Curious and fun

0:00 I think it's right to say that when you notice that something is not fun, but you want to learn it, that that's a signal. A signal of what? A signal perhaps to drop it for a time and come back to it later, when it might be fun again. We've all found this with mathematics, surely. Well, perhaps not all of us. Perhaps the truly brilliant mathematicians of the world are just those people who find it absolutely thrilling almost all the time to do the mathematics, in the same way that many of us become addicted to reading certain books, playing certain computer games, driving certain cars. Whatever the thing is that you find really, really, really, really fun is the thing that these super mathematicians and super physicists find about those areas, those academic areas that are prized so highly. They really do find it fun just that often.

0:53 So how do we go about changing this whole view of learning? That at any point during the learning process you should feel as if you need to discipline yourself, coerce yourself, sit down and force yourself to do the thing. You have to find what the problem is that you're solving. There has to be some reason there that you're doing the thing. Now you might just say, "Well, fun all on its own can be enough." Not really. You have to be curious in the first place. There has to be a reason for the fun. Now why do you want to learn this piece of mathematics? Well, maybe because it helps you understand a piece of physics. And maybe you want to learn that piece of physics because you're really curious about how the world works ultimately. And so you need to keep bringing it back to, "I'm not just learning this thing for some abstract reason, but I'm trying to solve my problem. I'm curious about this thing."

1:45 Now you might say, "But I'm not curious about this thing, so I've got to force myself through." And yeah, that's where I can have a meeting of minds with people who think that coercion somehow, at the moment, we don't know how to solve it. Because my own experience is that I can find something initially boring and don't want to do it, but if I force myself just for a moment, minutes, maybe up to an hour, then suddenly I find that I crest the hill. And once you crest the hill, it's hard to get up to the top of that hill. Then once you do, it's like a roller coaster. And suddenly you're going down and you're having fun. And that's what some people might need to do. Try a little bit hard until you find why it is that this thing's interesting. And then suddenly it becomes fun and the coercion has been left behind. But I don't know how to get over that first hump, but that's sometimes what people need, perhaps, to do.

2:36 Coerce for a little bit, in the same way that the roller coaster is a little bit difficult to deal with on the way up, but it's really fun once you get to the top. Yeah, that's an excellent point. You still have to push yourself to learn the things that you don't want to, especially when they are relevant to the things that you are curious about. Because you might be interested in Bitcoin or physics, but you might not understand cryptography or mathematics. You have to edge closer towards those areas that are difficult to understand the areas that you're curious about. The better you become at something, the more fun it is. Just like playing video games.

3:25 The better you get at them, the more you enjoy them and the more addicted you become. So there definitely is a necessity to push yourself. But when you push yourself without attaching it to curiosity, to that natural curiosity, then that's when it starts feeling like school and it's too coercive. So you're right. We can't just throw discipline out of the window. It's certainly a must, but it has to fit in with the rest of the picture. And sometimes walking away for a little bit is the best way. Coming back, you know? Cycles. That's also why I kind of enjoy procrastinating sometimes. Because I can procrastinate on something and do something else and go back and forth. You know, it gives me a chance to take a breather while still stimulating my mind doing the other thing.

4:21 What are the curious people? Entrepreneurs tend to be some of those. And Hampus Jakobsen is definitely one of them. That's why I also named my podcast episode where I talk with him Curious Angel. He has invested in over 100 companies. He's a very successful angel investor. Now a VC and a wonderful human being. So if you actually want to get a little bit of a background of Hampus, maybe check out my episode. He's been in a lot of podcasts. He's been on the air just as well. And I invited him on Chit Chat. So he is here now in the air chat. So hopefully we can have more talks with him. Who are these people who are doing new things all the time? I would argue these are, number one, practical scientists who rather than just talking are making new discoveries in their field.

5:14 Following their genuine intellectual curiosity and exploring new things. Second are artists, rebellious artists. Not ones who are going out and writing the same book over and over. Or in sequels or painting the same style. But who are always trying new genres, new styles, new books, new topics. And then finally entrepreneurs who are building new things all the time. Who are trying to solve unsolved problems. So if you are a doer who is constantly doing new things, then I think you're on the fastest learning curve possible. And this is very evident if you look at the career of Miles Davis. And how his music is always so... Always so refreshing. Always new. And how he actually reinvented himself. And also needed to find new fans or people who listen to him almost every decade.

6:07 And it was also painful for him if you look. It was not obvious and evident that he will find a new audience and he will still become someone. But I don't think he really cared. He really wanted to discover and do new stuff. What are some examples of artists who are doing new things? Yes, examples of other artists like this are Picasso, Madonna, U2, Paul Simon. Always reinventing themselves. Always doing new styles, new genres, new things. And there are many, many, many more. And in entrepreneurship you can see Steve Jobs having done Apple, Pixar, Next, Apple again. Elon Musk doing SpaceX, Tesla, Twitter. Probably an AI company, boring company, etc. So the great people just keep moving. They're always discovering. They're always creating. They want to stay on the edge of the learning curve. John Coltrane was always in the leading edge of music, creativity and exploration.

7:00 And this documentary is a good testament to his giant steps. And if an artist has a particular sound, so can have recordings. And Blue Note is a famous label for jazz. And this is the man behind. A lot of famous albums. I also want to share a curious fact which I learned one year ago. I read a great book which is called Eating to Extinction. And the author introduced for the first time, to me at least, the Hadza people. They are hunter-gatherer, indigenous group in Tanzania. And they still continue living them and following the tradition. How many of you have heard of this?

7:51 Basically, they still continue living in the woods. And they feed themselves by farming, hunting and foraging. Their bodies tall and fit and they are able to jump high and climb trees. Which us in modern life are unable to do this, I think. And actually this fascinates me a lot as we compare with our modern world. There are also some studies. Which shows their health is very good and not affected by diabetes or other cholesterol and so on. And I'm very happy to know about this indigenous group. And they are still following tradition. So I wanted to share this curious fact here. What makes DOS so great?

8:41 After all, where does the name The Door come from? It comes from Aldous Huxley's book, The Door is a Perception. And that comes from a line by William Blake. If the doors of perception were cleansed, man would see things as they are... Infinite. They are really historically literate. They know where they're coming from. They know their music. They know their poetry. They are just on the edge of the society as they're doing things. It's the combination of these two things together.