel bitter and unfulfilling.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">#34 <b>Fortune favors those who are prepared to receive it</b>. If you are getting some benefit while not being intentional, know that it is accidental. Enjoy it briefly, but it is not sustainable. One starts becoming lucky when he has started cultivating luck. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">#35 <b>Work based on time goals, not completion goals</b>. Work expands to meet the time you give it. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">#36 <b>Make the criteria for saying YES broad enough. But beyond that boundary automatically say NO</b>. There is more to be lost by saying yes to everything, than by saying no to some things. Make the decision simple and automatic. Make it clear so as to not have to spend precious energy deliberating it.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">#37 <b>Pay twice as much, but for half as many items</b>. That way you will get quality and you will save money. Also, merchants who sell at higher prices will also give you more quality attention than those who sell less valuable items. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">#38 <b>Having energy and enthusiasm for a task will help you get closer to completing it than having the expertise to do it.</b> Same for an idea. An idea's chance of coming to life is higher when the person having the idea is energized and enthusiastic about it. Even more than if the person is well qualified but lacks enthusiasm for it. Relatedly, giving too much feedback to a person's idea which can dampen their enthusiasm for it, will lead to worse outcomes than what the feedback intends to improve. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">#39 <b>Action relieves anxiety</b>. If you are feeling anxious, get moving. If you are worrying about the outcome of something, just start doing the task, and the anxiety will melt away. If you don't have the motivation to do something, just mechanically start doing a part of the task, and motivation will emerge. As Rich Roll says, mood follows action. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">#40 <b>Trying too hard is a sure-shot way of failing.</b> Life is too short for wasting it away setting yourself up to fail. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">And finally a bonus one,</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">#41 <b>We only have the rights to our labor, not its fruits</b>. As Lord Krishna said in the Mahabharata, do not be bothered about the fruits of your actions. Do your duty and things will fall into place.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">This collection of lessons represents only a fraction of the wisdom I hold dear. There are many other valuable insights that didn't make it into this list, but I plan to compile an honorable mentions list in the future and incorporate them accordingly. Additionally, I acknowledge that certain quotes I have included in this compilation were borrowed from others, and I haven't altered them as their original framing holds a certain beauty and power. Crediting the sources appropriately will be a priority in future iterations.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">However, for now, embracing the principle of progress over perfection, I am choosing to publish this compilation</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5670167534219364043.post-61050034781567403042021-05-26T23:43:00.006+08:002021-05-26T23:58:45.292+08:00A STORY ABOUT A GREEN BOY WHO SAW BEAUTY IN EVERYTHING - A CHILDREN'S TALE<span style="font-size: medium;">Green Boy was on his way to school, where he would learn about the important things in life. Along the way, he had to go through the forest. Green Boy was a happy child and eager to learn, so he set out on the journey with a keen sense of adventure.</span><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />The evening on the first day of his journey, as he walked in the forest, he came upon a tree full of fruits. Green Boy looked up, hungry after an afternoon full of walking. And in the tree, he found many juicy fruits. Green Boy eagerly climbed up and ate a few of them.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">As he was munching on one of the fruits, up higher in the tree, what did he see?<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">A shiny juicy fruit nestled amidst the leaves, all the way on the top of the tree. Shinier than any other, and bigger also. Green Boy was intrigued. He climbed up to get to that fruit and as he reached the top, he realized that it was actually the moon!<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">"Oh, such a wonderful thing!", Green Boy exclaimed "It would have been such a juicy shiny fruit!"<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Hearing this exclamation, Mr. Merry Moon was amazed.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">He said to Green Boy, "Wow! Green Boy, you are the only one who looks at me and sees a shiny juicy fruit, everyone else thinks I am a stinky old piece of cheese." Green Boy smiled sheepishly.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">"Thanks to you, Green Boy, I feel happier today. You are a good friend", said Mr. Moon. Green Boy tipped his hat and went on walking.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">It was dark by now and the forest was very silent, except for the rustling of the leaves. As Green Boy was turning into a path, what did he see in the bushes ahead of him? A pair of angry yellow eyes, shining from amidst the bushes.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Then came a growl and a roar and out came a large Grey Devil with its fangs! Grey Devil started chasing Green Boy, who ran for his life.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Grey Devil shouted behind him, "Stop you small little inconsequential little fellow. Ha.. ha.. you cannot run away. I am going to trouble you!"<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Around the trees, amidst the bushes, on top of the stone path, the Grey Devil chased poor Green Boy. But Green Boy kept running. It was almost dawn by the time Green Boy managed to escape the Grey Devil.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Green Boy was tired. He had been running. He was tired, thirsty, and hungry. He came upon a green lake, filled with glassy green water and lots of leaves and plants floating on it.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">His face lit up with a smile and he sat on the bank and started drinking water from the lake.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">But soon, he heard a loud croaking noise. "Ribbittt. Ribbittt. Ribbittttttt".<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Two eyes popped up from below the water. Green Boy was nervous and about to run away when he heard a voice call out.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">"Who drinks the water from my lake without my permission?", Mr. Warty Frog said.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Green Boy was relieved it was not the Grey Devil.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">He said, "Oh hello Mr. Frog. Sorry, I did not ask your permission. I am Green Boy. I was thirsty and this water looked so nice and refreshing. It was also the same color as mine. So, I took a sip"<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Mr. Frog looked surprised.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">He said, "Oh, what a wonderful thing to hear. Everyone else thinks this is a dirty swamp with stale icky water. You, Green Boy are the only person to think that this water looked nice and refreshing!"<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Green Boy smiled sheepishly. Mr. Frog said, "You are surely a friend, Green Boy". Mr.Frog continued, "Come, let me take you to my home under the water and give you some breakfast".<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">So Mr. Frog took Green Boy into his lake and to his underwater home. There, Mr. Frog introduced him to Mrs. Frog and their two hundred children, all called Tadpola or Tadpolee. They all sat down and had a scrumptious breakfast.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">After breakfast and after resting for some time, Green Boy bid farewell to Mr. Frog and his family and off he went. Along the way, in the forest in the late morning, he observed the beautiful things with happy eager eyes.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">He was wandering through the green forest lost in its beauty. So lost was he that when he turned a corner he missed the large spider web and landed smack in the middle of the web.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Madam Itsy Bitsy Spider sat watching as Green Boy tried to jiggle away trying to free himself. But as she approached him, to see what to do with him, she was pleasantly surprised. Instead of being scared, Green Boy was actually in awe of the web.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">He was saying, "Wow, look at this. Such a beautiful silver design, it catches the light so amazingly. Look at the intricate patterns and designs. Surely, whoever wove this web must be an artist"<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">As he gushed over its beauty, Madam Spider felt amazing about the web she had woven.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">She went up to Green Boy and said to him, "Green Boy, you are amazing. Everyone else just gets scared when they get caught in my web. But you, you called me an artist. Made me appreciate my own creation!".<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Green Boy looked sheepishly and smiled.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">"Come, let me show you how to free yourself." Madam Spider said as she showed him the way to free himself from the enormous web.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Green Boy thanked Madam Spider and went on his way.