• WOWOW: The Motion Mountain Edition [Links of the Week]

    edited by Alexander Becker

    Renaissance, polymath questions of the week, music lessons, free content, and free links.

    How do objects and images move? How can animals move? What is motion? How does a rainbow form? Is levitation possible? Do time machines exist? What does 'quantum' mean? What is the maximum force value found in nature? Is 'empty space' really empty? Is the universe a set? Which problems in physics are still unsolved?

    A free physics textbook that tells the story of how it became possible, after 2500 years of exploration, to answer such questions. The book is written for the curious: it is entertaining, surprising and challenging on every page. With little mathematics, starting from observations of everyday life, the text explores the most fascinating parts of mechanics, thermodynamics, special and general relativity, electrodynamics, quantum theory and modern attempts at unification. The essence of these fields is summarized in the most simple terms. For example, the text presents modern physics as consequence of the notions of minimum entropy, maximum speed, maximum force, minimum change of charge and minimum action.

    Speaking of renaissance men --

    Ten Things I Learned from Einstein

    6. Where you are now doesn't predict where you will be in the future.

    plus ...

    10 Golden Lessons from Albert Einstein

    9. You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else.

    Learn the rules of your game and start playing it best. Keep competing like your life depended on it. And after a while you will have no one else but you to compete against. At that point, better your best.

    ... gives us 20 Einstein nuggets to take note of.

    WOW is about being extraordinary, or in Seth's words, remarkable. I'm still not ignoring the music industry --

    Seth's Music Lessons

    People pay a premium for a story, every time.

    This isn't about having a great idea (it almost never is). The great ideas are out there, for free, on your neighborhood blog. Nope, this is about taking initiative and making things happen.

    While we're here, it is the permission model again --

    Free Without Exploitation

    While your business model might depend on and benefit from giving away free information and ideas, it should never be free at the expense of your business. Your advice has value but only to the level you allow it.

    Oh yeah... one more thing. The most stunning thing you can do these days is posting a link to some book on Amazon and omit your referer id. Yes. Linking to a book solely for the content.

    The 48 Laws of Power. Choose one --

    Law 3

    Conceal your Intentions

    Keep people off-balance and in the dark by never revealing the purpose behind your actions. If they have no clue what you are up to, they cannot prepare a defense. Guide them far enough down the wrong path, envelope them in enough smoke, and by the time they realize your intentions, it will be too late.

    Law 17

    Keep Others in Suspended Terror: Cultivate an Air of Unpredictability

    Humans are creatures of habit with an insatiable need to see familiarity in other people's actions. Your predictability gives them a sense of control. Turn the tables: Be deliberately unpredictable. Behavior that seems to have no consistency or purpose will keep them off-balance, and they will wear themselves out trying to explain your moves. Taken to an extreme, this strategy can intimidate and terrorize.

    Press on. Happy weekend and do everything you can, whatever it takes.

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  • Integrate Life, The Renaissance Way

    edited by Alexander Becker

    Integrate everything with everything else. Circles of peers and friends, knowledge, skills.

    Integrate all planes of life. Short-circuit your output and discover and follow universal principles.

    The Renaissance Spirit

    When someone is called a Renaissance Man today, it is meant that he does not just have broad interests or a superficial knowledge of several fields, but better that his knowledge is rather profound, and often that he also has proficiency or accomplishment in (at least some of) these fields, and in some cases even at a level comparable to the proficiency or the accomplishments of an expert.

    Historically (roughly 1450–1600) it represented a person who endeavored to develop his capacities as fully as possible (Britannica, "Renaissance Man") both mentally and physically. Being an accomplished athlete was considered integral and not separate from education and learning of the highest order.

    It seems to be important to make a distinction between the true reanaissance man and the so called "Jack of all trades" whose knowledge is merely superficial and doesn't stand the tests. Achieving proficiency is -- despite an often cited information overload -- still possible with the intelligent application of the principles of learning and triage, for example.

    Leonardo da Vinci

    A scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, painter, sculptor, architect, botanist, musician, poet and writer, Leonardo has often been described as the archetype of the "Renaissance man" or universal genius, a man whose seemingly infinite curiosity was equalled only by his powers of invention. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest painters of all time and perhaps the most diversely talented person ever to have lived.

    Infinite curiosity

    Strive for an olympic gold medal competing in decathlon and a nobel prize in science, for example. It's not about the actual medal or the nobel prize as rewards or recognition. It is the ability, the knowledge, and the excellence to get there. Be a scientist and an athlete.

    Integration

    The synthesis of knowledge is combining completely different fields, nourishing one another and generating ever escalating output. Creativity is a collateral of universal curiosity. You start to see connections all over the place, drawing conclusions will be inevitable and an endless set of stairs building on top of one another is your reward.

    Integrate it all, make it personal, even more so, mix personal and business, it's not a no-no if you really want it...

    I don't do it -- not often enough, not on all planes -- and I know that you don't integrate everything either. But just in case you wonder, that's the exact reason for things to fail or to not work out perfectly as intended.

    Integrate everything with everything else. Only then can you start to divide and rule.

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