Author:: [[Rhiannon Beaubien and Rosie Leizrowice]] DateFinished:: 7/14/2023 Rating:: 8 Tags:: #🟩 # The Great Mental Models Volume 3  ## 🚀The Book in 3 Sentences - Great mental models you can apply to your life from Systems Thinking and Mathematics - Everything in life is a system and therefore systems thinking is super useful for it - Mathematical insights can apply to real life ### 🎨 Impressions - Another banger from the great mental models series. I find myself wishing once again the anecdotes were shorter but they aren't too bad. - I think this third part is the most useful of all the series. Systems thinking in particular are some of the best mental models you can take into your life. ### 📖Who Should Read It? - Anyone honestly ### ☘️ How the Book Changed Me - The book is making me begin to think about things happening in my life through the lens of mental models # Summary ### Systems Thinking Mental Models - [[Feedback loops]] - [[Equilibrium]] - [[Bottlenecks]] - [[Scaling]] - [[Emergence]] - [[The law of diminishing returns]] ### Mathematics Mental Models - [[Sampling]] - [[Regression toward the mean]] - [[Pareto Principle]] - [[Compounding effect]] - [[Global and local maxima]] ## Highlights ### Systems ##### Feedback Loops We are constantly offering feedback about our feelings, preferences, and values. Others are communicating feedback, but we don’t necessarily receive it or interpret it correctly. A critical requirement is learning how to filter feedback. ([Location 134](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09G3K5W2R&location=134)) - Note: This reminds me of the law of least effort mental model. This reminds me of the idea from Awakening From The Meaning Crisis that intelligence being one’s ability to do the most with the least amount of resources while not sacrificing their ability to solve other problems. There are two basic types of feedback loops: balancing and reinforcing, which are also called negative and positive. Balancing feedback loops tend toward an equilibrium, while reinforcing feedback loops amplify a particular process. ([Location 145](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09G3K5W2R&location=145)) - Note: Reinforcing feedback loops remind me of addiction but also compounding. In our lives, problems arise when the feedback for our actions is delayed or indirect, as is often the case. ([Location 152](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09G3K5W2R&location=152)) - Note: This is why video games are so engaging. They give tremendous clarity over goals and rules and have speedy feedback towards those goals. The faster you get accurate feedback, the more quickly you can iterate to improve. ([Location 158](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09G3K5W2R&location=158)) ##### Equilibrium An important point is that systems can have multiple different equilibria. Just because a system is at equilibrium, that doesn’t mean it’s functioning as well as it can. It just means things are stable. Sometimes systems achieve equilibrium in inefficient ways. If you’re feeling ill one week and struggling to focus on work, you might work extra hours each day to get your usual work done. You’ve maintained equilibrium, but you would have probably been better off overall if you did less. Short-term deviations from equilibrium are often what is needed to maintain it in the long term. An argument with a sibling that takes work to resolve might shift your relationship with that sibling away from its equilibrium for a few weeks, but in the long run, it could make things more stable between you by resolving tension. ([Location 387](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09G3K5W2R&location=387)) If you become too dependent on a particular equilibrium to perform well, you make yourself vulnerable to being thrown off by changing circumstances. Being able to function in a wider range of conditions makes you more versatile and flexible. ([Location 455](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09G3K5W2R&location=455)) - Note: Equilibrium can lead to complacency which can lead to failure. Having short periods not in equilibrium, travel, fasting, getting exposed to diseases, talking to strangers can make you Antifragile. Systems are rarely static. They are continuously adjusting toward equilibrium, but they rarely stay in balance for long. In our lives we often act like we can reach an equilibrium: once we get into a relationship, we’ll be happy; once we move, we’ll be productive; once X thing happens, we’ll be in Y state. But things are always in flux. We don’t reach a certain steady state and then stay there forever. The endless adjustments are our lives. ([Location 544](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09G3K5W2R&location=544)) ##### Bottlenecks Instead of addressing bottlenecks as they appear, your time might be better spent on a root-cause fix that makes a foundational improvement that leads many bottlenecks to disappear indefinitely. One way to achieve foundational improvement is to simulate conditions you are likely to face to try to find bottlenecks ahead of time. Instead of merely fixing the problem, we can solve a bottleneck by asking how the system could be designed to not have that problem exist in the first place. Addressing bottlenecks is a never-ending job and must always be factored into your planning. ([Location 638](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09G3K5W2R&location=638)) - Note: Some potential bottlenecks in my YT channel are, needing another YT video editor, not having money to pay for all of this outsourcing, needing another YT uploaded or social media manager. Medical science tends to advance the fastest during wars. Facing new demands and shortages of essential supplies, people find creative ways to deal with injuries and diseases. ([Location 662](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09G3K5W2R&location=662)) - Note: Although we tend to view bottlenecks as something negative, they can nudge us toward new ideas and better ways of solving the same problems. ##### Sc When we study a complex system, it’s beneficial to consider how its functioning behaves differently at different scales. Looking at the micro level may mislead us about the macro, and vice versa. In general, systems become more complex as they scale up. Greater size means more connections and interdependencies between parts. Thus, it’s important to combine scale with bottlenecks. As systems become larger, different parts might struggle to keep up. Imagining your business scaling up in some areas faster than others lets you anticipate breakages and bottlenecks. ([Location 686](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09G3K5W2R&location=686)) - Note: This reminds me of how the map is not the territory. It explains why doubling baking recipes doesn’t always work. The country is home to an astonishing number of incredibly old companies, known as shinise.3 Over 50,000 Japanese companies are more than a century old, with nearly 4,000 dating back over 