Most people have a serious problem with doubling down on the things they’re already good at rather than improving the areas they are bad at. This behavior interfaces well with the need to develop comparative advantage in a tribe of 150. It is misfiring badly in the modern context with massive peer groups.
Being embarrassingly bad at things is really difficult past the identity formation stage of adolescence where people calcify around whichever reward signals they invested a few hundred hours in, thus getting over the hump. People build an acceptable life out of whatever skills they have available and avoid areas of life that will provide evidence of incompetence. Midlife crises are often about remembering this forgotten thing when context changes enough to highlight it.
Much of the variance for the outcomes people most care about isn’t very controlled by skill, this inculcates learned helplessness in other domains.
This behavior interfaces well with the need to develop comparative advantage in a tribe of 150. It is misfiring badly in the modern context with massive peer groups.
Wouldn’t the modern context make comparative advantage even more important? It seems to me that the bigger a society you’re operating in, the greater the returns to specialization.
Ultra high returns and positive externalities in the tails. Really bad internalities to personal quality of life if some basic thresholds aren’t met. I am reminded of David Foster Wallace talking about how the sports press tries to paper over the absurd lifestyles that elite athletes actually live and try to make them seem relatable because that’s the story the public wants.
What good is it to become a famous rich athlete if you lose all your money and wind up with brain damage because you never learned to manage any risks?
The search space is multiplicative
Most people have a serious problem with doubling down on the things they’re already good at rather than improving the areas they are bad at. This behavior interfaces well with the need to develop comparative advantage in a tribe of 150. It is misfiring badly in the modern context with massive peer groups.
Being embarrassingly bad at things is really difficult past the identity formation stage of adolescence where people calcify around whichever reward signals they invested a few hundred hours in, thus getting over the hump. People build an acceptable life out of whatever skills they have available and avoid areas of life that will provide evidence of incompetence. Midlife crises are often about remembering this forgotten thing when context changes enough to highlight it.
Much of the variance for the outcomes people most care about isn’t very controlled by skill, this inculcates learned helplessness in other domains.
Wouldn’t the modern context make comparative advantage even more important? It seems to me that the bigger a society you’re operating in, the greater the returns to specialization.
Ultra high returns and positive externalities in the tails. Really bad internalities to personal quality of life if some basic thresholds aren’t met. I am reminded of David Foster Wallace talking about how the sports press tries to paper over the absurd lifestyles that elite athletes actually live and try to make them seem relatable because that’s the story the public wants.
What good is it to become a famous rich athlete if you lose all your money and wind up with brain damage because you never learned to manage any risks?
Ah, I see what you mean, thanks.