Emanuel's Blog

Ok, so you’ve got (or will soon have) your university diploma. You have decent to good grades; some industry experience. Extra-curriculars. And so have hundreds—thousands—of other people around you. Welcome to white collar nation.

At each stage of your career there are a set of alternatives which are considered the next logical steps forward. They are not trivial to obtain, yet completely within reach. Consecutively ticking these off will undoubtedly move you forward at a steady pace, but at each new conquest of merit you will still find yourself around just as many people as before.

This is the prime indicator of the path of mediocrity—it is predetermined and planned ahead, proven good enough by the many people who have followed it before. It’s the only real alternative for the faux ambitious who want to prove their capacity.

Each next step completely logical and anticipated. Good but not great. Mediocre.

Once you start walking down this path you’re likely to be stuck there. Why? Because those around you giving career advice walked the same road as you. And because those who achieved real success are too busy accomplishing something—yet they are the ones who would most happily share their secrets. But do you really want to listen?

The next logical step is not Plan A. It’s plan Z. Skip steps and go after the next stage set out for you—years ahead of “schedule.” You’ll be surprised of how few people even try. It’s perfectly possible to get your dream job right away.

Better yet: forget the standard path and pursue your own projects and goals. Create something of your own. It makes you a thousand times more interesting and whole as a person.

Take Fredrik as an example, saying “Screw this, I’m moving to Japan. Because I want to.” Or a really cool person I met last week, Viktor, saying “Screw this, I’m going to Singapore. With my bike.” Both leaving behind a half-finished education in engineering.

Or every entrepreneur on earth.

Always operate outside of your comfort zone. Make up your own set of alternative next steps. Make bold moves. That’s all there is to it.

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Picture a common scenario for a student: you’re two weeks from an exam, you work part time doing things far more enjoyable than university, and you have a household to care for. Plus maintaining your social responsibilities; birthdays, saying hi to mum and brunch with friends. You’ve got a brand new day ahead of you. What do you do?

Most people belong to two categories who both make the wrong decisions: the perfectionists and the procrastinators.

Unless the perfectionists finish every task in correct order and to their full satisfaction they get a mental itch; the exam and some email have the same priority since both need to be completed. Even though the perfectionist would have aced the exam, he or she would still have felt like a failure since the email wasn’t written.

The procrastinators are better at prioritizing, since they know the exam is more important than the email. However, they seek “perfect conditions” before starting to work on the most important task. This is why so many people need to polish the bathroom mirror the week before the exam. They can’t study until every small, unimportant task is completed.

Most people would agree that keeping to a strict prioritization of tasks is crucial to getting things done, see also my post White space time management. You can’t afford to be a perfectionist regarding your schedule. But what is just as important is to avoid the trap of beginning with the seemingly important clutter on the todo list.

Perfect conditions don’t exist; there will always be yet another reason not to start working on what’s really important. But this argument goes deeper than to only justify the importance of prioritization: some minor tasks perhaps steal a disproportional amount of attention and thus need to be dealt with. Or perhaps a clear desk is simply a necessity to concentrate.

By keeping in mind that perfect conditions are an illusion, one can set out to find what finite preconditions are really necessary, and which ones are just an itch (if you’re a perfectionist) or which ones are just excuses to postpone what’s important.

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The naïve approach to graphic design is usually to include as much information as possible on a given canvas. White space is nothing more than unused space, ready to be filled with more graphics and copy. However, this is obviously a bad strategy since all it does is confuse the viewer and obscure the message. This is why Google became king of search, and why Apple keeps being awesome.

Similarly, the naïve time management strategy is to fit in as much work and meetings in a schedule as possible. The person with the busiest calendar is clearly very good at managing his time and responsibilities. Or is he?

There is a difference between busy following a schedule, and busy solving a problem. This is essentially the same as a design busy presenting information and a design conveying a message.

Strangely, the concept of simplicity is never the natural state but always the result of carefully considered choices. Just as a design process should be about removing clutter until the bare essence is left, time management should be about removing appointments. Not adding new ones where they fit.