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Along the way, he came across a giant anthill, built like a large castle rising from the ground. All around the anthill were busy ants marching in and out, carrying their food and other necessities. It was really a hive of activity, and there were so many things going on everywhere that it seemed like complete chaos.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Green Boy stood there looking absolutely amazed at this sight. His eyes were big as an owl's and he was genuinely amazed.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">He exclaimed, "Wow. Such an amazing display. So organized these ants are. And so hardworking. Look how wonderfully they are going about their work!".<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Hearing this, General Order Anticus the Third, or GOAT as he was known amongst his friends, stopped directing his battalion of soldier ants and looked incredulously towards Green Boy. He was so happy that a big teardrop formed in his ant eyes.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">He came running towards Green Boy and kissed his hand and said, </span><span style="font-size: large;">"Green Boy, you are so kind. Everyone else thinks we are pesky pests and calls us busybodies who are running around all over the forest floor."</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">He said, wiping away the tears of joy, "You, Green Boy are the only one who has said we are something good! You must surely be a friend."<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Green Boy blushed again.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">General Anticus said, "Come, I must take you to meet our Queen. She will be very happy to see you".<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">And off they went into the anthill. In there, General Anticus introduced Green Boy to the royal family and they all had tea with the Queen. It was a very fancy affair with many amazing intricate pieces of cutlery and grand paintings on the walls. Green Boy really enjoyed himself.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">After Tea, Green Boy, bid farewell to the Queen and to General Anticus and his ant friends and headed onwards on his journey.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">It was late evening again, and Green Boy was nervous about having to encounter the Grey Devil again. But, he wanted to make his way forward, so on he went.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">As he was walking, he came across a quiet part of the forest. There were more hills and stones than trees, and the trees that were there did not have many leaves. He came upon one such barren tree, old and majestic, but without many leaves and pockmarked with age. But it was tall and sturdy.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Green Boy looked up in awe and even though it did not give any shade or a cool breeze, he was amazed by its tallness and strength.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">He said, "What an amazing tree. And how many years it must have seen and how many people it must have provided shade and a cool breeze too!"<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">From way above the tree, from an eyrie up in the high branches of the tree, came a high-pitched whistle. A happy high-pitched whistle.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">It was Grandma Glory Eagle. Down she came from her eyrie to meet Green Boy.<br />She took him under her wing and said, "Hello there Green Boy. Welcome to my home. Thanks for calling my home tree amazing. It is an amazing tree. My eyrie up there has been on this tree for so long. Nowadays, people just want to cut down this old tree, but you called it amazing and recognized its long strong history"<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Green Boy felt happy listening to Grandma Eagle. He smiled sheepishly.<br />Grandma Eagle then took him up to her eyrie and she gave him cookies and an assortment of snacks to eat. They talked all about Green Boy's adventures and all the new friends he had made.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Then, when it was time to leave, and Green Boy was about to get down from the tree, he heard loud rustling from below the tree. There below the tree stood the sneaky, Grey Devil, looking up with its sharp teeth. It was looking up right at Green Boy.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Grey Devil was prowling, waiting for Green Boy to make his way down.<br />"It's trouble time for you Green Boy!" sneered Grey Devil, "I have got you now!".<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Green Boy was worried. He asked for Grandma Eagle's advice on what to do. She suggested that he call all his friends and make a plan. So, Green Boy used Grandma Eagle's phone and called all his friends.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">He called Mr. Merry Moon, Mr. Warty Frog, Madam Itsy Bitsy Spider, and General Order Anticus the Third. On a conference call, they all heard Green Boy's predicament, and together with Grandma Glory Eagle, they hatched a plan to put an end to the trouble Grey Devil was planning for Green Boy.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">And what a lovely plan it was!<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Soon, it was night, and Grey Devil was getting agitated. He was taunting Green Boy to come down.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">The friends started putting their plans into action.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">First, Mr. Moon turned off the lights completely.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">It was pitch dark black and Grey Devil had trouble seeing himself, let alone the surroundings. He got nervous. What was happening?<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Then, Mr. Frog started making loud and fierce croaking noises.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">"RIBBITTTT, RIBBITTTT, RIBBBBBBIIIIITTTTTT", Mr. Frog croaked.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">It was so loud and eerie in the darkness, that Grey Devil started shivering.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Then Madam Spider threw a huge web onto Grey Devil and trapped him where he stood. He could move just a bit, but could not get himself loose.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">He was really nervous now. He was in the dark, hearing scary sounds and now he was trapped. He began sweating and shivering.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">But the friends were not done. General Anticus had come with his battalion of soldier ants and they charged Grey Devil and started biting his legs.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">"Awww, Awww, Awww", Grey Devil screamed as the stings of the soldier ant's bites ran up his legs. He was in trouble and he knew it.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Then Grandma Eagle swooshed down from high above with her powerful wings and sharp talons making a screeching sound.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Grey Devil could not see, but he knew that something big was rushing fast towards him. Left completely in the dark, with scary sounds, combined with feeling trapped from the web, stinging bites on his legs, and the screeching approaching monster from above, he finally had it. He started wailing.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">He was so afraid by now, that when Green Boy said, "Hey, Grey Devil, will you trouble me again? Do you see what I can do?", Grey Devil immediately begged him to let him go.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Grey Devil said, "Oh, Green Boy, I am sorry to even think of troubling you. I saw you were small and inconsequential, so I thought of troubling you. But, you are so much more powerful and magnificent."<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">He shivered and continued, "I will leave you alone, and from now on, I won't trouble anyone because they are small or inconsequential. Please let me go."<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Hearing his honest plea, the friends decided to end his misery.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Grandma Eagle went back to her eyrie. General Anticus asked his soldiers to stand down. Madam Spider withdrew her web and Mr. Frog stopped making the horrible croaking noise. And finally, when Mr. Moon turned on the lights, Grey Devil ran away so fast it was a funny sight to see.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">All the friends had a hearty laugh. They all joined Green Boy in Grandma Eagle's eyrie and they had fun discussing the events of the evening. They told jokes about how they met Green Boy, and also about Grey Devil.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Grandma Eagle kept them supplied with cookies, cakes, and tasty juices. What a wonderful evening it was.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">The next morning, Green Boy bid farewell to his friends. He had to head over to his school. He was eager to learn about the important things in life.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Grandma Eagle offered to show him the way so that he could reach there faster. So she flew above and Green Boy followed her down on the forest floor, observing the many things around him.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Soon, they reached the school and Green Boy said thanks to Grandma Eagle and bid her farewell. He had arrived at his school and was eager to go and learn new things.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">It was a bright new morning. Green Boy felt happy in his heart. He had learned so much along the way, and he was eager to learn so much more!