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To expand on this, and articulate two ideas:
1. A smart outsider often can achieve a good understanding of a given topic fairly well and even reach insights not available to expert insiders (king wears no clothes)
2. Social rewards from 1) are can be toxic to your mental health https://twitter.com/phillmv/status/1341006857490620417
1. A smart outsider often can achieve a good understanding of a given topic fairly well and even reach insights not available to expert insiders (king wears no clothes)
2. Social rewards from 1) are can be toxic to your mental health https://twitter.com/phillmv/status/1341006857490620417
In startups 1) is a common narrative:
Bright young thing stumbles onto a problem insider experts thought insurmountable but with pluck and elbow grease soon overcomes all obstacles & haters to achieve amazing success
We love these stories, it's a trope, and it's sometimes true!
Bright young thing stumbles onto a problem insider experts thought insurmountable but with pluck and elbow grease soon overcomes all obstacles & haters to achieve amazing success
We love these stories, it's a trope, and it's sometimes true!
I think sometimes experts can become entrenched in their context or environment & fail to appreciate that constraints have changed - which the outsider exploits
Tho often the constraint is simply a lack of resources: it's hard to raise $1M to work on "x" outside of a startup
Tho often the constraint is simply a lack of resources: it's hard to raise $1M to work on "x" outside of a startup
In a weaker version of the same concept, to give a specific example, a highly motivated patient can become well versed in the medical literature for their specific disease & achieve an understanding that rivals their doctors'
the avg doctor is not a rare genius, that kinda thing
the avg doctor is not a rare genius, that kinda thing
where people go wrong i think is that because this is possible in narrow contexts or specific problems this leads some people to discount *all* expertise as overrated
i.e. your doctor will still know more about drug interactions or your endocrine system than you do
i.e. your doctor will still know more about drug interactions or your endocrine system than you do
this leads us to 2) if you're a smart generalist who's made a couple good insights and you inhabit an environment where you're now admired & consulted on *every conceivable topic*
this is toxic to your ego, this will melt your brain & give you a cognitive impairment
this is toxic to your ego, this will melt your brain & give you a cognitive impairment
my specific example here is vc twitter:
the job of a vc is to meet with bright young things, day in and day out, who hang on your every word & are desperate for you to like them & give them money
you might be a big smarto who made it big on some counterintuitive investments but
the job of a vc is to meet with bright young things, day in and day out, who hang on your every word & are desperate for you to like them & give them money
you might be a big smarto who made it big on some counterintuitive investments but
nobody knows everything, insights are often not transferrable between fields or subjects,
and you're going to be speaking out of your ass and yet end up being rewarded for it all the time
this is like an accelerator for becoming out-of-touch and detached from reality
and you're going to be speaking out of your ass and yet end up being rewarded for it all the time
this is like an accelerator for becoming out-of-touch and detached from reality