White space is a powerful element, necessary for creating dynamics between the essential components of a design. In the same way, free time is essential for effective time management. Leisure time works in your favor when alternated with creative problem solving. Mindlessly adding more work is thus nothing else than adding clutter.

True productiveness is just as much a product of free time, as of hard work. This is why the most creative people always tend to have hobbies, read books, write and travel — while the mediocre majority complain about being busy.

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The (proper) education of the youth is one of those timeless topics that are equally fit for discussion in the finer lounges as well as at the dinner table. Allow me to chime in with my own most significant take-aways for how to make the most out of your time invested in university.

University is not nearly as much about knowledge as it is about networking, as I wrote about in What is the purpose of university? While all knowledge can be found in books and on Wikipedia, which are equally accessible for non-students, it is synthesized within a “forum.” This is thus the most important aspect of higher education. But who to target and how to establish great contacts?

Go the extra mile in interesting courses.
Most ambitious students who feel they have the capacity to squeeze in more hours per week choose to either get a part-time job or participate in more courses. I know many students studying at 150-200% of full-time pace. While this is impressive, putting all that extra energy into one or two interesting courses can result in some very useful consequences.

First of all, you get a chance to actually establish a relationship with a teacher. The lack of personal interaction with teachers is a serious flaw in today’s education system. I would be surprised if more than three teachers know an arbitrary student’s name. But through making the most out of an interesting course you will undoubtedly get noticed and be remembered for being ambitious and interested. This is far more useful than an extra course in your transcript.

Secondly, you get a different kind of intellectual satisfaction when aiming for quality studies as opposed to quantity studies. I’m not saying specialization is to be preferred over diversity, but it is an alternative worth pursuing.

Get noticed by your fellow students, and notice them too.
While getting to know teachers is very useful, I’d say that fellow students should have equal priority for being included in your network. For well-educated people the market is very small; you will stumble upon your class mates in every corner of the world later in life. Take every chance to show ambition and competence towards students as towards teachers.

It’s simple, really. Join different people when doing projects. There is no better way of getting to know people than to work with them; it’s the one way of establishing life-long contacts, both professionally and privately.

Make great presentations. Don’t just throw together the reports — write well and relevant. Answer the teachers’ questions at the lectures. Use new tools, and always share your knowledge with enthusiasm. And while doing this, make sure to notice the other students who show interest and involvement. Those are probably the ones you want to get to know.

Lastly, while university is a major investment and an important step in one’s career, you will want to relax and just enjoy the ride. The overly serious student almost certainly fails to discover that knowledge is all about new toys for the brain to play with.

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Yet another game is now complete and over. I’d have to say this was one of the better ones we’ve made! It’s always very difficult to judge the quality and difficulty of tasks beforehand, but based on player response the conclusion is that it was successful. I thought I’d share some of the problems that were in the game. For more about the game me and Fredrik make, see The Game and The Game 2.0.

Stage 1, problem 7 — The Kidnapping

That’s all the clues you got. Notice that the title is actually a link to an .mp3 file. Three weird voices reciting numbers can be heard on it. However, this was a red herring; the real clue was in the album art image in the meta data of the file.

The sound file linked to in the title.

say -v "Bad News" 27182818 | say -v "Good News" 1 1 2 3 4 5 | say -v Deranged 161803398874989

People on Macs can run this command in the Terminal to produce the voices recorded in the .mp3 file.

The picture was taken near the south entrance of the venue. If a contestant searched the place displayed in the photo, he or she found a note underneath the counter with a phone number written on it. When calling the number, morse code for the word “sound.dhgame.eu” could be decoded. On this webpage yet another sound file could be found.

The last message from the kidnapped girl. The voice is actually me, somewhat edited :)

On the second .mp3 file a scared female voice was whispering landmarks she saw while being dragged away by unknown people. Her ill fate ended by what she described as “…roses …five stones…” This was a description of a fountain outside of the venue. If the players identified it, ran over there and searched the place, they found a note with the password to the next level.