</span><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5670167534219364043.post-82517188072453385152021-01-25T07:06:00.005+08:002022-01-26T16:55:30.789+08:00PROCESS QUEST<div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Inter, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Microsoft YaHei Light", sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: white;">The Bhagavad Gita <a href="https://www.quora.com/Why-is-it-said-in-Bhagwat-Geeta-that-karm-ki-chinta-karo-fal-ki-nai-think-about-the-work-not-the-goal">has</a> one of the earliest articulations of what we today know as the importance of mindset. It talks about the importance of <b>"doing one's duty and not focusing on the fruits of one's labor"</b>. This is such a fundamental framing of the concept of mindset that many other following philosophies and disciplines have borrowed this and articulated it for their specific contexts.</span></p></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Inter, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Microsoft YaHei Light", sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: white;">But in many ways, following what the Bhagavad Gita and others say can be rather unnerving. Applying this mindset in one's daily life can feel like exhausting. It can feel like you are not making any progress at all. But you still need to keep on going, not worrying about or focusing on, expecting results.</span></p></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Inter, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Microsoft YaHei Light", sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: white;">Now there is emerging research in the field of behavior change, from the likes of <a href="https://thriveglobal.com/stories/bj-fogg-build-habits-behavior-change-celebrate-wins-goals/">BJ Fogg</a>, that adds a different dimension. This identifies the role of small wins and incremental success markers have in wanting us to keep going. And help our brains wanting to adopt a new mindset. <a href="http://www.hubermanlab.com/index.html">Andrew Hubermann</a>, Stanford neurobiologist, and his study of the human brain has also shown that this 'incremental wins' approach is among the best ways to keep the motivation going and to reinforce it along the way. Most of the <a href="https://findingmastery.net/andrew-huberman/">dopamine release</a> in the brain happens not after achieving some big goals. But it is actually released when we are in pursuit of those goals.</span></p></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Inter, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Microsoft YaHei Light", sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: white;">So, is the timeless wisdom of the Bhagavad Gita which calls for a detachment from the goals and BJ Fogg's research about celebrating micro-wins inherently at conflict with each other? How can these two forces be resolved? One which is philosophical, and the other, that seems more practical and looks to create an environment that reinforces motivation by training our brains to be driven by the incremental wins.</span></p></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Inter, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Microsoft YaHei Light", sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: white;">Actually, it struck me one day that there is a very elegant resolution for this. And it can be very simple. It goes as follows.</span></p></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Inter, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Microsoft YaHei Light", sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><blockquote style="border-left-width: 5px; border-radius: 0px 4px 4px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin-inline-end: 30px; margin-inline-start: 30px; margin-inline: 30px; padding: 10px 20px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;">Reframe the mindset into one which falls in love with the process. In fact, staying detached and doing the work is exactly what the incremental rewards should enable.</span></p></blockquote></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Inter, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Microsoft YaHei Light", sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: white;">Fall in love with the process of doing and get the rewards from this. I would like to call this as the habit of 'going on a <b>Process Quest'</b>.</span></p></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Inter, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Microsoft YaHei Light", sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">This is the simple and straightforward framing that makes the Growth Mindset something that can be learned. Which is to fall in love with the process. Change the mindset from <i>"success comes from the eventual outcome of what you are doing"</i>, to <i>"success is doing the process"</i>. This way the micro-goals and small wins will indeed be triggered when the process is being done.</span><br /><br />Going on a Process Quest nicely resolves the tension. Detachment from goal orientation on one hand. And the motivation for behavior change requiring small wins on the other. <br /><br />A Process Quest mindset provides an elegant solution by making this into a workflow for the mind, eliminating friction.</p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5670167534219364043.post-9633708895163054152021-01-23T17:43:00.002+08:002021-01-23T18:05:41.159+08:00A TIME BLOCKING WORKFLOW<p><br /></p><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Inter, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Microsoft YaHei Light", sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: white;">Time blocking is a very effective workflow for me. Time blocking is a process where one creates set blocks on their calendar as a way to get things done. I have explored different ways to do it. These have been influenced by advice from the likes of <a href="https://www.calnewport.com/blog/2013/12/21/deep-habits-the-importance-of-planning-every-minute-of-your-work-day/">Cal Newport</a>, <a href="https://www.nirandfar.com/todo-vs-schedule-builder/">Nir Eyal</a>, and <a href="https://youtu.be/d5rLsUIiBGU">Curtis McHale</a>. What I have compiled below is something of a workflow I have created for myself to make time blocking work for me.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: white;">My workflow uses the concept of time blocking but marries it with two other productivity concepts.</span></p></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Inter, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Microsoft YaHei Light", sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><ol style="box-sizing: border-box;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: white;">TO-DO lists - which don't really need to be defined.</span></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: white;">Setting specific intentions - which is the process of creating more specific intentions for tasks to be done in these time blocks. A side note: if I remember right, I heard about specific intentions in a podcast between Tim Ferriss and Jim Collins.</span></li></ol></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Inter, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Microsoft YaHei Light", sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white;">Specific intentions are clarifying the specific actions one wants to achieve in a specified time. The specificity is not at the outcome level, which is also needed, but the specificity is at the level of the granular actions, step by step if possible.</span></p></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Inter, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Microsoft YaHei Light", sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><h4 style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 20px; margin: 15px 0px;"><div class="heading-collapse-indicator collapse-indicator collapse-icon" style="align-items: center; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; float: left; font-size: 2px; margin-left: -30px; padding: 0px 10px;"><svg class="right-triangle" height="8" viewbox="0 0 100 100" width="8"></svg><span style="background-color: white;"><path d="M94.9,20.8c-1.4-2.5-4.1-4.1-7.1-4.1H12.2c-3,0-5.7,1.6-7.1,4.1c-1.3,2.4-1.2,5.2,0.2,7.6L43.1,88c1.5,2.3,4,3.7,6.9,3.7 s5.4-1.4,6.9-3.7l37.8-59.6C96.1,26,96.2,23.2,94.9,20.8L94.9,20.8z" fill="currentColor" stroke="currentColor"></path></span></div><span style="background-color: white;">Steps</span></h4></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Inter, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Microsoft YaHei Light", sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: white;">My workflow for time blocking follows a few steps.</span></p></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Inter, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Microsoft YaHei Light", sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><ul style="box-sizing: border-box;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: white;">There is information capture, which is the primary role of a TO-DO list.</span></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: white;">There is converting that into specific intentions/actions.</span></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: white;">Finally, there is the need to block time on the calendar to do those actions and not letting it just be a TO-DO list.</span><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style-type: disc;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: white;">There might be an important sub-step which is to pre-assemble the items needed to do the work, as making the context right is very important to get things done.