This is a long read, but worth it. The ideas you’ll learn can change your life. They have definitely changed mine. A pdf with better formatting is a available here.
The Code of Redundancy:
Thriving in an Uncertain World
Introduction
Antifragility and the Importance of Redundancy
In his book Antifragile, Nassim Nicholas Taleb argues that there is a huge difference between natural systems and man-made systems, between lifeforms and machines. The world that nature presents us, contrasts with the technology we’ve invented. People are fundamentally different than their creations. Unexpected stress and volatility damage or break machines. We’re different. We learn from challenges and adversity stimulates us. Taleb calls this being Antifragile. What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.
Artificial systems differ from nature. Man-made systems were developed and mass produced within certain parameters. They have a specific, dedicated purpose and they don’t anticipate unknown stress. Technology falls apart under unforeseen strain. Nature is different.
Life in nature evolved over countless evolutionary cycles under changing conditions. Only those who could survive whatever life threw at them, thrived. Evolution has made Nature[1] robust. It anticipates stress, volatility and change. We who are here now are the survivors; we were forged by crises. Bring on life’s challenges, says Taleb; we were made for them.
What is the precise difference between the natural and the man made? What is the specific trait of nature that allows it to outperform under stress? Taleb posits redundancy[2]. Nature forecasts an unknown future and prepares for it by hammering out lifeforms that are overprepared. Man has two lungs. If one collapses, the other one is still running. When your head is forcefully held under water, your blood can rely on its oxygen reserve. This equips you to survive for many minutes, and to fight back. Man has a heart that can handle extremes, it’s ready to chase animals and people, and to run from them.
In the case of eyes, the redundancy[3] of having two eyes gives man an added bonus. The second eye gazes out of a separate location. The eyes have two separate and overlapping fields of vision. This creates the potential to see in three dimensions. The mind combines vision of both eyes, generating depth perception and taking in our 3-D world.
Let’s take Taleb’s redundancy idea a step farther. I propose that the extra-eye redundancy enables an enhanced human being. Two eyes do more than help you see better. They make you smarter.
Beyond Antifragility
A massive shift takes place when one sees the world in three dimensions. The world suddenly appears with more depth, nuance and complexity. Man gains new levels of cognitive possibilities. It can also save man from death by starvation.
Imagine trying to catch a ball when you can only see two dimensions. It’s hard. With depth perspective hunting suddenly becomes possible. In famine times, the ability to hunt would have saved people from starvation. But in order to successfully hunt, one must not only see in three dimensions, but calculate, calibrate and chase in 3-D.
Steve Sailor points out that for a running man[4] to hit a moving animal with a spear requires intense and precise visual-spatial calculation. One needs to visualize a three dimensional map in his mind as the variables are changing by the nanosecond. It follows that when nature prepared us for the unknown by providing us with two eyes, it enhanced not only our ability to recover from injury, but our ability to conquer the world[i] and engage in advanced mathematics. [5], [6]
Redundancy plays a huge role in our life. Its hard to imagine what life would be like without it. To see what that’s like, let’s take a look at Bob.
Bob – The Man Who Optimized (Lived Life Without Redundancy)
Bob the Bureaucrat[7] was a man to whom all rules and laws were set in stone and represented reality. He had a job interview at a tech firm scheduled for 9am. Bob looked on the MTA website and saw that the subway commute would take him exactly thirty minutes. Therefore Bob left his house at exactly 8:30am. Being New York, MTA Bureaucrats and Union Leaders had planned the exact number of trains needed for that hour. That day happened to be the birthday of the President of the Dominican Republic, who was visiting his people in New York. The platform was packed. The people crushed into the subway cars like cattle. Bob tried valiantly to get into the metal box packed tight with desperate Islanders, unsuccessfully. In the end Bob arrived at the meeting forty-five minutes late.
Bob never did get the job at that dynamic technology company. He had ideas about how the company should run which made logical sense, but didn’t fit the tech industry. He lacked the flexibility[8] to succeed in an ever changing entrepreneurial landscape. He became a Professor at Harvard, where he educated students about the inefficiencies of technology companies, how they should operate and how great and orderly the world would be if Bob ran it.
