Alignment and caring
Tkinter is nice. I wrote my first simple, toy GUIs.
But for the most part I've been absorbed in modeling modeling phase interactions between two lasers in an EIT medium. The whole concept of seeing a photon without absorbing it is super exciting. And it may help me finish up this PhD.
I've also been busy getting ready for 2 weeks out of town. First is a week in Utah seeing first Gina's family then the Bradshaw family then the Tate family. Then comes a half week in southern New Mexico. It's an academic research retreat involving a BEC experimental group, a BEC theoretical group and a quantum feedback and control group. Finally we have a half week in Lake Powell with the venture scouts. Nothing to complain about. But a lot to get ready for.
The bottom line is that there is a lot that can easily squeeze this whole venture right out of my life. I have to decide if it is worth it to keep it going or if it would be better to just streamline things a bit.
A tree will grow large and strong over time. It doesn't take much time in any given week. But if you want to guarentee its growth you will have to dedicate some time. Actually, time isn't the right word. Perhaps the right word is care. I like that better because it implies attention so that you can see what the tree needs and then action to fulfill those needs. Perhaps the limiting resource in my life isn't time or money but the ability to care.
Perhaps you can love an infinite number of people in an abstract sense. But how many people can you care for in an active, nurturing sense? One? Ten? One hundred? Your time and personal attention have to stretch thin at some point. And how many goals can you dedicate your life too? Probably only one. (Tangent: Of course most goals don't need you to dedicate your life. They just need a little slice of it. And different goals need different slices. A tree or any other organic thing needs regular attention more than lots of attention all at once. Certain types of problems really need a lot of attention all at once and are more difficult to solve in little slices.) All the rest of your goals in that case are subgoals. Means to ends. That means that they have to be evaluated within the framework of larger goals. If they are not aligned with the larger goals and with each other you are likely to find yourself wandering around frustrated. But how many subgoals can you care about simultaneously? For me it is hard to care about many more than one at a time. When I focus on one the others seem like distractions. But no matter what's easy and what's difficult life requires the juggling. (And juggling is a great metaphore. You only interact with one or two objects at a time while the rest are in the air.) So I juggle.
This whole discussion is a rational description of an intuitive decision making process. The model is not complete. And it's pretty abstract. But the question that I want to think about right now is this: do I care enough about SongPiper to make it happen? Should I care enough about it to make it happen? If not then either it isn't aligned with my larger goals or I don't see how it is aligned. If not then another direction is in order.
Our most important set of choices may be those that determine what we care about.
But for the most part I've been absorbed in modeling modeling phase interactions between two lasers in an EIT medium. The whole concept of seeing a photon without absorbing it is super exciting. And it may help me finish up this PhD.
I've also been busy getting ready for 2 weeks out of town. First is a week in Utah seeing first Gina's family then the Bradshaw family then the Tate family. Then comes a half week in southern New Mexico. It's an academic research retreat involving a BEC experimental group, a BEC theoretical group and a quantum feedback and control group. Finally we have a half week in Lake Powell with the venture scouts. Nothing to complain about. But a lot to get ready for.
The bottom line is that there is a lot that can easily squeeze this whole venture right out of my life. I have to decide if it is worth it to keep it going or if it would be better to just streamline things a bit.
A tree will grow large and strong over time. It doesn't take much time in any given week. But if you want to guarentee its growth you will have to dedicate some time. Actually, time isn't the right word. Perhaps the right word is care. I like that better because it implies attention so that you can see what the tree needs and then action to fulfill those needs. Perhaps the limiting resource in my life isn't time or money but the ability to care.
Perhaps you can love an infinite number of people in an abstract sense. But how many people can you care for in an active, nurturing sense? One? Ten? One hundred? Your time and personal attention have to stretch thin at some point. And how many goals can you dedicate your life too? Probably only one. (Tangent: Of course most goals don't need you to dedicate your life. They just need a little slice of it. And different goals need different slices. A tree or any other organic thing needs regular attention more than lots of attention all at once. Certain types of problems really need a lot of attention all at once and are more difficult to solve in little slices.) All the rest of your goals in that case are subgoals. Means to ends. That means that they have to be evaluated within the framework of larger goals. If they are not aligned with the larger goals and with each other you are likely to find yourself wandering around frustrated. But how many subgoals can you care about simultaneously? For me it is hard to care about many more than one at a time. When I focus on one the others seem like distractions. But no matter what's easy and what's difficult life requires the juggling. (And juggling is a great metaphore. You only interact with one or two objects at a time while the rest are in the air.) So I juggle.
This whole discussion is a rational description of an intuitive decision making process. The model is not complete. And it's pretty abstract. But the question that I want to think about right now is this: do I care enough about SongPiper to make it happen? Should I care enough about it to make it happen? If not then either it isn't aligned with my larger goals or I don't see how it is aligned. If not then another direction is in order.
Our most important set of choices may be those that determine what we care about.
posted by Douglas H. at 8:03 AM
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