Hidden systems for Everyday life
“There is a difference between personal finance and investment. But that’s for another day.”- Manoj Pun Tilija.
It sprung during a listening session. The speaker was talking about “his” topic. About what made “it” work for him. Then another speaker appeared preaching “his” topic. About what made “it” work for him. This went on for 3 years.
The listener then translated the speech into a compiled script. During the translations, the listener observed golden letters being imprinted. He wondered, “What are these words? And why are they in a golden font?”
The listener had discovered, the System.
What is a System?
A system is a collection of dependent or independent micro aspects operating in an organized mechanic.
The bigger question is, “Why does it matter?”, “Why does it matter to know about the system?”
I assume my readers are familiar with leverage. Tools that can increase your output with minimum input.
The System is a macro concept of leverage. And a Hidden system is the macro concept of hidden leverages.
Bringing the previous question of Why does it matter?
Because the quality of the life you live in depends on your understanding and the application of various systems.
In this article, I will be talking about 4 major systems, for now. Namely:
Compounding, Iteration, randomness, and asymptote.
Compounding:
The most common example is compound interest, where a person invests an allocated sum of money for X number of years without taking any profits. A simple Vanguard MF will be rearranged based on the person’s age and target.
But another application of Compounding has been implemented in the Creator’s economy. The content creators consistently create quality content satisfying the viewer's attention and after years of content delivery, a reputation is built around the content creator.
Now a lesser know application is around software developers. Where the developer keeps delivering a product or a service that finally reaps a reward. It is more common in the art such as dance and music. Your previous contribution is always there to multiply your next contribution. You keep compounding.
You never start your day with a zero. There is always a previous stack to work with. This is compounding.
Iteration:
This is derived from Friedrich Nietzsche’s Demon.
“What, if some day or night a demon were to steal after you into your loneliest loneliness and say to you:
This life as you now live it and have lived it, you will have to live once more and innumerable times more’… Would you not throw yourself down and gnash your teeth and curse the demon who spoke thus?
Or have you once experienced a tremendous moment when you would have answered him:
‘You are a god and never have I heard anything more divine.’”
You need iteration to work for you. No matter the error you commit, you can always track back and start over to a new route of solution.
This can be implemented in a start-up environment. A small loop of trial and error without endangering the entire organization.
You can apply it in a dating environment. There is always another person to try out with, why be serious in having a good flirt. Just have a fun experiment.
Randomness:
I borrowed the idea from Nassim Nicholas Taleb. We do not know anything about what is going to happen. Although some charlatans might promise how the stock market will react to the fed’s new taper, that is just bullshit. No one knows, If I knew about it. I would never tell you. I mean why would I?
So Since you do not know what is going to happen, you will not know the upside or the downside of a certain event. But the trick is to construct yourself in a position where these uncertainties cannot erase your existence. Meaning, prevent yourself from catastrophic events. A small blip in your portfolio should not eat your base money.
But what about the upside?
Exactly, since we do not know the upside, why don’t you create something that can interact with the outside world. It can be a product, an article, an art, a service, or an application. Why not let it interact with an audience?
Randomness in life is more common than one would imagine.
“Wind extinguishes a candle and energizes fire. Likewise with randomness, uncertainty, chaos: you want to use them, not hide from them. You want to be the fire and wish for the wind.”- NNT
Asymptote
This is quite a philosophical system to explain. The definition of an asymptote is, “a line that continually approaches a given curve but does not meet it at any finite distance.”
Therefore it always goes on but never reaches the tangent point.
Similarly, technology will keep improving and will make money more accessible and life more geared towards automation. The race to reach the utopia will always be there but we will never reach it. Humans are constantly looking over the horizon for the new outbreak of technology that will improve the standard of living.
I mean if you are in a first-world country, to an extent you are already in a UTOPIA. Clean water is there, electricity, smartphones, internet. This is a lifestyle far better than a 14th century Royalty. Yet we still cry about social injustice and other crappy topics. Why?
Because we are never satisfied. No matter what new app or AI-powered robots are invented we always want more. Which is good. I mean that drive is what made humans create these technologies. The thing is we are inherently programmed to do this.
The only way to free yourself is by looking at the fragility of this life. A car hits your car, next thing you know, you are no longer alive. I mean really? Is this why you busted your ass in work, working 12hrs a day earning 13$/ hrs to die?
And I know a mere article is not gonna completely change your priorities. And why would it? You’ve seen the Rah-Rah shows, what happened? Nothing.
You will continue to live the way you’ve lived there is no other choice.
You will be, who you are meant to be. There is no choice.
The only choice is how you choose and who you choose to be with.
