发展思考的方式

这是一篇读书摘要汇总("The Art of Doing Science and Engineering: Learning to Learn")

写这篇文章的灵感来自于之前读Richard Hamming"The Art of Doing Science and Engineering: Learning to Learn". 书的内容来自于他给美国海军的一系列讲座集合, 之后整理成书. 书中Hamming有非常多精彩的观点,但是看书有一个问题就是到最后很难提炼成自己的东西, 所以这种好书就需要时间去吸收, 看完不是结束, 而是行动的开始. 这里选取了十五句本书对我最有影响的话.

Quote1.

“In science, if you know what you are doing, you should not be doing it. In engineering, if you do not know what you are doing, you should not be doing it.” - P49

工程和科学应该有清晰界定的范围, 对于实现工程, 很多时候会参杂着research. 但是要界定research的范围. 应该是在已知面(不应跳进未知领域的坑) 进行探索. 此外, 在工程中未知因素越多, 出问题可能性越大, 应当越简洁越好.

Quote2.

“I believe the best predictions are based on understanding the fundamental forces involved, and this is what I depend on mainly.” - P51

技术和时代变化如此剧烈的现在, 更应该总结和思考什么是基础因素.

Quote3.

“ so long as it takes you to greatness, is none of my business. You must, as in the case of forging your personal style, find your vision of your future career, and then follow it as best you can. No vision, not much of a future.” - P56

尝试制定并不断修正自己的计划. 才能让未来尽可能的与计划相接近.

Quote4.

“The people at the bottom do not have the larger, global view, but at the top they do not have the local view of all the details, many of which can often be very important, so either extreme gets poor results.” - P77

底层视野(执行层)和顶层视野(规划层)都很重要. 盲目的只注重哪一个方面都不会有好结果.

Quote5.

“I suggest you must rethink everything you ever learned on the subject, question every successful doctrine from the past, and finally decide for yourself its future applicability. The Buddha told his disciples, “Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.” I say the same to you—you must assume the responsibility for what you believe.” - P82

批判性思维, 足够清晰的了解问题才能最好的解决问题. 清晰的了解问题必须要经过独立思考的这个过程.

Quote6.

“Mathematics is the language of clear thinking.” - P625

下一次遇到了不清晰的问题可以尝试用数学的方式描述出来.

Quote7.

“What you did to become successful is likely to be counterproductive when applied at a later date.” - P713

不断的反思过去的行为, 然后加以学习总结以及改正.

Quote8.

“If you optimize the components, you will probably ruin the system performance.” - P752

部分最优不代表系统最优, 系统工程学的观点. 吴军也讲到过.

Quote9.

“You get what you measure” - Chapter29 Title

生活无法在没有指标的方面取得进步.

Quote10.

“In planning to change yourself clearly, the old Greek saying applies: “Know thyself.” And do not try heroic reformations which are almost certain to fail. Practice on small ones until you gradually build up your ability to change yourself in the larger things. You must learn to walk before you run in this matter of being creative, but I believe it can be done.”

改变是从非常微小且具体的步骤开始.

Quote11.

“Why are you not working on and thinking about the important problems in your area?” If you do not work on important problems, then it is obvious you have little chance of doing important things.” - P808

只有在重要的领域研究重要的问题才能取得重要的结果.

Quote12.

“intellectual investment is like compound interest: the more you do, the more you learn how to do, so the more you can do, etc”

掌握尽可能多的问题模型, 收益会体现在以后的问题上面.

Quote13.

“There is another trait of great people I must talk about—and it took me a long time to realize it. Great people can tolerate ambiguity; they can both believe and disbelieve at the same time. You must be able to believe your organization and field of research is the best there is, but also that there is much room for improvement! You can sort of see why this is a necessary trait. If you believe too much, you will not likely see the chances for significant improvements; if you do not believe enough, you will be filled with doubts and get very little done, chances are only the 2%, 5%, and 10% improvements.”

辩证思考, 至少需要同时看待事物的两个方面.

Quote14.

“All three are essential—you must learn to sell your ideas, not by propaganda, but by force of clear presentation. I am sorry to have to point this out; many scientists and others think good ideas will win out automatically and need not be carefully presented. They are wrong; many a good idea has had to be rediscovered because it was not well presented the first time, years before! New ideas are automatically resisted by the establishment, and to some extent justly.” - P822

清晰的表达比单纯只拥有一个好的点子更加重要.

