Emanuel's blog

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.

Comments RSS · Print · Tweet