What is Bob missing? Why doesn’t he “get it”? What are the inner signals Bob should listen to in order to arrive on time to his interview?
Anxiety – An Crucial Inner Signal
We prepare for life’s variability by overcompensating. We allow extra commute time for an important meeting; we prepare savings for unanticipated needs; we keep our mouth shut so we don’t lose our job. By anticipating possibilities, we become ready for more than what is in front of our noses. Redundancy is preparation for the future we can’t accurately predict. This preparation allows us to thrive[9] as we are hit by life’s curve-balls.
But what about those times when we don’t prepare? What happens you want to give a piece of your mind to the truck driver who cut you off? If you don’t weigh the consequences, if you go berserk on the eighteen-wheeler, the driver may decide not to run over your car and slowly crush your head between the steering wheel and front seat[10]. You might get away with the truck in hot pursuit, but then again you might not. Something stops you from letting loose, anxiety[11].
We need anxiety. Our lives depend on it! Sometimes (especially when on recreational medication) we don’t listen to anxiety’s common sense prescriptions. Running in front of a fast moving bulldozer is not a good strategy to increase life expectancy. Never charge an armed police officer like a football player. If the housing market seems too good to be true, it probably is.
We prepare for the future by overpreparing, by practicing redundancy, by making sure we have more than enough of whatever we might need. Whether we need time (so we can walk to the train), preparing extra food when entertaining company[12] or keeping our opinion to ourselves when in front of truck drivers or the boss. Redundancy empowers us to thrive and to stay alive.
How much redundancy do we need in life? How much is to much? How can we calibrate our inner compass? Let’s take a look at the Anxiety-Optimization Continuum.
The Anxiety-Optimization Continuum
Anxiety tells us that now is the time to stop optimizing[13], to stop taking chances. It tells us to stop thinking[14] that we can predict the future in a specific subdomain[15]. We feel anxiety, reduce optimization, pull inward and develop resources. We overprepare, ensuring we can handle whatever the situation will throw at us.
You want to tell the Don that he should stop killing for a change and be nice to people. But then something stops you. You feel a nervous feeling in your throat and chest. Anxiety is coming to the surface. You’re not sure why, but you decide to keep quiet. If you had spoken, you have survived. The gentleman might have thanked you for the considerate feedback; but then again, you’re still alive.
There is a balance between anxiety/redundancy and optimization. Optimization occurs when we choose a goal and focus our energies on accomplishing it without distractions getting in the way. Optimization aims to eliminate anything necessary or wasteful. Anxiety produces the opposite effect. It tells us to slow down, to add redundancy, to allocate extra resources.
Extremes of either Optimization or Anxiety result in the job not getting done. To much optimization means that the slightest unexpected hiccup will throw the project off course. Since redundancy only productive under unforeseen circumstances, it follows that any unneeded redundancy is wasteful. To much anxiety/redundancy results in always preparing, and never being ready. See Figure 1 which gives examples of extremes and shows that balance is somewhere in between.
The anxiety-optimization continuum contains random sample illustrations. We see that too much anxiety is crippling and too much optimization leaves one vulnerable to be ripped open by the unexpected[16]. The ends of the spectrum (1 and 6) are insular and unproductive. The most healthy and effective are 3, 3.5, and 4.
Anxiety can often seem like a negative, uncomfortable emotion. But when balanced and natural[17] it can have some surprising positive results, including relaxation!
Anxiety Produces Relaxation
There is a time for anxiety, for preparation, for challenging our assumptions and convictions. However when we listen to anxiety and prepare for the future, this uncomfortable emotion produces its emotional opposite: relaxation. When we have anticipated contingencies; when we are ready for whatever comes our way; when we have food, shelter, clothing etc. and know that we are prepared for those unknowns the future has in store; at that moment anxiety has served its function and fades away. We become relaxed.
Anxiety is a necessary state of vigilance, of spending the moment preoccupied with concern for the future. But it is only when we listen to anxiety and proactively deal with our fears that we can let go. Relaxation is a state where we don’t need to worry about the future. When we feel relaxed, we can live in the present.
