Ah, how does the world function?

7 min readNov 2, 2020

HELL-Obvious! You’re here to consume answers,
And I’m here to share what I have.

It only makes sense that I speak the same language people best understand. From what I’ve gathered, it includes humour as a prime constituent. (even though it has a composite number of letters in it :)

Another is the use of metaphors. Taking to a broader level would be through, the use of frameworks.

The article speaks just one singular concept (along with its few corollaries )

The world, I guess functions in the framework of,

You work as input, gets you money as the desired output
You eat food as input, gets you energy
You read an article as input, gets you thoughts and actions as output

All agree? Alright, folks that's the simple fundamental concept.
Below are the few corollaries that were quite intriguing to me.

1. Hard Work VS Smart Work

Tonnes of times we see people working extremely hard for something, yet don't get the desired output.

Simple catch:

Hard work is giving loads of inputs to the processor, and expecting desired outputs
Smart Work is giving the RIGHT set of inputs

2. The World is a noisy place

The Internet has brought the world together and brought a major decentralization of information. Also, it has given voice to everyone to speak, share.
However,

We are becoming a consumption-based society. Movies, Songs, Videos, Social Media, Books. The more I think, the more obvious that the majority of my day is spent in consumption of the worldly resources.
As a kid, even when I had too many wonders left to explore, I could focus on things. One thing at a time. Now not so much. Still feel many wonders left to be explored, but cannot focus on one thing.

Long story short;
Too many inputs. Noisy world.
Harder to know crucial ones, harder to process, hence eventually harder to give the best outputs.

Meaning,
one that has the filter these noisy inputs, who has FOCUS, will thrive
one who is able to provide this filter will be worshipped

3. Abilities are either Analytical/ Creative

Any skills other than this would inevitably fall under either or the intersection of these. Because we are essentially, causal beings.
We exist, and we output — only based on the inputs we get and the way they are processed.

There are only 2 areas in which abilities can be categorised;
- input gathering, processing
- output generation

The inputs are either:
- direct inputs: ones which individual collects by himself; skills, people and world interactions, or
- indirect inputs: genetic factors, family privileges, luck

So coming back,
analytical abilities mean
- skills to analyze the past. Learning from the mistakes, make sure not to repeat
- deriving results that may predict the future

creative abilities mean
- skills that enable to process the inputs and create what's desired
(Think of it like the guy we all know who can just “gets things done”)

Okay, Anuj, I kinda understood the sense. But don't you think “creativity” has more to do with artistic/literary aspects than just “creation”?

Of course yes!
for anything to attach the adjective of “creative”, it needs to output something. Now art/paintings/poetry/movies are forms that literally showcase the very same outputs that are humans truly want to consume.
meaning,
we are really not looking out for an in-depth essay analysis of thrill. We just want to see Mission Impossible.

the one-liner you seek is,
the popular creative endeavors output inputs people truly, really want.

4. Cause of suffering

Well, not trying to requote Buddha here, but wanting to look at it through lens of our framework
As Buddha said, in his 4 Noble Truths,

DESIRE is the root of suffering.
Desire refers to craving pleasure, material goods, and immortality, all of which are wants that one can never be satisfied fully

The moment you sit in a car you always wanted, you see a new one; and you want that one!

Desire, is Wanting something. Now, one suffers from something when his WANTS are unfulfilled. His expectations are unfulfilled.
The obtained outputs are either unwanted or not enough.
Eg. A person suffers from his partner’s betrayal, a poor woman suffers from poverty

Speaking purely from our framework lens then, it would only mean that if the outputs are unwanted,

either the inputs are wrong, or
(Eg. the person’s interactions with the partner were submissive, being born in a poor family)
processing that went in the system is at fault
(Eg. the partner was flirtatious in nature, the woman’s children lost all the money in gambling)

What I really wanted to bring in here is,
we give inputs for desired output, and hence we naturally want them
Thus we suffer, as we expect

5. WHY am I not able to work from home?

This seems to be a prevalent question for a majority of the student community in these times. Schools, Colleges have shifted to online classes and the work done seems forced, and very minimally enjoyable.
And this is not just my experience, anyone who I’ve interacted with whether he’s a 9 pointer or not, there’s just some tension in the times. So, here’s what I think are the obvious reasons

Screentime has heightened
What we earlier used to ALONG WITH the OFFLINE classes(playing games, scrolling through pictures on social media), now we do it ALONG WITH ONLINE classes.
leading to cognitive, physical fatigue and the effects alongside.
I don’t know man, all I do is sit all day in front of my computer and get tired.
There’s no division
like earlier there was a division of work. I’ll eat in mess, work in a cafe/library/room (decreasing order of priority), sleep in my room.
Now, it’s a one-stop space for work, sleep, eat. And I gotta be honest, it looked lucrative and enjoyable earlier; Now? oh man, definitely not so.

But the major reason I feel we’re feeling lost is, I guess, the lack of closure with friends. Lack of human connectivity. Empirically, a lack of feedback.

Let me explain:

For you to be satisfied, you need pleasure. Pleasure is basically an extremely desirable output
On enquiring why do we like being with friends is, the majority would answer that the sheer presence of them, makes us feel good. There’d be jokes, trivial fights, discussions amongst many other things they do

What I really wanted to convey here is, we are giving out many inputs. Working from home, finishing assignments, projects and the list is on.
Since we’ve invested our inputs, we seek outputs.
It’s only natural that one expects. But we are not satisfied with the ones we get. Reason is the lost connectivity.

The closure of friends, the interactions we used to have earlier would give major feedback to us.

Interacting with a friend although as trivial as a quick hello, who’s been performing well in some aspect, gives a sense of inspiration; while with someone who’s on the same/low grounds as us, gives a sense of satisfaction
Don't get me wrong, this may come off as friends being “used” or “judged”. I’m not saying we do so willingly, I think of it as something we do unconsciously, naturally.
It enacts like feedback to ourselves, a sense of whether our taken direction is meaningful, whether it can be improved.

Think of it this way, if you’ve had a long, hard day and just finished one of your many assignments. Dead tired, you wonder what’s it even worth taking so many pains, why has this shitty virus spoiled my life…
and then you get a call from your friend.

And you rant about it together. All things, assignments/ projects, life and everything in between and not. You recall the times at hostel, birthdays, night outs, make plans post this era…

Feel better yet?
I thought so too :)