Stage 2, problem 4 — Exploded Encryption

”

571225901882778912997980282894594610215406780706531189904448031184
08314869947760328114059751957706621912851280200677377971352196615

For this task I implemented an encryption that I came up with, which I call Exploded Encryption. Basically, it converts a string to ASCII codes and hides these sparsely (“exploded”) within the decimals of pi. This was, however, too hard for the players to backtrack without clues. But the intended way of solving it was to first realize that the numbers seem completely random. But since there still must be something hidden in there an external key should be able to provide it. This key I used was pi.

public static String explode(String ascii) {
	// output string dimensioned for typical output size
	StringBuilder output = new StringBuilder(RATIO*ascii.length());

	for (int i = 0; i < ascii.length(); i++) {
		String num = ascii.substring(i,i+1); // number to be hidden

		// next occurence of num in pi at what index?
		int index = pi.indexOf(num, INTERVAL+output.length());

		// add some noise that doesnt match the corresponding digits in pi
		for (int j = output.length(); j < index; j++) {
			double k;
			do {
				k = 10 * Math.random(); // random number, 1-10
			} while ((int) k == Integer.parseInt(pi.substring(j,j+1)));
			output.append((int) k);
		}
		output.append(num);
	}
	return output.toString();
}

The explode() function I wrote to generate the string. It’s on Github here.

The interesting information within the string can be found by overlaying it with pi, and extracting the matching digits at the same indeces.

314159265358979323846264338327950288419716939937510582097494459230
78164062862089986280348253421170679821480865132823066470938446095

571225901882778912997980282894594610215406780706531189904448031184
08314869947760328114059751957706621912851280200677377971352196615
Pi, and the given string, with the corresponding digits highlighted.

The resulting string is 71658484656765. The skilled eye notices that each pair of numbers are between 65 and under 100, something that should make the hunter think of ASCII codes. Indeed, converted to text the string yields “GATTACA.”

If every random sequence of numbers is overlayed with pi from now on, I am probably to blame. :)

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Last week I went back to the UK with Fredrik, for another game. There turned out to be less participants, but we did our best to create some interesting problems anyway. Here are two of them.

Stage 1, problem 6 — Retrieve me treasure…

”

…or reel th’ plank!

Clues:
Yer booty is t’ be found on “Indoor Island”.
Me treasure is me weap’n!

The key to solve this task is to realize that the map does not depict some South Sea island, but instead a location at the venue where the game took place. To help finding the right place, some clues were given: the compass shows the relative orientation and “Indoor Island” indicates that it’s not outside. Through the event’s website, this seating map for one particular floor can be found:

The basic characteristics are similar, and the actual interior design corresponds to objects in the map. For example, “West Port” and “East Pier” indicate entrances, and “Underground Gorge” is the escalator from the floor below. If the participants went to the “X“, they found a poem containing a reference to the password: the poor pirate’s gold plated dagger.

Stage 2, problem 5 — Jazz

”

U+100AA

o hrhi ng odvm xutz grfwor nideiyy jiuz’x oxrivhi vm colxh phse, rzh cxxhrbw ux to cartxx crdiq. bl tymx jty tigi ux sujf lnok fvxx gagt yq lnw rojf xux ulu ieef coixh, ctod r tmta vrzoi shx lzhmaz zof xsaz cikt e fbtgcq hexgm. yq qhlz hrhi yhukvp yc tz ae grstsicuee lqy ktvbnmh wdmtazeeurt ekamqw ngj syuzrkkd re lr yuuep autz a xdsgxyqlq xubtg r dsfx os rzh uhc rri xux yuexmtaz wre ycht tyq wptxcvxc pkkakqh tkgsj. m rrp coixh, ztzeiuey potyayg ukies vrtr, wyqvr iuoi slblzs, sdinmnies hexgmj xmxx gii, pvvyzeu rsemaikayfee asayg…eokv flnm gsyqr, stttrexvv lixgvr zriuurt muwrdh ubs tydshzn tyq ezhxpyayf mxeve.

The easiest method to solve this task was to identify the string “U+100AA” as a Unicode code for the Linear B ideogram “Garment.” By intuition or by evaluating alternative encryption methods, the larger paragraph of text was found to be a Vigénere cipher. “Garment” was thus the keyword. If deciphered, and Googled for, the text could be identified as an excerpt from Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. The really literate participants would, of course, recognize the text immediately and also that “Jazz” refers to The Jazz Age — the period in American history in which The Great Gatsby took place.

