So, the most honest thing is to thing long and hard about what I really believe - which is the same as the things that I really want to be true:
- I want the creatives to win, for the engineers and the MBAs to fail with their simplistic worldviews and models.
- I want wisdom to compound over time, and to be rewarded by positive outcomes - strong relationships, material comfort, societal respect.
- I want the people who are lucky but wrong to eventually bottom out. Especially those who profit from luck but carry no downside (and I want that to be Wall Street).
- I want those who are willing to go outside of the system and herd safety to be rewarded with the upside they are aiming for.
Many of these stem from my conception of my own identity, and creating a worldview where my unique attributes are of higher standing even when external markers of that standing say otherwise.
In the above statements, then, you can clearly see what attributes I idealize, and which attributes I think I have, or at least aim for.
More on my core ideology:
- We need more right brain in the world. Therefore much of the evil is too much left brain - thus Rory Sutherland, James Scott, McGilchrist are three deep sources of truth.
- the tech world is 90% left-brain engineers, and 10% haywire right brain on psychedelics. I really don’t like when the engineers think they’re more rational than the rest, but then do obviously emotional things (i.e. emotional ties to some framework or library).
- I believe that few people tell the truth, even to themselves. Some is because of dishonesty, but more is because the system does not allow it. Sometimes people claim they tell the truth, but I trust the moralizers even less. Best are those who are upfront and unapologetic about their vices. This typically puts me to the right in 2020s America.
- the best framework for the world is that of complexity. Therefore neat models are always lacking, and naive intervention is one of the greatest dangers of our age (although apathy is another). The most true things are the simplest, because the best interventions within a complex system are iterative, pragmatic, and flexible.
- Within a world of complexity, we must hold mystery at all times, and resist the urge to deny it. We must also listen to our bodies, our subconscious, and our prayers in order to operate within mystery. Curiosity is a deep guiding light here.
- Lots of things are murky. There is lots of nuance. But that doesn’t mean that there are never real answers at the bottom of it. In some cases I hold a very strong line of good and evil.
- My main ideology is that of pragmatism. It stands above any of my other ideals. I think that sacrificing for the principle of something is rarely ever worth it - but when it is, it is worth everything. The principles that I would sacrifice for: family/relationships, protecting the weak or the cast offs, and mercy.