Quote15.

“I believe it is—the chief gain is in the effort to change yourself, in the struggle with yourself, and it is less in the winning than you might expect. Yes, it is nice to end up where you wanted to be, but the person you are when you get there is far more important.”

相信并且观察和体会内在的变化.

积极不干预

如果在各大搜索网站上,搜索”积极不干预“. 那么搜索结果第一条一定是香港政府为了振兴经济所提出的"积极不干预政策". 点击高亮的字, 会进入维基百科官方的解释. 如果打开不方便的话, 这里将粘贴维基百科的一段内容.

有学者认为, 积极不干预应理解作“积极性”的不干预. 积极不干预意味基本上是要干预的; 若不干预, 必须要有正面而积极性的效果. 并指出, “港英年代的经济哲学一向是 最大的支持, 最小的干预. (maximum support,minimum intervention) ” - wiki

"不干预"好理解, 那么"积极"是什么意思呢? 实际上在看完维基百科的词条之后, 我还是不明白"积极"在这个语境里是什么意思. 之所以兴起而发写这篇文章的原因是因为某日在网上刷到一个视频, 标题叫"谷德昭 溝通能力 即時增值", 如标题所写, 这是一个关于沟通能力提升的视频. 相信如果不是资深一点的影迷, 应该是不会知道谷德昭这个人. 而且因为是香港人, 所以是用的粤语演讲. 这让不懂粤语的朋友更难看完整个视频. 况且关于沟通能力如何提升, 经典的资料比比皆是. 无非就是一些普遍的大道理, 大同小异. 那谷德昭又讲了什么呢? 整个视频我是没快进着看的, 最开始谷德昭讲的都是普遍性的道理. 直到他谈到了 "积极不干预". 他用政府的政策来类比与人沟通的方式. 道理也普通, 简单而言之就是抱着最"积极"的心态去沟通. 和"尽人事然后听天意"意思很类似. 但是态度不一样. "积极不干预" 指的是做好自己该做的部分, 然后用最积极的心态去想这件事. 积极的心态绝不是欺骗, 更多的是不活在"想象陷阱"当中. 往往很多时候, 我们是怕往前迈出一步就会跌掉. 在国际形势逐渐复杂的今日和信息过载的时代背景下, 能够保持这种心态的能力绝不是自然形成, 而是需要不断练习.

那么如果放在人际交往或者做事的角度上讲的话, 上面这句引用可以解读成这样:

积极不干预应理解作“积极性”的不干预. 积极不干预意味必须积极的做事; 若不干预, 必须要有正面而积极性的心态. 最大的努力, 最小的负面情绪. (maximum effort,minimum negative mindset)” - wiki

共勉.

时间杂想

开头

工作了几年发现大部分时候所指的”时间"并不是真正的时间. 什么意思呢? 我们需要的是 “有效工作时间" 而不是"无效时间". 在日常对话里面, 我们经常会说"时间不够“, "还有别的事“. 今天没睡好的话, 状态似乎就不在了. 昨天的账单还没处理了. 到了假期, 尽管我们有着相比于工作日更多的空闲时间. 但一个假期下来又经常感觉很多事都没做.

Time Formula

其实我们需要的"有效工作时间"是 可控制工作时间 x 精神状态系数(0-1) x 专注度系数(0-1). 这就像健身房力量训练一样, 就拿深蹲为例, 比如一个人的极限重量是100kg, 但由于Ta的精神状态不好, 状态掉10%. 因为训练安排导致神经激活度不够, 再掉10%. 那么实际上Ta那天是无法蹲起100kg重量. 回到刚刚的公式,一项一项定义, 我们的计量单位为 每天(24h). 在一天内,

可控制工作时间 = 24h - 休息时间(可能会赖床) - 吃饭时间(可能和他人一起吃) - 休息时间(可能要午睡) - 他人打扰时间(问题或者交流) - 厕所时间(可能喝水喝多了或者吃坏了东西) - 通勤时间(这里暂时假定通勤无法有效工作) - 陪xxx的时间(家人, 伴侣, 宠物等) - 刷视频媒体时间(大部分人应该会) - 其他杂项时间(...)

上面这个公式显而易见, 每一个被减项都是波动的, 会对我们一天内的"可控制工作时间"产生影响. 只不过要时时刻刻贯彻到自己的行为模式里就没那么容易.

