The Bowling Principle
Consider the scoreboard.
In baseball, the scoreboard tells you the pitch count and how many outs there are.
You need that knowledge, it’s strategic.
In football, the scoreboard tells you what down it is, how much time is left in the quarter.
You need that knowledge, it’s strategic.
In bowling, the scoreboard tells you your score, your opponent’s score, and what frame it is.
And guess what —
You do not need any of that knowledge.
No matter what your score, your opponent’s score, or what frame it is — your job is to knock down more pins. The scoreboard does not affect your actions in any way.
Here’s my point:
Not all knowledge matters the same amount. And a lot of the knowledge our society values, might actually be useless.
This newsletter is about searching for the knowledge that makes the most difference, for the least effort.
If we can find it, then a weird thing happens — the cost of acquiring new knowledge starts to exceed the benefit.
Could that be “wisdom”? Not knowing all things, but knowing well the things that make other knowledge unnecessary?
What could we learn, that turns all other knowledge into a mere bowling scoreboard?
Perhaps knowledge is not something to amass, but something to graduate from.