</span></li></ul></li></ul></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Inter, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Microsoft YaHei Light", sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><h4 style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 20px; margin: 15px 0px;"><div class="heading-collapse-indicator collapse-indicator collapse-icon" style="align-items: center; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; float: left; font-size: 2px; margin-left: -30px; padding: 0px 10px;"><svg class="right-triangle" height="8" viewbox="0 0 100 100" width="8"></svg><span style="background-color: white;"><path d="M94.9,20.8c-1.4-2.5-4.1-4.1-7.1-4.1H12.2c-3,0-5.7,1.6-7.1,4.1c-1.3,2.4-1.2,5.2,0.2,7.6L43.1,88c1.5,2.3,4,3.7,6.9,3.7 s5.4-1.4,6.9-3.7l37.8-59.6C96.1,26,96.2,23.2,94.9,20.8L94.9,20.8z" fill="currentColor" stroke="currentColor"></path></span></div><span style="background-color: white;">Details</span></h4></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Inter, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Microsoft YaHei Light", sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: white;">Let me now provide details on how this process works and how I build a really productive workflow. As mentioned in the summary there are these steps. I encourage you to think of the steps. Thinking of it in steps is good as they reinforce the point of view that it is a workflow and needs to be done in a particular order for best results.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span face="var(--font-monospace)" style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Step 1: Have a to-do list to capture tasks and outcomes with deadlines</b></span></p></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Inter, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Microsoft YaHei Light", sans-serif;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px;"><span style="background-color: white;">This is needed for the 'capture and classify' part of the workflow. My experience tells me that using a calendar to capture is not a good choice. It does not seem to work as a good inbox. This is especially true as it does not allow for a neat list view and automatic reminders. I use Microsoft To-Do for this, but any other to-do list application can work as well.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span face="var(--font-monospace)" style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Step 2: Then do the step of breaking the tasks up into specific sub-actions, step by step if possible</b></span></p></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Inter, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Microsoft YaHei Light", sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: white;">This is the essential task of schedule building as Nir Eyal calls it.<br /></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: white;">This is the way to convert a to-do list into an actionable, specific intent. Some tasks will need more effort to break down into specific sub-steps. Some will be self-explanatory or granular enough.</span></p></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Inter, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Microsoft YaHei Light", sans-serif;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px;"><span style="background-color: white;">Spending this time to make it specific is an art and one needs to start doing it to find what works for you. And yes, this action itself will require a specific time-block on the calendar, ideally every day, to get this done. For me, one slot in the morning and one slot in the evening is needed on workdays. The evening slot can also be used to wind down.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span face="var(--font-monospace)" style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Step 3: Then transition the specific actions into clear time-blocks on the calendar</b></span></p></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Inter, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Microsoft YaHei Light", sans-serif;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px;"><span style="background-color: white;">These specific intentions are now converted into actual time-blocks on the calendar. This will take time and one will learn over a period of time how to get this right. But blocking time for tasks on the calendar is the only way to ensure there is a scheduled time to get to the job of doing this. In fact, I have seen that however specific the intention and however neatly it is captured in a TO-DO list with reminders, etc, if it is not assigned a time in the calendar, the likelihood of it getting done is low, and the likelihood of procrastinating or 'snoozing' the tasks is much higher.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span face="var(--font-monospace)" style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Step 4: (might be needed) pre-assemble the items needed for the task or make that into a separate task and in the time block - write down the very 1st action</b></span></p></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Inter, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Microsoft YaHei Light", sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: white;">This is an essential task for when it is a big task that has multiple steps and has actions that are very dependent on some items which are needed to help complete the task. Allowing for the items need to to do work (tools, documents, location) to be readily accessible is a way to make it more effective and the ability to keep to the time block. This along with step 2 of articulating the exact first step will be the topics that will cause the most friction if it is not done. This is an important managing the context hack to get time blocking workflow to work well. Also, in my experience, it will help immensely in actually feeling productive and making progress.</span></p></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Inter, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Microsoft YaHei Light", sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: white;">That's it. Once these steps are followed, you have a workflow and you can actually get work done.</span></p></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Inter, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Microsoft YaHei Light", sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><h4 style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 20px; margin: 15px 0px;"><div class="heading-collapse-indicator collapse-indicator collapse-icon" style="align-items: center; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; float: left; font-size: 2px; margin-left: -30px; padding: 0px 10px;"><svg class="right-triangle" height="8" viewbox="0 0 100 100" width="8"></svg><span style="background-color: white;"><path d="M94.9,20.8c-1.4-2.5-4.1-4.1-7.1-4.1H12.2c-3,0-5.7,1.6-7.1,4.1c-1.3,2.4-1.2,5.2,0.2,7.6L43.1,88c1.5,2.3,4,3.7,6.9,3.7 s5.4-1.4,6.9-3.7l37.8-59.6C96.1,26,96.2,23.2,94.9,20.8L94.9,20.8z" fill="currentColor" stroke="currentColor"></path></span></div><span style="background-color: white;">Other hacks that will help improve this process</span></h4></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Inter, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Microsoft YaHei Light", sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: white;">There are few more hacks that can be added to this workflow which is suited for someone more advanced in this. They are:</span></p></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Inter, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Microsoft YaHei Light", sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><ol style="box-sizing: border-box;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: white;">Ensure that recurring tasks are done on the same day / same time as that helps with habit-forming</span></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: white;">Ensure in a time-blocked calendar there is enough downtime and the calendar is not packed. Planning to do too much can be the easiest way for the system to fail</span></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: white;">Ensure to coordinate the schedule with others and ensure it is not infringing / too-rigid</span></li></ol></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5670167534219364043.post-19625858761309285892021-01-14T08:33:00.001+08:002021-01-14T18:16:44.693+08:00HOW DOES INSIGHT EMERGE<div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Inter, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Microsoft YaHei Light", sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><div style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: white;">How does insight emerge? How is it formed? Where is it formed? And how can it be got out of the mind?</span></p></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: white;">I have one simple answer to these questions.</span></p></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h4 style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 20px; margin: 15px 0px;"><div class="heading-collapse-indicator collapse-indicator collapse-icon" style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; float: left; font-size: 2px; margin-left: -30px; padding: 0px 10px;"><svg class="right-triangle" height="8" viewbox="0 0 100 100" width="8"></svg><span style="background-color: white;"><path d="M94.9,20.8c-1.4-2.5-4.1-4.1-7.1-4.1H12.2c-3,0-5.7,1.6-7.1,4.1c-1.3,2.4-1.2,5.2,0.2,7.6L43.1,88c1.5,2.3,4,3.7,6.9,3.7 s5.4-1.4,6.9-3.7l37.8-59.6C96.1,26,96.2,23.2,94.9,20.8L94.9,20.8z" fill="currentColor" stroke="currentColor"></path></span></div><span style="background-color: white;">Write.</span></h4></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: white;">Yes, the process of finding insight is literally to take it out of your mind and to put it outside your mind.</span></p></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: white;">Take a pen and paper. Open up your laptop or iPad and write.</span></p></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: white;">Write down what you are thinking. Write down what you want to think. Write down what someone told you to think. Write down what you told someone to think about. Write, and insights will come.</span></p></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: white;">Writing is essential. It is the only way insights can form. I am not exaggerating. Even now when I am writing this, my mind is helping clarify thoughts I have on how insight emerges. My insight about insight is developing as I write these words.