Anxiety Produces Curiosity
We’re proposing that anxiety can be an empowering emotion. Calibrated correctly, anxiety can prepare us for what’s to come, giving us the opportunity to organize and “set the stage” . This need to be concerned for unanticipated possibilities and to be prepared for them, inspires us to investigate the unknown. Temple Grandin notes that in animals[18] fear and curiosity are two sides of the same coin.
“What’s interesting about animals being curiously afraid is that it’s the fearful animals who are the most curious. You’d think it would be the exact opposite. A fearful prey animal like a deer or a cow ought to just get the hell out of there whenever it sees something strange and different [a possible deadly threat] that it doesn’t understand…
“But that’s not what happens. The more fearful the animal, the more likely he is to investigate…Curiosity and fear go together.[19]”
Lets apply this fear/curiosity concept to people. Imagine you heard a passionate pitch to invest ten thousand dollars in an unknown stock[20]. If this stock goes bust all your money is lost. Hopefully your curiosity will step in. Before you put any money down, you’ll want to investigate and discover everything you can about this stock. But let’s say you’re feeling lazy, or inspired. Perhaps someone made a very attractive pitch for this stock. A part of you wants to take the plunge. In this situation it would be a very bad thing to feel calm. Anxiety is there to paralyze you, to stop you from making a choice you’ll regret; to make you do your research before taking the plunge[21].
It seems we have two possible ways of addressing unknown possibilities. We can be pro-active. We take action to face and take-on life’s unknowns. If we do not take proactive steps, our body has another mechanism to light the fire under us: anxiety.
Redundancy – Discovering Strengths We Never Knew We Had
Have you ever prepared for something important; a speech, an interview, a proposal? You prepared and rehearsed over and over again. During that time you might have noticed that your speech was becoming more polished and that you came up with original ideas to enhance your presentation. When something is important to us, we prepare and overprepare. We want to make sure that we get things exactly right. Now is not the time to optimize, it is the time to arrive extra early. Many times overpreparing (redundancy) produces unexpected benefits.
I remember when my friend Jake was preparing to propose to his girlfriend Rachel. Jake was nervous. He didn’t want to mess up. He wanted not just to ask, but to WOW. Jake was so nervous he kept on practicing over and over again. I noticed that as he practiced, he kept on adding little tweaks to the proposal. Sometimes he’d have a flash of inspiration. In the end the proposal was awesome!Jake swept Rachel off her feet. I realize now that Jake, by practicing over and over again, by employing redundancy, discovered within himself, a proposal he never knew existed.
When we optimize in order to achieve our aims, the goal is allotted the exact amount of time, energy and money projected, nothing more. Even if we achieve the deadline, there is no time to enjoy the process, to review and repeat until we are comfortable and satisfied. Redundancy can add enjoyment and quality to our life.
When a play is designed with redundancy, the actors have the time to immerse themselves in their role, adding nuance and sophistication to their acting. When having an important conversation, alloting it more time than necessary will ensure that the conversation is unrushed, that both people feel heard and give the time and space for genuine sharing. When a difficult decision comes up, giving it extra time (redundancy) and applying relaxation, allows the dillema to untangle itself. Sleeping on a decision allows us to wake up refreshed and to approach the confusing choice with a newfound perspective and resolve.
Redundancy allows us to make better decisions and produce unanticipated innovation and creativity. Perhaps more importantly, redundancy allows us to feel confident, unrushed, relaxed and in control.
Listening to Anxiety
We often see anxiety as something that is holding us back. Without our anxiety we would be more successful, popular, happy; the list goes on. If we could get rid of this emotion, things wouldn’t get in our way, we would be so much more efficient.
Redundancy[22] opens up a new way to engage this vexing emotion. Anxiety compels us to prepare for the alternate possibilities. It forces us to doubt our predictions and our overconfidence. Anxiety informs us that something requires redundancy, a redundancy of focus and a redundancy of options. It’s screaming out to us “Let go of your confidence and OVERPREPARE!!!”.
When our mind wont listen, when it can’t open itself up to uncertainty, when we refuse to accept vulnerability in the face the unpredictable, Nature kicks in with its back up plan, anxiety. Nature says “Despite your arrogant tunnel vision, I’m going give you a dose of anxiety, the very emotion that allowed your ancestors to survive in an uncertain world.”
