Cognitive Cow

The phrase ‘as it were’ is amazing. It’s great, just one of those things you can say but is most of the time implied with the use of metaphor. I’m guessing that philosophers love this phrase the most so they can protect themselves from their own metaphorical terminology. I love hearing this phrase used in conversation. Consequently, I dislike when people misuse it.

Human emotion is a fickle and misunderstood thing. A man who wins the lottery might find himself more unhappy than when he was working for $10 an hour. A paraplegic might live a more fulfilling life than somebody without any disabilities. I don’t just say this without evidence, this has been observed and studied. What, then, is the very thing that triggers a feeling of happiness instead of just general contentness? Consider this: even regular sex or a fat wallet will over time become the norm and fail to generate the happiness that it once did.

I’ve recently been thinking about an article written by Peter Norvig about mastering programming in a decade. His argument is that mastery in anything will realistically take 10 years. Naturally, I considered where I am in various fields of my interest. I have been programming for almost 10 years now. The sad part is that I’m no where near an expert. I’d consider myself an intermediate programmer. I’ve been playing saxophone on and off for about 10 years and I’m still a novice. Guitar is a hobby I started about 4 years ago.

Sadly, Norvig argues that mastery also takes consistency. Practicing everyday and pushing oneself to learn things outside of one’s comfort zone. It’s never easy to venture outside of the comfort of what you know but that’s the way we grow, right?

One last thought. It seems that if one has specific interests that one must accept that it is extremely unlikely that anyone else shares your interests, no matter how much you want them to. The socialite will focus on lowest common denominator interests to connect with people and the ‘geek’ will focus on specialised interests at the expense of being able to relate to people. I find myself constantly leaning towards the ‘geek’ side of the spectrum though I do believe there is room for a comfortable hybrid. I hope my gross over-simplification doesn’t offend anyone!