</span></p></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: white;">Writing forces one to think and clarify concepts that are swirling in the mind. In doing so, writing provides the fastest way to develop insight.</span></p></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: white;">It can be any form of writing. It can be in a physical paper note pad, it can be digital. In digital it can be in any format. A text file, a slide deck, a sheet with numbers. Anything works.</span></p></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h4 style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 20px; margin: 15px 0px;"><div class="heading-collapse-indicator collapse-indicator collapse-icon" style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; float: left; font-size: 2px; margin-left: -30px; padding: 0px 10px;"><svg class="right-triangle" height="8" viewbox="0 0 100 100" width="8"></svg><span style="background-color: white;"><path d="M94.9,20.8c-1.4-2.5-4.1-4.1-7.1-4.1H12.2c-3,0-5.7,1.6-7.1,4.1c-1.3,2.4-1.2,5.2,0.2,7.6L43.1,88c1.5,2.3,4,3.7,6.9,3.7 s5.4-1.4,6.9-3.7l37.8-59.6C96.1,26,96.2,23.2,94.9,20.8L94.9,20.8z" fill="currentColor" stroke="currentColor"></path></span></div><span style="background-color: white;">Read. And after reading, write</span></h4></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: white;">There are other aspects that help with the process of finding insight.</span></p></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: white;">Reading is important as well. But, not as much as writing. My assumption here is one who is on the quest for insight, is naturally going to be a reader. A consumer of information. So that will be a natural process. It is not something that needs to be debated or told.</span></p></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: white;">But after reading, getting out a pad, and writing about it, may not be an obvious action for most. In fact, I will guess that most do not do this. Many people are expecting to come up with something insightful just by thinking in their minds about what they have read. This very rarely works.</span></p></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h4 style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 20px; margin: 15px 0px;"><div class="heading-collapse-indicator collapse-indicator collapse-icon" style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; float: left; font-size: 2px; margin-left: -30px; padding: 0px 10px;"><svg class="right-triangle" height="8" viewbox="0 0 100 100" width="8"></svg><span style="background-color: white;"><path d="M94.9,20.8c-1.4-2.5-4.1-4.1-7.1-4.1H12.2c-3,0-5.7,1.6-7.1,4.1c-1.3,2.4-1.2,5.2,0.2,7.6L43.1,88c1.5,2.3,4,3.7,6.9,3.7 s5.4-1.4,6.9-3.7l37.8-59.6C96.1,26,96.2,23.2,94.9,20.8L94.9,20.8z" fill="currentColor" stroke="currentColor"></path></span></div><span style="background-color: white;">Writing is engaging</span></h4></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: white;">The process of engaging in writing, when the body is mostly stationary and the mind is nimble, is ideal. There is something about this.</span></p></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: white;">One can observe that it is possible to talk while walking. It is possible to eat while walking. It is also possible to think while walking. In fact, a lot of thinking actually happens when one is walking. Movement is great, don't get me wrong. It might even help to move before getting to the act of writing.</span></p></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: white;">But one cannot write while walking. Well, nothing beyond a short scribble, maybe.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />So in some ways, one needs to be stationary, to write. Sitting or standing.</span></p></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h4 style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 20px; margin: 15px 0px;"><div class="heading-collapse-indicator collapse-indicator collapse-icon" style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; float: left; font-size: 2px; margin-left: -30px; padding: 0px 10px;"><svg class="right-triangle" height="8" viewbox="0 0 100 100" width="8"></svg><span style="background-color: white;"><path d="M94.9,20.8c-1.4-2.5-4.1-4.1-7.1-4.1H12.2c-3,0-5.7,1.6-7.1,4.1c-1.3,2.4-1.2,5.2,0.2,7.6L43.1,88c1.5,2.3,4,3.7,6.9,3.7 s5.4-1.4,6.9-3.7l37.8-59.6C96.1,26,96.2,23.2,94.9,20.8L94.9,20.8z" fill="currentColor" stroke="currentColor"></path></span></div><span style="background-color: white;">Writing is connecting, simplifying, and solidifying</span></h4></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: white;">Writing is an essential and necessary step to help the brain form connections. And from those connections come the insights.</span></p></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: white;">The mind is always making connections, even when you are not writing. But, this kind of connection is at best temporary. It is flimsy and not yet well-formed. But when you write about it, the connections become stronger. Both on the writing apparatus, but also interestingly in the mind.</span></p></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: white;">James Clear <a href="https://jamesclear.com/3-2-1/october-22-2020" target="_blank">observes</a>, "To simplify before you understand the details is ignorance. To simplify after you understand the details is genius".</span></p></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: white;">By just thinking or reading, and not writing, we are trying to simplify before we have understood the details. This is a state of ignorance and no real insight comes from there.</span></p></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: white;">But when we write, we have better understood the details. This is when real insight emerges from.</span></p></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: white;">Basically, writing connects simplifies, and solidifies concepts that are in the mind. And from this fertile base, which is connected, simple and solid, insights can germinate, take root, and sprout.</span></p></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5670167534219364043.post-70896850740605652732017-01-07T18:18:00.001+08:002021-01-14T18:20:36.991+08:00OCTOBER 10TH, 2030<p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Segoe UI", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Daphne Lee was frustrated. It was the second time
this week that the AUTORIDE self driving automobile had made a mistake in the
booking. Instead of arriving at the pick up location where she wanted to be
picked up, it had arrived at the destination. Standing by the sidewalk, she
worriedly scanned thru the fuzzy map on her rather bulky ONEMOB device for
other nearby AUTODRIVEs, but she was resigned to the fact that there was not
much she could do this close to her departure time to find another one. They
had to be booked at least 24hrs in advance.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Segoe UI", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
She decided to drive her 15 year old hybrid car to work, but secretly hoped
that today of all days she would not get ticketed at the gantry – afterall, who
could predict if the smartgrid had an excess of carbon credits that day or not.
She had for this very reason, recently topped up her BITNOTE account.<br />
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<o:p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Segoe UI", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">At 41, Daphne was senior brand director for CENTREX
Pharma’s BioEnhance range of ion supplements. This month they were launching
the new pill, IonPro by BioEnhance, which helped regulate the body’s ion
content for those increasing number of consumers who were implanting chips in
their wrists to connect them to their devices. Work was hectic and especially
so, as it meant a lot for her personally. This had been her project since she
had joined CENTREX three years ago. She had poured her heart and soul into
getting all the different aspects right.<br />
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<o:p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Segoe UI", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Her meeting that day was with the head of R&D
and product engineering team, who had asked her to convince them about the
marketing plan she had come up for the IonPro product. They had cast doubts on
why she was being a traditionalist and not allowing the crowdsourced brand
platform to be the main channel of getting the message out to consumers. It was
a critical, if not a make or break meeting.<br />
<o:p> <br />
</o:p>Daphne had started her career back in 2015 in the erstwhile market
research industry, starting off as a research executive working on traditional
survey research. She had been a star, adapted to the already fast changing
times in the latter half of the decade and rose up fast amongst the ranks to
become the youngest account director in her company in 2022. She had immersed
herself in new paradigms of research in that decade and had taken an active
lead in transforming the research industry to be mobile first. Her paper on
“Non-intrusive mobile surveys using key logging on social media sites” had even
won the ESOMAR Congress award in 2018. But after 2024, things had started
changing and for no mistake of her, a lot of her work and personal world were
about the change.<br />
<o:p> <br />
</o:p>2023 and 2024 had been in many ways a watershed years, but in a jarring
kind of way. Multiple systemic shocks had sort of converged leading to multiple
bubbles imploding that years from a tech perspective. The tech industry and the
entire ecosystem of the commanding heights of economy which had been built up
on that hype faced a significant set back from which today in 2030, the sector
was still recovering. It had widespread impact on many parts of everyday