Anxiety is like a blaring alarm, screaming to us, “Stop!” Stop your narrow-minded self-absorbed dream state. Leave your dark room. Wake up! Open your eyes, see the sunlight. Allow the outside world to enter your inner shrine and permeate your consciousness. We need an intense, unpleasant sensation to shock us into respecting the perilous world around us.
Can you have to much anxiety? A harsh word from a boss or the judgment of a stranger, can send our anxiety spiking. The “what if’s” and “maybe’s” of the incoming future can send us into paralyzing self-doubt.
Anxiety, like the rest of our emotional tools needs to be calibrated. Those with extreme doses of anxiety spend life trapped in fears and phobias. Every little noise can make them jump. To much anxiety leads to a life that is so safe and redundant, it’s dangerous[ii].
To little anxiety leads to the opposite problem. We jump into danger, we bite off more than we can chew. Without enough anxiety, we lose jobs, destroy friendships and resist arrest when surrounded by six menacing cops. We need just right amount of fear. Anxiety prevents us being tackled or tasered, keeps us alive and empowers us to enjoy life.
In life we often imagine that we can control the world around us. We think we can set up boundaries and blinders to protect us from the outside world. Huddling in our walls, we create a reassuring micro-climate. Within this box of preconceived notions, we know what to expect. Everything is orderly and tame.
We are prophets of self-indulgence. We don’t want anything to change. Life’s hints contrary to our grandiose wishes are “safely” ignored. Anxiety is the antidote; the harsh treatment that breaks us out of life-threatening self-absorption.
If we are feeling anxious, it might be a hint to correct overconfidence. We often think we know what we don’t know. The future is opaque. Our boxed-in plans aren’t dealing with reality. Prediction can harm us through overcomplacency. We are not prepared to see our vision punctured by uncomfortable truths, to behold our insulating walls come crashing down. In Jericho, only the prostitute[iii] knew that security was a sham and that unknown visitors could change her life in unexpected and deadly ways. The rest of the city was left exposed to what Taleb calls the “black swan” the unexpected life changing event.
Anxiety tells us more than to deal with a particular truck driver by overcompensating. It tells us that our insulated models for life are not working. It wakes us up, forces us to take our head out of the sand. Listening to anxiety means acknowledging our limitations and our vulnerabilities. It means embracing the future, being open and exposing our minds and emotions to the unknown.
Anxiety pushes us to add redundancy to our lives. But we can make this choice without our emotions browbeating it into us. We can chose to live with and value redundancy.
Conclusion – Humility and Trust
One should not mistake The Code of Redundancy for living life in an armored bunker, defending ourselves from the wold around us. The goal is not to be protected from all possible threats. The message of this essay is that we are provided with an inner voice, an inner guide. In the form of anxiety and other emotions[23], we are taught the wisdom of redundancy, and when to utilize it.
In our age, we are bombarded from all sides with optimization. Our culture prompts us to disregard essential redundancies. Instead of saving and preparing for a rainy day, we live in a credit card culture of spend, spend, spend. We get just enough sleep, if we’re lucky. Instead of a good nights rest to fortify ourselves for the coming day, we optimize with a caffeine high. Instead of removing stresses from our life, we medicate them away. Instead of a relaxed life, a life with redundancy and provision, we optimize and break down.
This essay argues that our inner signals can guide us. Our body possesses tools to steer us in the right direction. To go on this path, we must change our paradigm. Redundancy must be legitimized. We must have the humility to accept that we cannot forecast the future, that there are forces beyond our control or prediction. This knowledge and acceptance empowers us to trust our inner voices, to accept redundancy.
In a world of redundancy, we can approach our aspirations with humility, realizing that we are not infallible, that we don’t know what the future will bring[24]. We understand the need to show extra politeness and deference to those around us (truck drivers, bosses, friends, family). We act with greater self-control and restraint. Knowing that our plans are not perfect, inspires us to prepare for the unexpected. We give more, because we don’t know when we’ll need to ask for help. We save more, learn more, sleep more and love more. We are invigorated and curious. We discover strengths we never knew we had. Unrushed, the world becomes a fascinating place. The Code of Redundancy empowers us to thrive in an uncertain world.
