Strategic Seeing

Strategic Seeing

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Strategic Seeing
Strategic Seeing
Don’t Try To Turn Lead Into Gold

Don’t Try To Turn Lead Into Gold

Do you think about your thinking?

Svyatoslav Biryulin's avatar
Svyatoslav Biryulin
Dec 26, 2023
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Strategic Seeing
Strategic Seeing
Don’t Try To Turn Lead Into Gold
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“Thinking about thinking is the most important kind of thinking”

Category Pirates

Imagine you’re a captain of an ocean liner. Your crew is well-trained. The machinery in the hold of your ship is working perfectly. You’re an experienced sea wolf who steers the liner with a steady hand.

The only problem is your course is wrong. So, you’ll never bring your ship to its destination. 

Picture is generated by Dall-E 3

Ancient alchemists

Ancient alchemists believed all metals were composed of the same fundamental substance. But various metals, they thought, were at different stages of their ‘perfection’ towards the ideal form. And the ideal form was gold. 

So, they believed they could somehow change the structure of basic metals and turn lead into gold. They called it ‘transmutation.’ 

Alchemists weren’t mad scientists with messy hair. Sir Isaac Newton himself was an alchemist. Roger Bacon, a medieval English philosopher, was an alchemist too. 

They didn’t learn to turn lead into gold because it is im…

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