consumer life, which by then had become very tightly locked into a tech fuelled
world which was expected to be ever advancing.<br />
<o:p> <br />
</o:p>Four shocks came to a head in 2023 which caused the unravelling.<br />
<o:p> <br />
</o:p>First, the realization that Moore’s law of constant increase in
processing power was not going to hold as it had come up against physical
limits of miniaturization. Many academics as early as 1990s had warned of the
limits of Moore’s law, but with advancing technology in manufacturing science,
the processing power boom had continued another 20 years without becoming a
serious threat to growth. This had coincided with the explosion of mobile
computing and the challengers of Moore’s law had been side lined for short term
growth. By 2018 it was evident in academic circles that the processing power
increasingly demanded by consumer electronic devices in the next few years was
going to be unsustainable in the current silicon based electronic technology
systems. They also knew that investments in bio-mimicry and other substitutes
to silicon where promising, but not yet advanced enough to replace silicon’s
efficiency. But the industry faced the same problem as the energy sector where
cheap fossil fuels crowded out investment in alternative energies. Similarly,
cheap silicon crowded out research in other sectors – and unfortunately it did
not even have the ticking time bomb that the energy industry faced due to
global warming, so nobody paid any attention to the weak signals, obscure
academics who warned about silicon’s limits and niche companies which offered
bio-computing products.<br />
<o:p> <br />
</o:p>The second shock was ever more telling. The world just ran out of rare
earth metals (like Neodymium) which were essential to making smartphones. China
which had been the main source of these rare earth metals in 2017 started
tightening trade in these metals which started pushing up prices of devices
which had been falling until then. Only towards the end of 2020 did the world
realize that China had run out of this ore in the sense that it could be
extracted at costs which had reasonable efficiencies. And China’s traditional
closed door nature had not alerted the world earlier to a deep shortage of this
ore. Massive retooling of the electronics industry followed in 2021 thru 2026
and many of the leading telecom equipment manufacturers had to cancel the next
versions of their telecom devices. Major efforts at institutional recycling and
scouring of old devices for refurbishments was instituted. Companies and
economies started setting up Rare Earth Credits similar to Carbon Credits. The
developing world’s adoption of smart device technology came to a grinding halt.<br />
<o:p> <br />
</o:p>The third shock was a creeping threat as well, but it reared its ugly
head in 2023 which made its impact all the more devastating. Undersea,
submarine cables which carried the world’s internet bandwidth came under siege
from terrorists. Proclaiming that the internet was a harbinger of the doom and
filth, a terrorist group which had developed a navy and hitherto unknown
submarine capabilities sabotaged multiple key undersea cables in multiple parts
of the world. Instantaneously, for two months in late 2023, many parts of the world
were cut off from internet completely! This caused irrevocable financial
damage, but it also set in place a systemic problems affecting security like
never before. Regaining access to sabotaged infrastructure is still an ongoing
conflict in some parts of the world in today in 2030. Rebuilding alternative
infrastructure, albeit faster, was still a set back by a few years. The gap
between the internet haves and internet have-nots only grew.<br />
<o:p> <br />
</o:p>The fourth and final shock, which particularly affected the marketing
community was probably one which no one wanted to acknowledge, but was
increasingly creeping into decisions. The internet had become too crowded with
non-consumer data generated by AI bots which were so good that it was no longer
possible for other algorithms or people to differentiate if a certain piece of
content was created by an actual human being or if it was created by a
malicious bot. Some of the 1st instances of this had been observed way
back in 2015 when during the attacks in Paris, fake tweets of mass shootings by
terrorists had surfaced misguiding law enforcement authorities about the
veracity of the claims. Those had been engineered by some rogue elements, but
over the next decade, the proliferation of AI algorithms and bots on the internet
had grown exponentially. Researchers who had started off in using social media
data to understand consumer behaviour had found some increasing benefits, but
soon came up against lack of usable data. The first manifestation was
increasing noise in social data. But soon, the problem deepened. It was not
noise that was the problem, but being able to tell what was actual consumer
generated information which correlated with actual behaviour, and what was
generated by bots which had surpassed the turing test. This was further
compounded by the fact that the main networks affected by this bot generate
noise was the Google, Facebook and Amazon networks, which by 2019 had become
virtual monopolies. These huge companies thru their search, social network and
e-commerce monopolies had become the only gateways thru which consumers could
access content in the internet. All advertising on digital for example was
consumed mainly through Facebook video and with the launch of FaceTV even the
broadcast medium had been compromised.<br />
<br />
These four shocks combined had a profound effect on the scope and growth of the
internet in the decade of 2020. It was only in the latter half of 2028 and 2029
that things had started coming back to the normalcy that was there before 2021.
But many of the wild projections of 2030 from a couple of decades before had
been discarded. Many of the base technologies which had started becoming
mainstream in 2020 like 3D printing, drone delivery, data everything had
remained in hibernation, not really hitting the exponential growth trajectories
that were envisioned. While there was significant advancement in the base
technologies, these have remained active in labs and among lead users. There
are many systemic issues that need to be sorted out before these can hit the
scale needed for them to have mass impact today in 2030. Consumer mindsets had
ofcourse evolved, but we are only now coming to terms with the new normal.<br />
<o:p> <br />
</o:p>Coming back to 2030, today Daphne was heading to the manufacturing hub
of CENTREX in the outskirts of the city and not the workhub in the city central
her company shared with others as a common work environment. As the journey
took her more than an hour, she could not help but reminisce a little about
those good old days back in late 2010s and early 2020s. She had owned multiple
devices then - a personal laptop and a tablet device, a wearable smart
watch which alerted her to medical information and social messages. Her work
life had consisted of a sleek office laptop and company smartphone. It had been
a heady experience juggling multiple devices, screens and managing attention
spans across the devices.<br />
<o:p> <br />
</o:p>Today however, she has a single ONEMOB device as regulated by her rare
earth credit. It is a great device with multiple functionalities and detachable
segments for ease of handling, but because one requires sufficient screen size
for various activities, it is by nature a slightly bulky device. Eyewear
projection devices are available in the market to make it easier to see when
directly projected in front of the retina, but they are still not available at
mass market levels and remain niche. Bandwidth consumption restrictions mean
that while she uses one device, she has to manage multiple networks. She
connects on WRKMESH for her official work and SOCMESH for personal. The
multiple firewalls between the two mean that doing both (work and personal) at
the same time is not as seamless an experience as it had been in the past. New
solutions are being introduced every other day, but still some fundamental
problems needed to be sorted. And finally, she has to manage multiple payment
solutions because of security and encryption requirements. She uses the BITNOTE
platform for major expenses, and NICEDOLLAR for many everyday activities.<br />
<o:p> <br />
</o:p>As Daphne pulls into the manufacturing hub facility, she is jolted back
from her reverie of thinking of the world in 2010s and early 2020s. She is in
2030 now and has to deal with the new realities. Marketing has changed, but it
has not changed much as well. Yes, social media is alive and thriving, but the
extent of its appeal as a marketing medium is still being debated. Yes, most of
the media is consumed digitally, and e-commerce is fast replacing the physical
retail outlets, but not as fast as it was expected. And that is what she had
come to make a case for that day to the head of the product team. That despite
all the changes, the brand was still an important underlying factor defining
the success of the IonPro by BioEnhance, and why she was convinced that letting
it become something defined by the crowd will not get them anywhere and is not
something she recommends.<br />
<o:p> <br />
</o:p><o:p> <br />
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</o:p></o:p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5670167534219364043.post-12890627788368304212011-08-03T23:47:00.020+08:002021-01-14T18:39:11.220+08:00HARNESSING THE BENEFITS OF COMPLEXITY<p><b style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Segoe UI", sans-serif; font-size: 15pt;">Harnessing
the benefits of complexity: Synopsis for the concept of City State</span></b></p>
<p><span style="background: white; font-family: "Segoe UI", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">According to the United Nations State of the World
Population Report in 2007, sometime in the middle of 2007, for the first time
