RECESS: OP Humans, Price vs Value, and Color!
This image will become clear at the end.
I would warn that this is a dump of disjointed ideas. Though it is true, I still only write about interesting concepts. This will also be short. I am emulating a newsletter I intensely admire: James Clear’s 3-2-1 newsletter.
Clear’s goal is to have the most wisdom per word of any newsletter on the internet. If I could subscribe to only 1 newsletter, it would be the terribly short 3-2-1 newsletter. It features 3 ideas from Clear, 2 quotes, and 1 question. I will do the same.
Are Humans OP (Great)?
When I write articles, I don’t always get to share content (books, videos, articles) that I personally find splendid. And I can’t always give a sneak peek into upcoming articles. (foreshadowing).
I can do both by sharing a youtube channel I discovered recently: TierZoo. Specifically this video: “Are Humans OP?”
TierZoo ranks species in some classes (fishes, ice age animals, birds) using surprisingly well-defined attributes, with rich gamer language. Humans are OP (top of the TierZoo list for animals) because of our combo of Stats across Intelligence, Power, Defence, Mobility, HP, and Stealth. We are surprisingly terrible (like one of the worst) on a couple of these stats. Add the video to your watch later.
What attributes do you think will make you OP in your daily life?
Price vs Value
It’s no surprise that I was listening to Drake’s CLB yesterday. But I was surprised by what I think this line from Jay-Z means:
But everybody want something
You know the price of everything but the value of nothing
But everybody want something
You know the price of everything but the value of nothing
Is there truly a fundamental difference between the price and value of something? Isn’t the value of an iPhone 13 Pro (foreshadowing here) the same as its $1000 price? The Supply-Demand curve comes to our rescue here!
Here’s my not necessarily correct interpretation of Jay-Z’s words, but play along with this pizza slice example. The price represents the amount that the average buyer will be willing to pay (all things being equal) -- $3. But you and I are not always the “average buyer.”
“Everybody want something”
We all want something but usually different things and to varying degrees. In fact, I like to imagine everyone as dots on that red Demand line. (Additional) Value to you, is the vertical difference between your point on the red (Demand) line and the dotted $3 line. In fact “Consumer surplus” in economics is calculated as the sum of this vertical difference for all points (people) above the dotted line.
But we tend to slide across this red line. When I just finished a meal I will not even pay $3 for a pizza slice, but after a good swim, I might be willing to pay up to $6.
“You know the price of everything but the value of nothing”
Jay Z may have a larger point about being self-aware, knowing yourself, and thinking independently and critically. You can’t just assume the value of an option to you is the same as the price everyone has to pay.
Everyone pays the $1000 price for an iPhone 13 Pro (upfront or through some subscription), but not everyone gets the same benefit. Think about the value add if you already own a Macbook and Apple watch? Everyone pays the same price for an all-you-can-eat buffet, but not everyone gets the same value eating to their fill.
High price, Higher reward:
What should you start doing that has a high opportunity cost (price), but even greater value to you specifically?
High price, Low reward:
What should you stop doing because, though the price may be right for others, you don’t enjoy it as much?
Language affects our perception of color
There are two aspects to this fascinating idea. One is completely true, and the other is my added speculation. First, watch this 2-min video on “How Language Changes The Way We See Color”. At least add it to your watch later, it will blow your mind.
The first and fundamental claim is that richer color vocabulary leads to a richer perception of the world, in terms of color. Many English speakers distinctly experience red and pink as separate colors. Try to look around you and imagine how seeing red and pink as the same color will lead to a less rich experience. Let me help you with Goluboy and Siniy in Russian.
Imagine the difference between Goluboy and Siniy being as clear as red and pink. You probably can’t and that’s where my speculation starts.
Step 1: Is there a group that, on average, knows more colors than others outside that group:
Can you distinguish Burgundy from Maroon? Azul from Celeste? Periwinkle from Lavender?
Another way to view the exercise is that everyone writes all the colors they know. Is there a group that averages a longer list? Women vs Men? Painters vs Non-painters?
Step 2: Does the perception of more colors provide any advantages, no matter how slight but clear?
Fashion: If I only know three colors: white, black, and red, and how I perceive color affects how I perceive the world, then would I have a worse fashion sense? Especially going against you and your Indigo, Blue, and Cerulean variations?
Step 3: Then Vocabulary can be a performance booster.
The direct advantages of color are not overwhelming or clear, though I think most people would choose to know more colors if they could snap their fingers to do it.
But a vast vocabulary can help you get better in many domains. Think of it this way.
There are few people who have a rich computer science vocabulary but little knowledge of computers. Obscuring your ignorance with hefty vocabulary is challenging, erroneous, and usually performed by people trying to trick you into believing in their competence. A more ethical but consistent example is preparing for coding interviews or a regular exam. As you refresh your knowledge, your vocabulary inevitably goes up.
There are even much fewer people with great knowledge of computers who do not have a vast vocabulary. You can’t find Computer Science professors or seasoned Software Engineers who don’t know of RAM, internal storage, transistors, binary, recursion, inheritance, SQL, RGB, or bugs. But you can certainly find first year CS majors who don’t.
What domain do you care about and how can you increase your vocabulary in that domain?
2 quotes:
Both from a 3-2-1 newsletter from James Clear
A question from writer Elizabeth Gilbert:
"What do you love doing so much that the words failure and success essentially become irrelevant?"
“There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.” - Peter Drucker
1 Question:
What do you need to de-prioritize?