Yes, I tend to see “things in many things” through the lens of investment management, information processing, and the tendencies of behavioral bias. One Stewart Brand has written a newish book, The Maintenance of Everything. I present the following from his book as worth noting in this regard. Please note we are having a fine year to date and some of the darker passages hark to previous bouts of underperformance or off spreadsheet unpleasantry. But they are good to have around for the randomness of the future.
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The only way to overcome my present feeling of depression is to fully occupy myself, so I cleaned and served the remaining bottle screw threads and then gave all the servings a coat of Stockholm Tar. Next I polished the vents and gave them a coating of boiled oil. Whilst I had it out, I dabbed the oil on wire and rust patches. Doing maintenance work cures depression.
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Obsession with detail is a hallmark of the most successful maintainers. (If you just AI for answers, you will evolve into a being that really doesn’t understand how things work at all.)
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“Choose what is simple without hesitation; sooner or later, what is complicated will almost always lead to problems.” (I have always had a “Are we sure we shouldn’t just buy Tootsie Roll? as part of a decision-making process.)
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Just because this stinking sag-ass trash heap happens to have its cam in backwards, let us not lose our patience. Just because the God damned ball-breaking ass-licking rotten scum-bag of a pig fucker is eating me alive, driving me right into the ground from fatigue and drudgery and boredom and hate and despair. Patience.
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Another hang-up is anxiety. When you’re in a state of agitation, Pirsig writes, “you fix things that don’t need fixing and chase after imaginary ailments. You jump to wild conclusions and build all kinds of errors into the machine because of your own nervousness. To break the cycle, he advises first reading everything you can find that is relevant. It will be calming as well as helpful. Then, before you start the repair, map it all out on paper. As you keep adjusting the sequence of what you will do, ideas will come to you and your confidence will grow.”
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Diderot once remarked, “Only the rich can afford to be stupid; for others, ability is a necessity, not an option.”
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When speed is essential and information is limited, sustainers understand that “a decent plan carried out immediately is superior to a superb plan carried out much later.”(Easier done than said when NOT managing Berkshire Hathaway sized assets.”