200 years.4 Why are long-lived companies more common in Japan than the rest of the world? It’s impossible to know for certain. But most of the oldest companies have something in common: the way they scale. Or rather, the way they don’t scale. Long-lived Japanese companies tend to be small. They’re owned and run by relatives and people with close relationships. They usually have fewer than a hundred employees and trade within a small area inside Japan. Durable, loyal customer relationships are integral to their business models. Also, they are driven by a strong internal philosophy that goes beyond their products and services, enabling them to adapt to changing times. ([Location 721](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09G3K5W2R&location=721)) - Note: I don’t necessarily see scale as a good thing for my content creation. It might make me do things I don’t want to do. Margin of Safety ([Location 856](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09G3K5W2R&location=856)) When we interact with complex systems, we need to expect the unexpected. Systems do not always function as anticipated. They are subject to variable conditions and can respond to inputs in nonlinear ways. A margin of safety is often necessary to ensure systems can handle stressors and unpredictable circumstances. This means there is a meaningful gap between what a system is capable of handling and what it is required to handle. ([Location 856](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09G3K5W2R&location=856)) How can we develop a margin of safety in our lives? Things go wrong, at least once in a while, and it would be ideal to have a way of increasing our resilience in the face of dramatic change by having a built-in margin of safety. Learning is one way of applying this model on an individual level. ([Location 905](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09G3K5W2R&location=905)) ##### Ch ##### Algorit ##### Complex Adaptive Systems Complex adaptive systems have properties that are greater than the sum of their parts. You cannot understand them from studying their individual components, which may be simple but which interact in unpredictable, nonlinear ways. ([Location 1343](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09G3K5W2R&location=1343)) ##### Critical Mass When a system changes from one state to another, we say it has achieved critical mass, also known as reaching the tipping point. ([Location 1377](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09G3K5W2R&location=1377)) ## New highlights added 07-07-2023 at 2:30 AM ##### Emergence ## New highlights added 10-07-2023 at 1:36 AM ##### Irreducibility Understanding the irreducible components of a system means you won’t waste your time trying to change what is unchangeable. You can master the minimum elements, then explore. Using irreducibility as a lens helps you shed the nonessential, giving you options for adjusting or pivoting. ([Location 1876](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09G3K5W2R&location=1876)) ##### The Law of Diminishing Returns When your results consistently take a nosedive and your past successes seem distant memories, diminishing returns have likely set in. We cannot expect that if we keep doing things the same way, we will always get the same remarkable results. This model reminds us that change is an essential element of moving forward. Even if it’s not broken, there is always something to fix. Don’t let early success make you complacent. Plan for diminishing returns, and you just might avoid them. ([Location 2063](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09G3K5W2R&location=2063)) ### Mathematics ## New highlights added 12-07-2023 at 8:03 PM ##### Compounding ##### Sampling Criado Perez argues that “the introduction of Big Data into a world full of gender data gaps can magnify and accelerate already-existing discriminations.”16 It is not a big leap to conclude that Big Data based on narrow data sets can exacerbate many different discriminations. As the authors of “The Weirdest People in the World?” conclude, “We need to be less cavalier in addressing questions of human nature on the basis of data drawn from this particularly thin, and rather unusual, slice of humanity.” ([Location 2566](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09G3K5W2R&location=2566)) - Note: This reminds me of how the map is not the territory. The quantity of our data set doesn’t matter if it’s not representative of our target population. ##### Randomness ##### Pareto Principle ##### Regression to the Mean ## New highlights added 12-07-2023 at 8:36 PM ##### Multiplying by Zero One result of stuttering is often the feeling that, regardless of the effort you put into other areas of your life, the condition negates them all. No matter how much you know, how witty you are, or how much wisdom you’ve gained from your experiences, the struggle to verbally articulate negates the value of anything you have to say. ([Location 3020](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09G3K5W2R&location=3020)) We often treat our lives as multiplicative equations. We want our skills and experience not to solve isolated problems but to increase values in many areas of our lives by multiple factors. We want to take our hard-earned knowledge and use it to support a variety of efforts. A zero in any multiplicative equation will reduce it to nothing, and so this model shows us that we have to be mindful of the zeros that will negate our other efforts. If we believe we have a zero, our most critical task is to turn it into at least a one. ([Location 3063](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09G3K5W2R&location=3063)) ## New highlights added 13-07-2023 at 8:36 PM ##### Equivalence ##### Global and Local Maxima We may need to temporarily worsen our solution if we want to continue searching for improvements. » Brian Christian and Tom Griffiths ([Location 3367](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09G3K5W2R&location=3367)) Getting to a new peak means change—changing what you know, changing the way you are doing things. At a local maximum, things are as good as they can get with the current structure. To get to the peak of a higher hill requires us to walk through a valley as we go back to being neophytes in some ways. Or it requires us to step back, broaden our view, and determine if we are heading in the right direction. But as we learn new skills, partner with new people, or make big jumps in our optimization, we start climbing back up to reach the next maximum. ([Location 3381](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09G3K5W2R&location=3381)) Pick a model, maybe one per week, and start looking at your life through that lens. What do you notice? What looks different? Write down or record your observations. Take the time to reflect on your experiences using each model, because it is through reflection that the most valuable knowledge builds. ([Location 3538](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09G3K5W2R&location=3538))