in the history of the human civilization, the majority of people in the world
started living in urban areas rather than rural regions. The 20th and 21st
centuries will see the largest cumulative migration of the human race, since
the time our ancestors left Africa and started populating the continents of our
vast planet some hundred thousand years ago - only this time around, instead of
diverging across vast spaces of land we will be converging into dense
agglomerations called mega-cities. At the same time the total size of our
population has been growing exponentially after one hundred millennia of linear
growth. One of the consequences of the enormous growth in the population of
humans on the planet – estimated to reach 7 billion by end of 2011 from as low
as a billion in 1800 – has been the mass exodus from villages and migration
into cities.</span></p><p><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oBqRF9Y0-uk/YAAeehYKyZI/AAAAAAAAH6I/Scp8sLUSEooXwqDk4plHNzVRUGxwkgUJQCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/City1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oBqRF9Y0-uk/YAAeehYKyZI/AAAAAAAAH6I/Scp8sLUSEooXwqDk4plHNzVRUGxwkgUJQCLcBGAsYHQ/s16000/City1.jpg" /></a></div><br /><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Segoe UI", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Segoe UI", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Segoe UI", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Segoe UI", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Segoe UI", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Segoe UI", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Segoe UI", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Segoe UI", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Segoe UI", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Segoe UI", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Segoe UI", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;">Expert commentators have written both in awe and
appreciation of this grand re-organisation of human populations and in tones of
dire warning and prophecies of the cataclysm of what this drastic change might mean
to the sustainability of our planet and of our race in the future.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-SG; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-SG;">This post is meant to be a first draft collection
of thoughts exploring this significant ongoing development which also presents
a peculiar dichotomy. The simultaneous growth of two socio-economic phenomena –
large scale urbanisation and exponential population growth – which seem both
like mutual stimulants and deterrents of each other. I will be following up
this post in the following days with more research on this topic, at the core
of which will be an exploration in the idea of scale, and how the right size
poses significant advantages (no puns intended), despite the complexity it
might bring with it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-SG; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-SG;">But before exploring this, a small digression, to
describe a simulated environment which might help identify the unique nature of
scale and complexity and how they spontaneously influence each other to evolve
positive outcomes.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-SG; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-SG;">One of the most time consuming, but intensely
satisfying activities I did back when I was in school and college, was to play the
famous strategy game Age of Empires and its various versions on my computer. First,
I played against opponents generated by the artificial intelligence engine of
the computer program, but soon found it more interesting and challenging to pit
my wits against another player in an online multiplayer format. Each player in
this game takes on the role of a strategist, a puppeteer or as some would see
it a central planner, with a goal to marshal one’s military, economic and
labour resources to advance one’s society. The game engine is built to simulate
various constraints and provide comparative advantages between different
societies to make the gameplay complex, competitive and capricious.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-SG; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-SG;">To achieve victory in these environments, one can
adopt various different ‘strategies’, all of which essentially involve outmanoeuvring one’s opponents either through – direct military conquest
or in a roundabout way through sheer economic dominance, leading to the
stifling and eventual collapse of the opponent’s economy. While some measure of
both military and economic activities are required in either case, each of them
differs in the scale of the prime activity, biasing them to military or
economic nature of victory. Beginners typically start by gathering resources
provided by nature and which they then allocate to build housing, military
training and socio-technological infrastructure. This is then used to create
armies which can go and demolish and destroy the resources and military
elements of the opponent thereby achieving victory. Within this controlled
environment, what makes gameplay engrossing is the many different tactics that
player can adapt. Players can adopt an aggressive military strategy with
skirmishing bands of cavalry, infantry and ranged units which are sent roving
around the map of the game universe, continuously harrowing their opponents. Or
they can adopt a defensive stance, where the player protects one’s units with a
large standing army, supported by fortifications to ‘claim’ territory and
protect it against the intrusion by armies of the opponent.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-SG; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-SG;">But as one advances up the difficulty levels and as
the opponent’s competence level increases, what becomes evident is that both an
aggressive military force and defensive fortifications, both become hygiene
factors and victory conditions become increasingly complex and demanding.
Economic and socio-technological advancement allows players to build up enough
resources to prevent the complete routing of one’s military forces and the
destruction of one’s labour led supply side. Like a central planner’s utopia,
territories are organised by a master planner into productive sections of
city-states with defensive fortifications – supported by patrols and early
warning beacons along the periphery of ones ‘claimed’ land – and subsequent
inner concentric zones or regions of military and economic buildings and units,
working to essentially replenish military strength and accumulating wealth</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-SG; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-SG;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4HpXqyTuuSU/YAAex9GRXVI/AAAAAAAAH6Q/F46Px-fTCjY5YUO6WJ2uC37Uhy-7Bem8ACLcBGAsYHQ/s640/AOE1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="416" data-original-width="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4HpXqyTuuSU/YAAex9GRXVI/AAAAAAAAH6Q/F46Px-fTCjY5YUO6WJ2uC37Uhy-7Bem8ACLcBGAsYHQ/s16000/AOE1.jpg" /></a></div><br /><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-SG; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-SG;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-SG; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-SG;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-SG; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-SG;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-SG; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-SG;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-SG; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-SG;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-SG; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-SG;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-SG; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-SG;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-SG; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-SG;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-SG; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-SG;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-SG; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-SG;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-SG; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-SG;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-SG; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-SG;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-SG; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-SG;">As this massive military-industrial complex model
of the warring territories - organised into city-states - evolves, even siege
weapons and aggressive military opportunism do not help the player to attain
the conditions of victory through military conquest of the opponent. Repeated
military skirmishes against the enemy result only in the denting of the periphery of the fortifications at a great military cost to the oppressor and,
the defensive military units within the walls are advanced enough to thwart any
attack onto the society’s core. Similarly, even as the total natural resources
in the game-universe are exhausted – starting with rare metals followed by
other resources like stone and wood – the essential scale of these city-states
it seems is advanced enough to continue to thrive. This is achieved by
establishing a trade-based structure to essentially keep the cycle going,
eliminating sheer economic dominance as a way, to achieve victory by making it
untenable to stifle the opponent’s economy by limiting access to resources.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-SG; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-SG;">It would seem that the warring sides have reached
an impasse - a situation where the costs of military skirmishes against the enemy are no longer worth the effort and both city-states are resource-rich and
have gained sufficient merit to sustain their society’s resource bill.