All in all it was lots of fun creating and interacting with the competing teams! Next game is in only 2 weeks, something I’m greatly looking forward to.

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Among the people I look up to I have noticed a few traits that they have in common.

Living in a world without absolutes
The mind seems quick to adopt absolute frames of reference. The simplest of minds see the world in black and white, while the thinking realize it is more complex than so. As a child grows up, the world’s complexity unravels and consequently there can be less and less absolutes to hold on to. This is by nature very difficult to deal with for people, since unquestionable facts work as safety lines in a world that’s always moving. The less brain it takes to understand something, the more attractive it is. That’s why there is a market for books that provide answers for how to live life. Not to be mistaken for books containing advice.

Learning new concepts for what they are
The brain likes associations: every new piece of knowledge is easier understood if it can be tied to existing neurons. This is why metaphors are commonly used to aid learning. But while metaphors may help, they also simplify and trivialize any new concept. The ability to treat information for what it is takes more thinking, but gives better understanding in return.

Ability to deal with abstraction
Anything expressed in concrete terms takes less thinking to understand. However, anything concrete is by definition less applicable to related concepts, and thus less interesting. For example, this is something every engineering student learns quite well: calculation with numbers is too trivial; variables provide a universal formula. The ability to see a system in abstract terms means extracting what’s interesting regardless of any external characteristic. Or understanding a piece of text containing no examples.

A sense for proportion and estimation
Applicants to qualified positions are usually tested for their ability to estimate and to make correct assumptions. While trivial problems deal with constant and concrete data, real-life problems are built upon estimations. This is a skill that fundamentally separates computers from humans: a sense for proportion. The thinking person “knows” if a value is about correct, or completely wrong.

The thinking person is thus the one building his own view of the world, free from mental shortcuts or simplified images. Complexity and abstract concepts are happily embraced, because all they provide is even more color to life. It doesn’t take much to be one of the thinking. Only open eyes.

Note to the nitpicky: Everyone thinks. “The thinking” is merely the best term I could come up with to refer to those in possession of the characteristics mentioned. IQ is certainly not more accurate; intelligence might be.

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Why are successful people turned into instruments of unique opportunity? Why are their stories told as circumstances of chance?

There are many examples of this kind of mystification. Isaac Newton suddenly discovered gravity when he observed an apple fall from a tree. A composer found inspiration and then wrote an amazing symphony. An entrepreneur had a brilliant idea and made a fortune through his business.

In countless of stories such as these, the triggering factor to a significant event is always made up to be external, and thus out of reach for the person’s influence.

But this is not reality: authors write nine to five regardless of any “inspiration”, they rewrite the same passage countless of times and they most often produce their best work when they are old. Newton didn’t discover gravity due to some falling apple; he had studied physics, mathematics and astronomy more than most people ever did.

I dare say that the real factor to success is always, and has always been, damn hard work and many failed attempts.

This is, however, a dangerous idea. People go to extreme lengths to deny it. For example the woman playing the lottery, believing it is the only way for her to become rich. Or the failed author blaming his empty pages on not having found the right inspiration — “yet.”

There is really no excuse for not having the capacity to achieve one’s own success. No talent? Talent is not nearly as important as the time you spend with a task, as described by Malcolm Gladwell in his Outliers (in which he also describes the importance of opportunity). No money? University is free, study loans are accessible for anyone and it doesn’t cost anything to start a company. Not “ready”? Get over it.

Why is the idea that anyone can become anything through one’s own ambition not embraced, but instead denied? Because it means complete responsibility for oneself, and the unlimited possiblities are easier shrugged off than capitalized. By some reason people are much more likely to confine themselves to a state where they believe they can’t affect their own destiny, rather than to embrace freedom. But still everyone knows that they could do anything, if they only tried. The guilt reminds them of this.

This is why successful people are mystified. By admitting that the causes for success were indeed equally accessible for everybody, the guilt is unbearable. So the choice is simple — deny the possiblities, stop thinking about it and blame everything on lucky circumstances.