精神状态系数 = 1 * 正常休息时间比例(0~1, 大于正常休息时间都为1,小于正常休息时间则为0到1的值) * 休息时间收益比(0~1, 可能因为楼上装修导致数值很低)

精神状态系数是一个0到1的值. 当值为1时, 代表有着最好的精神状态能够应对接下来的一天. 当值为0时, 意味着"身在曹营心在汉"和“心有余而力不足".

专注度系数 = 1 * 大脑激活程度(0~1, 可能会被天气, 环境等其他各种因素影响) * 专注于当下比例系统(0~1)

和精神状态系数一样, 专注度系数也是个乘法公式. 当专注度系数为1时, 意味着此时极度专注于当下, 达到所谓的"心流"状态. 而当数值为0时, 和精神状态系统为0一样, 大脑里面无法体验到当下时刻的美好.

有那么多因素可能会影响到"有效工作时间". 对于大部分人来说不可能每一项都顾及到. 如何通过最小行为代价来最大幅度提高"有效工作时间"呢?

Mind Like Water

Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water my friend. - Bruce Lee

上面这段话出自李小龙接受外国记者采访的语句. 如果在各大视频网站一搜很容易就能找到相关视频. 很多年前我就看到过, 但并没有太大的感悟. 在华人圈内, 李小龙为大众所出名的是他武术家的身份,但在西方世界里面,李小龙不仅是一位武术家也是一位哲学家. 但在中文世界里, 关于“李小龙哲学“的讨论寥寥无几. 这里不讨论李小龙哲学, 只讨论上面的引用对实际生活的意义. 我开始对李小龙的哲学产生好奇的原因是因为Joe RoganNaval Ravikant的一期博客. 在这篇博客里Joe问Naval推荐的书籍. Naval谈到了李小龙的"Striking Thought". 在"Striking Tought"里面有一句话,印象非常深刻.

Express your total presence from the root - "Striking Thought" p12, Bruce Lee

什么是root? 在这里李小龙指的是一颗没有附加想法,纯净的心.

The root in life. - Be aware of doing your best to under stand the ROOT in life and realize the DIRECT and the INDIRECT are in fact a complementary WHOLE. It is to see things as they are and not to become attached to any thing - to be unconscious means to be innocent of the working of a relative (empirical) mind - when there is no abiding of thought anywhere on anything - this is being unbound. This not abiding anywhere is the root of our life. - "Striking Thought" p11, Bruce Lee

因此在李小龙看来, 所有的行为都应该源自一颗没有附加想法,纯净的心. 在大部分的时候,我们都处于"自动"模式. 即依靠潜意识来行动. 而维持一颗没有附加想法,纯净的心一定需要有意识的参与,因为需要有意识帮助筛选掉无用的外部信息. 就像冥想一样. 没了解过的人会认为是放松练习,而实际上冥想需要高度集中的注意力.

Rule your mind or it will rule you. - Harace

一颗没有附加想法,纯净并且流动的心可以最大程度上的活在当下. 它不会去猜测形势, 不会去预测结果. 而是完全积极专注于当下的事情.

A Trusted System Outside Brain

在通俗的教育系统里, 往往考试成绩越高的学生脑子里记住的东西越多. 我们接受的教育提倡多"记住"东西在大脑里面. 但是记忆会随着时间淡去. 往往我们在以前看过有价值的书过了几年后就忘却了大半. 大脑是用来整合信息,而不是记住信息. 在著名的效率书籍"Getting Things Done"里阐述的观点,建立一个完全信赖的系统并将所有信息由系统管理,大脑对系统进行操作. 从而对事项推进. 正是所谓的 "Thinking Outside Brain".

结尾

实际上本文目前叙述的逻辑与GTD一致. 关于如何"Build A Trusted System" 这里不多做阐述. 在推荐阅读里面可以找到答案. 当然最终事事需亲为. 只有在实践当中才能达到最适合每个人的系统.

关于心的问题很多经典资料, 比如佛学, 佛学强调的也是一颗流动的心. 佛学不是"佛系",强调不是不做事,而是如何做事. 实际上很多哲学思想譬如李小龙哲学和阳明心学都深受佛学影响.

推荐阅读

  • 正见 by 宗萨蒋扬钦哲仁波切
  • Striking Thoughts by Bruce Lee
  • Getting Things Done by David Allen
  • How to Take Smart Notes by Sönke Ahrens
  • Building a Second Brain by Tiago Forte