This realization rather changed the way I looked at life as a whole. I realized that I will run out of fundas only when i stop searching for them. The world has simply unlimited reservoir of fundas ( at various levels ie. simple , arbit , random etc :D ) but I simply dont see those around me. I could not help but drawing parallels to music. Carnatic Music has just 7 swaras (or basic sounds) has managed to generate infinite number of ragas. The ability to manipulate such a scarce resource to a mind boggling number of combinations shows human brilliance.
I started using this philosophy for other avenues of my life too. When I first joined Caterpillar I wondered the long term sustainability of such companies. I felt that were would be a day when there will be a day when all the mud and earth would be displaced and the resources underneath would be plundered and looted. I wondered whom will earth moving machinery companies like Caterpillar serve on that day. It was then that I realized that the company will start making products to put all the mud back in its original place or they might start digging in the moon. Ultimately I understood that the opportunities that are created (or discovered) are a function of human brilliance and ability to accept new ideas alone they are totally independent of the fact that we are endowed with a finite volume of resources (large though they might be). Ultimately what decides the future of human beings ( and ours as individuals) is our ability to make best use of the available finite resources to see the world of opportunities that awaits us.
It reads like a toccata epiphany to me, but yeah, what you say is right. It's just like the world of mathematics, to draw another parallel: there are only a finite number of operations but the problems that the set of complex numbers is capable of solving amount in the billions of trillions.
ReplyDeleteOpportunities have never been limited by the resources, but our everyday-struggles ensured that we saw even the availability of a resource of an opportunity. It is THAT freedom that we require, the freedom of thought, to be able to think without anything holding us back, to be able to think knowing full well that we are first among equals and second to none, and once we attain it, I'm not saying the world would be a better place. However, it would definitely be a faster and much more efficacious place.
As a mechanical engineer myself, I don't think I need to emphasize on the importance of lubricants inside the piston sleeve: if it's there, the car's not going to fly but it surely is going to run smoother. If it's not there, however, you just purchased the world's most expensive automobile-spare-parts catapult. All in all, some wonderful insight, nicely broken down bro! I can so easily connect with the metaphors, and that only goes to show the clarity of your writing. Loved it!