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Here’s a graph illustrating a model of the relationship between doing a lot of stuff, and the amount of fun it results in:

With stuff I refer to anything productive and rewarding, such as a course at school, a qualified job or a project of your own. And with fun I refer to the feeling of satisfaction and purpose that is the result of doing meaningful things.

So, what can this model tell us?

• Do more, create something, engage in productiveness and a great feeling will follow.
• Eliminate wasted time to give room for more personal projects, sports or arts.
• Being overworked removes all the joy from what you’re doing.
• Make sure to find out your personal “maximum workload constant”, to know the feeling of when there’s simply too many things going on. You’ll never want to end up getting burned again.
• Remember where your limit is, and carefully balance your workload to stay just below the threshold.
• The “maximum workload constant” is not constant: it can be extended to allow for an increased capacity.
• Having too little to do is far better than being overworked.
• When you have “almost too much to do” it’s really just the right amount of work!
• If you’re engaged in stuff you like, and you are filling your time with it, you’ll hopefully experience flow.

Or as the Ruby hacker _why said:

”

when you don’t create things, you become defined by your tastes rather than ability. your tastes only narrow & exclude people. so create.

After all, it’s a thousand times more interesting to talk to someone that fills his time with interesting work and projects of his own, rather than someone completely defined by his music taste or belief. Experiences come through interaction with the real world, and they don’t create themselves — they need to be obtained through hard work. And a few leaps of faith.

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Following the progression of historical epochs, the intelligence of people has increased approximately linearly. However, when time reached the industrial revolution the world met a tipping point: collective intelligence began to increase exponentially.

This is truly interesting. A child thirty years ago would be considered retarded today; increased life quality leads to a higher IQ, which is embodied in the brain (the Flynn effect). But what does it really mean, an increased collective intelligence? What are potential consequences?

The industrial revolution essentially brought the possibility for alternative occupations to the common man, a shift from purely life-sustaining labour to self actualization. Universities were founded, wealth created and life expectancy increased. Concepts such as “choice” and “spare time” were invented. The upper half of Maslow’s pyramid was given existence.

But the industrial revolution is history now. Instead, another social revolution is emerging — a natural next step for the development of the grassroots. It has to do both with information, and the distribution of it. I think the next lifestyle changing development will emerge from a world with a more evenly distributed intelligence, and thus a much greater aggregate. A smarter mob.

To reach it, there are two often overlooked concepts that need to be reconsidered:

1. The importance of “everybody”
No matter how superior the west (and Asia) could be over, let’s say Africa, it is of no worth whatsoever. Not until everybody is on the train, can the population evolve further. Why? Simply because the dependence of a poor nation and a rich nation goes both ways — the rich nation can never truly excel until the poor nation is brought out of poverty.

2. The importance of development
In many places in China, you won’t get a decent job unless you have a PhD. In India there are engineers working in call centers. There is an inflation within education. “Too many are too well educated”. Yes, all this is true, but the positive aspects of it are overlooked. This situation is new, but when it has matured I strongly believe that a much greater set of problems will be possible to address. Simply because more people know more, giving way to more solutions to more problems. Also, if there is one thing the world can not have enough of, it’s knowledge.

Any argument against development will always break. History taught us this.

Therefore, it is of great importance that more people educate themselves. That internet remains free from regulations and corporate interests. That access to internet is given to every person on the planet. That governments increase transparency and thus opening up for crowdsourcing. And especially that the poor nations once and for all can work for increased life quality, instead of sustained life. The answers exist, see for example Copenhagen Consensus.

The fantastic heights of which today’s well-developed civilization has reached, is much due to an aggressive playing of the Prisoner’s dilemma. Great advances at great costs. Short-term thinking in favour for long-sightedness. However, in reaching the next height the game has to be played cooperatively.

All of the above boil down to one question: what will happen when the collective intelligence reaches its tipping point? What happens when information is even more integrated into even more people? What happens when 99% of earth’s population can solve mathematical equations in minutes, and look up facts in seconds?

What happens when we reach the point of a social singularity?

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