However, it is important to note that the aversion for military opportunism in
this scenario is not because of the fear of retribution, in the sense of
mutually assured destruction – like in the heyday of the nuclear arms race
between the Americans and Soviets – but in the sense of the lack of benefits at
the margin. This it would seem to be a unique case of a stalemate – a positive
sum solution in an essentially zero-sum environment – all made possible
apparently by the development of city-states.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-SG; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-SG;">In the upcoming posts, I hope to further explore the proposition which postulates that as our societies seem to be hurtling
uncontrollably towards doom - catalysed by the gargantuan complexity resulting
from population growth and urbanisation and multiplied by the need to feed
large populations on apparently limited resources - there is an inherent
opportunity. This very complexity in its manifestation in the development of
the mega city-state is essentially an antidote to the prediction of gloom and
doom and the imminent resource wars of the mid-twenty-first century. And that
if allowed to emerge in their strongest form, the city-states of the twenty-first century can actually be an engine for peaceful growth – a positive-sum
game out of an apparent zero-sum environment.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-SG; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-SG;">But before I wind up this post, I must assuage the
outrage some hardcore gamers and Age of Empires experts might be feeling right
now, by acknowledging that I have taken some liberties in describing the scenario
of the emergence of these warring superpowers. Any Age of Empires aficionado worth
his salt will immediately realise that the apparent notion that the supply side
of supporting the city-state’s demanding resource bill can be supported through
trade alone is incorrect. This pipeline will become very unstable once the
natural resources are completely exhausted. This is because trading requires
open markets, which are only possible if there are allies.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-SG; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-SG;">However, while the Age of Empires environment is
designed to ensure victory only at detrimental costs to the opponent through
military appropriation, this need not be the case in the real world. While I am
in no way arguing for a purely ‘financial trading everywhere’ scenario in the
real-world as a parallel to the unfettered open markets in the game, global
free trade (adequately regulated) is seen by almost everyone, excepting those
from the extreme left and the extreme right, as the best way to even deal with
rouge nations. But that said, I must also note that even an inherently zero-sum
environment like the AOE universe does offer a benign way to achieve victory
arising out of the impasse of warring super city-states – by the building of a
Wonder. A Wonder in the parlance of an Age of Empires gamers is the manifestation
of the heights to which the city-state can grow, a monument so grand that
building it poses an immense drain on resources for society and can therefore
be afforded only by the most meritorious and accomplished.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-SG; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-SG;">In the universe of Age of Empires, a wonder is
usually manifest as a grand monument – a cathedral, a temple or a pyramid –
which embodies the meritocracy of the builder society. Anybody who builds one
and can retain that merit for an extended period is according to the algorithm
of the game, worthwhile as being heralded as a winner. It would not be
improbable to imagine parallels in the real world, of meritorious traits, being
heralded as signposts indicating winners – the productivity of the New Yorker,
the quality standards of a Munchener, the design aesthetics of a Sao Paulista,
the temerity of a Mumbaikar, the dedication of a Shanghaian, the prudence of a
Lagosian etc.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-SG; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-SG;">With the right scale, it is possible to manage and
channel complexity to attain sufficient merit to build the real-world
equivalents of a Wonder. It will be the essential argument of my further
research on this topic that cities are the best expression we have of an economic, social and political unit that is capable of the harnessing the
benefits of scale and complexity by tying them together in a tight mutual order
to forge a grand future.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-SG; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-SG;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-SG; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-SG;"><i>Image credit: Screenshot from the interwebs
(Google Image Search for 'City Complexity' and 'Age of Empires Screenshots’),
used with thanks</i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-SG; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-SG;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5670167534219364043.post-63750177718487751162011-03-07T23:55:00.000+08:002013-03-09T16:18:34.291+08:00SUBMARINE CABLE MAP<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 22.390625px; text-align: justify;">An interesting map of the submarine data cables that keep the global networks humming can be found </span><a href="http://www.submarinecablemap.com/" style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 22.390625px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">here</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 22.390625px; text-align: justify;">.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 22.390625px; text-align: justify;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8hUTywwVAQc/UToJKBXvmVI/AAAAAAAAAyk/KL31jfW1aQM/s1600/subcable.JPG.scaled1000.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="416" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8hUTywwVAQc/UToJKBXvmVI/AAAAAAAAAyk/KL31jfW1aQM/s640/subcable.JPG.scaled1000.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.390625px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">One can zoom in and out of the map just like any other Google map.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.390625px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">When any of the lines indicating the submarine cables are clicked, data pertaining to that cable are displayed. This includes details like: date since when it has been in service (RFS - Ready For Service), the total cable length, the landing points.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.390625px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">An interesting data that it displays is the owners list. Many of the submarine cables seem to be owned by multiple corporations from multiple nationalities. This is understandable - considering the nature of investment required and the distribution of the utility derived.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.390625px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">This is a reality of the way our transnational, global resources are owned and accessed in today's world.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-z_bndj3otZ0/UToJb2lNhtI/AAAAAAAAAys/lDD4B3HsmmA/s1600/Details.JPG.scaled500.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-z_bndj3otZ0/UToJb2lNhtI/AAAAAAAAAys/lDD4B3HsmmA/s400/Details.JPG.scaled500.jpg" width="365" /></a></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.390625px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></span></div>
<div style="font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">However, if seen in the context of how other scare resource with multiple ownership is increasingly been seen as a trigger for future conflict, the ownership diversity of submarine cables can be alarming.</span></div>
</div>
<div style="font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Take for instance this snippet of <a href="http://www.un.org/works/sub2.asp?lang=en&s=19" style="color: black; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">information</a> I came across - 40% of human population today gets its fresh water from sources that are 'controlled' by two or more countries (UN Millennium Project). This is being seen as a probable driver of future conflict considering that water is a scarce resource.</span></div>
</div>
<div style="font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Brahma Chellaney's new <a href="http://press.georgetown.edu/book/georgetown/water" style="color: black; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">book</a>, <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Water: Asia's New Battleground</strong>, </em>is a pioneering study on the topic of water scarcity and the potential of shared water resources to become a trigger for conflict.</span></div>
</div>
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<span style="font-size: small; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><em style="font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-size: small; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Asia is home to many of the world's great rivers and lakes, but its huge population and exploding economic and agricultural demand for water make it the most water-scarce continent on a per capita basis. Many of Asia's water sources cross national boundaries, and as less and less water is available, international tensions will rise. The potential for conflict is further underscored by China's unrivaled global status as the source of transboundary river flows to the largest number of countries, ranging from India and Vietnam to Russia and Kazakhstan; yet a fast-rising China has declined to enter into water-sharing or cooperative treaties with these states, even as it taps the resources of international rivers.</span></em></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">While bandwidth infrastructure cannot be compared on a one-is-to-one basis with a natural resource like water, it will be interesting to study the implications of the multiple ownership of 'bandwidth' infrastructure in the future, considering that 'all' of our information nowadays flows through these cables?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The short answer is - in this case it could be a good thing that there are multiple owners, as it limits the risk of misappropriation by any one group or nation. However, I will be researching more on this topic in the upcoming days and will try to develop more robust scenarios to explore the implications of multiple ownership of bandwidth infrastructure. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">As a corollary to this discussion, it is worthwhile checking out Parag Khanna's TED talk (<a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/parag_khanna_maps_the_future_of_countries.html" style="color: black; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">here</a>) on how infrastructure (oil pipelines, etc) are redefining the map of the World, beyond the boundaries of nation states.</span></div>
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<em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Image Credit</strong>: Screenshots from TeleGeography's <a href="http://www.submarinecablemap.com/" style="color: black; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">SubmarineCableMap</a>, used with thanks</em><br />
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