Acquisitions of knowledge and asking good questions and innovations for gaining wealth
“Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.”
This verse is by the Sage of Omaha but is actually similar in words and meanings to an old Chinese saying.
Advances in science and engineering depend very much on concepts and knowledge generated by previous pioneers in the respective fields. Albert Einstein once learned Newtonian Mechanics before coming up with the ideas in General and Special theory of relativity that revolutionizes the whole of Physics.
When an inventor set out to invent a certain thing, he don’t start to go about the process of inventing without searching through the patent office to see whether similar thing has already been invented. Similarly, it is better to learn business and investing lessons from financial legends than to research and develop new principles yourself only to discover that the hard work has already been done by others before you.
Isaac Newton once said that it is only by standing on the shoulder of giant that I can see further. This precisely summarizes why before setting out to achieve a specific goal, it is best and wise to first learn how others have done earlier, even if their thinking and methods are not good enough.
If acquiring previous concepts and knowledge is standing on the shoulder of giant, then asking good questions after having the concepts and knowledge is the binocular that enables you to see even further.
Why is it that Albert Einstein can come up with ideas that revolutionizes Physics while most others don’t?
Because he ask, will the speed of an object with mass exceeds the speed of light, if kept on increasing the force exerted on it, since there seems to be no physical limitations based on the famous F=ma equation.
He also asks, among others similar questions, will I see myself in the mirror if I ride on a beam of light?
As you can see, standing on the shoulder of giant is not good enough to see further, you still need a binoculars to assist you to see further, and that binoculars is asking good questions.
In fact, there is an underlying reason why the mortar boards for bachelor and master degrees are square while that for doctoral degree is round. In the acquisition of knowledge and concepts in any field up to master level, one is learning and to accept what pioneers in that field have created previously. As such, one need to learn and accept whatever is being taught and solves problems using “correct” concepts during examinations, thus becoming square in thinking. For example, if someone uses Einstein’s equations to calculate force instead of Newton’s Second Law before in the years before Einstein came up with General and Special theory of relativity in college entrance examinations, he will most probably never make it to college even though it is more correct in physical reality.
Image Credits: carbonnyc
The interesting thing came after acquisitions of necessary knowledge in a field is complete, when one has to let go of previously accepted notions that lead to square in thinking to continue the mental evolution in that field. To do that, we have to realize that the world is round, that everything is connected to everything else. It’s those who explore completely unrelated areas of life and knowledge who best see that everything is related. Doctoral studies is creating new knowledge and advancing the field, to do that, one must let go what is learned previously, realizes that some things are still not perfect yet. There is a need to let go a bit if concepts regarding that field, become less square in thinking, hence the round shape in mortar board for doctoral degrees. Nobel Prize is not given to first class honors but to someone who come up with some innovations and “conferred the greatest benefit on mankind” at the same time.
It does not matter whether Albert Einstein got an IQ equal of a genius or equal of a retarded, if he cannot let go the commonly accepted notion and common sense notion that time is absolute, he can never come up with Special and General Theories of Relativity.
This post is quite long, before reading, pause and listen to the music below as you go along.
Bruce Lee first learned Wing Chun, but felt that traditional footwork of Wing Chun is not good enough, in which he later burrowed footsteps from Cha Cha dance and fencing to further improves on it. While the classic Wing Chun attack and defense is very useful, powerful and effective for fighting with opponents within 5 meters distance, it lacks techniques for longer range attacks which Bruce Lee later incorporates techniques from other martial arts styles in his Jeet Kune Do. His Jeet Kune Do launched a new discipline known as mixed martial arts.
Buffett do not stop at Benjamin Graham form of value investing, but went on to further the art of investing. Despite Coca-Cola shares are trading at 20 times earnings, he still decides to go ahead and purchase them as it is a fair price for a great company. Benjamin Graham is more of advocating buying stocks that trade at less than their net assets values, without regards to their qualitative analysis. One day, Warren Buffett wakes up and realizes that simply depends on book value is not good enough, then with influence from Charlie Munger, he makes a slight change in his investment philosophy, that is, “It’s far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price than a fair company at a wonderful price.”
Buy a wonderful company at a fair price = buying Coca-Cola at 15 to 20 times earnings
A fair company at a wonderful price = buying a company at less than their net assets values
However, he does kept the concepts of buying below intrinsic value and margin of safety, in a similar sense that Bruce Lee kept the classic Wing Chun moves within 5 meters of opponents when fighting. There is a need to continue progress in field that one pursue, but progress does not mean doing away with what the pioneers had done, neither does it remain stagnant and not improving. Nevertheless, the first thing is still learning previously created knowledge first, that is become square in thinking before learning to let go and become round in thinking.
“All kind of knowledge, eventually becomes self knowledge”
Bruce Lee
One way to interpret this profound statement is almost every piece of knowledge from everywhere applies to you or your specific specialized profession, work and business. It is just that you have not seen the connection yet.
Where you get things from other fields to become self knowledge and applying it to own domain of specialized fields – by reading and other means like communicating with others of course.
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Interesting and informative. But will you write about this one more?
I read a few topics. I respect your work and added blog to favorites.
Fantastic post – this is true wisdom indeed. I’ve known mostly about Einstein’s story before, but you put it in such a way that made it applicable to all our lives. We all must be willing to learn from history and at the same time keep an open and flexible mind towards future understandings. Great, great writing!