Wednesday, December 22, 2010

How not to practice writing

The guys at copyblogger say that to be a good writer you should always be writing, even when you have nothing to write about, write, write, write.

For several reasons I think this is bad advice.

This is because their concept is based off of a misnomer, a fallacy deriving from the 10,000 hour rule (popularized by Gladwell in his book Outliers). The rule says that it takes 10,000 hours of deliberate practice to master a skill. Though, as I guess wasn’t taken clearly, or perhaps simply forgotten by anxiousness and impulsivity: “practice doesn’t make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect” – Gladwell.

Writing for the sake of writing does nothing, or little at least. Its like talking to nobody, with no message to deliver - how do you know how to say what you want to say?

Writing used as a cathartic medium on the other hand, has purpose; to release the tension of an idea. That practices how you manipulate and convey you’re thoughts. It’s passion, emotion and purpose that resonates with readers.

You need to practice writing when you have the need to express yourself. That’s where it starts.

First, ideas get jotted down in a few lines. Soon they turn into a page. Eventually (hopefully) with practice you’ll be writing pages worth of well-written ideas.

You become a better writer by practicing expressing yourself.

Without purpose you have nothing.
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Sunday, March 28, 2010

A Rant: Assumptions by Association

Socrates, in other words said this, “I know that I know nothing”

Nassim Taleb calls it being a skeptic.

Neither are wrong.

At a party, acquaintances of mine were baffled by my analogy of their logical mistake: all apples are fruits, but not all fruits are apples. It was to illustrate the fallacy in a generalization that had been made. For a good couple of minutes they were mind struck. Literally. “Not all fruits are apples!” They couldn’t believe it – neither could I.

It’s like saying all mac owners are hipsters, or vice versa.
Because of an empirical association, you’ve created an assumption.
Or take for example there are some conspiracers who hold all Jews accountable for 911, simple due to the mere coincidince that the individuals they are accusing happen to be Jewish.
Or how all Americans are fat and lazy.
The list of stereotypes goes on. Though the issue is that I think people haven’t realized that stereotypes go far beyond typing people (perhaps many have realized this, but certainly don’t apply it to everyday scenarios, never mind their thought process).

The world we live in is far too dense and complex. There’s no room for generalizations. Nothing is entirely what it seems. Yes you might have an empirical reference to look back on, but that doesn’t mean it’s the same situation all over again. Most likely this time your dealing with new people or a completely new environment. I think this is where the problem occurs. People don’t know that they don’t know. They think they know. That’s why; when things go wrong, people get surprised, which triggers emotions, most often negative ones. And emotions usually lead to illogical action.

Thing is, as Socrates stated, we don’t know anything for sure. Though, what we do have is an idea of something. Notice the difference. The contrast between knowing and having an idea is that the latter acknowledges the possibility of the unknown. In fact, the latter knows that the unknown is a valid and an entirely possible outcome.

Why do you think some people can’t make sense of this world, thus going insane and live in some sort of hallucination/fictional world? It starts with an event, which they can’t understand or explain. They don’t know that they don’t know. So the minds tries to find an explanation (they think they know). This (lie) false explanation thrives in their mind and persists. They then try to make sense of it (the lie) but can’t, since it makes no sense, and thus, neither does (their) reality.

This is about confronting the truth from the start, or acknowledging to not knowing it. When you can’t explain something sometimes you just shouldn’t** because you literally don’t have the knowledge to. That is the difference between sanity and insanity.

Life is measured in percentages. 80% of the time X happens, the other 20% A, B, C and infinite more possibilities might happen.

** Note it is perfectly understandable to come to ideas of what did/can/could/happen. But the fallacy comes from believing in an absolute truth.