The Code of Redundancy (Applying Redundancy to One’s Life):
- Relationships –Building relationships that will last in good times and bad times
- Sleeping well –Waking up and facing the day with mental agility and fortitude
- Time –Making time to do things right, being unrushed.
- Emotional Awareness –Listening to one’s inner signals
- Self-Confidence –Believing and loving oneself (even when we make mistakes)
- Self-Control –Ability to delay gratification and to have desires instead of needs
- Relaxation –Rejuvenate, recharge, refill the tank
- Reflection –Processing our world to learn and change
- Flexibility –Provides multiple options to approach situations
- Forgiveness –Accepting that people make (unanticipated) mistakes
- Diversified Skills –Ability to adapt to new workplace demands and jobs
- Diversified Savings –Resilience to income shifts and losses, more than one credit line
- History –Those who understand the past can are prepared for the present
- Preparation for Crisis – Supply of water, food and flashlights; 72 hour survival kit; cash extra gasoline in the tank
[1]Nature in this essay refers to the world and life specifically, before man begins to tinker with it. The body’s immune response is nature’s method of dealing with a bacterial threat. In contrast, antibiotics are a man made tool. (One could contrast penicillin “in the wild” (the fungus that kills bacteria) with penicillin that has been extracted by scientists and drug companies to make antibiotics).
[2]Dictionaries provides many definitions of redundancy. Most appear to share a core definition, presented from different perspectives. This essay employs the definitions “duplication or repetition…to provide alternative functional channels in case of failure” or “the provision of a duplicate system or equipment as a backup”. (As opposed to “unnecessary repetition” and “something redundant or excessive; a superfluity”.)
[3] “Redundancy is ambiguous because it seems like a waste if nothing unusual happens. Except that something unusual happens—usually…‘Inefficient’ is often very efficient.” ” (Taleb)
[4]Sailor suggests that since the men were doing the hunting, this explains why man tend to score one standard deviation higher than women on visual-spatial tests. Perhaps the women, who did not participate in hunting developed more specialized social intelligence.
[5]“Albert Einstein stated that he always thought about anything in terms of mental pictures and that he used words in secondary capacity only. In the field of mathematics, some mathematicians have claimed that all mathematical tasks require spatial thinking. Indeed as early as 1935 H. R. Hamley, an Australian mathematician and psychologist, wrote that mathematical ability is a compound of general intelligence, visual imagery, and ability to see number and space configurations as mental pictures.” (http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00311060#page-1)
[6]Consider taking this idea a step farther. What if the brain created redundancy (backup systems) in case disease or breakdown occur? This might have unintended benefits. People are often able to function with part of their brain disabled. This means that the brain has developed redundant systems (like having two eyes). What if these redundant systems (extra brainpower should some systems fail) happened to enhance intelligence?
[7]Bureaucrat: One who works by fixed routine without exercising intelligent judgment. (Definition by James Macmillan) In high school and college, Bob was a great student. In a controlled environment he felt comfortable.
Bureaucrats are often created by top-down systems (governments, large corporations, schools, armies). In these systems, individual input and confrontation with reality is not important. As a cog in the system, the overall success or failure of the organization will have little meaning. A successful person is one who obeys the rules. These environments breed an arrogant individual lacking independent thought, flexibility and adaptability. The bureaucrat listens to the rules, not his inner signals (see 1984 by George Orwell). He thinks in a proscribed straight line. Emotions, inner voice or anxiety are ignored. They don’t steer or deter him. When the bureaucrat is outside of the regimented, structured, dictated system, everything falls apart. He has not developed his inner compass.
[8]Bureaucracies, due to their lack of flexibility and inability to perceive and adapt, must create super-redundancies; much greater than necessary for real life; often these redundancies are of the “preparing for the last war” variety. (Think the Manigot Line, a line of French fortresses bordering Germany that extended over twelve miles deep. This fortification required funding and resources that left the rest of the French Army undermanned and underfunded. In the end, the Germans attacked from elsewhere, conquering France and rendering the Manigot Line useless.) Bob’s older brother James was a chessmaster. In real life, he could not calibrate an appropriate amount of redundancy. James would make sure to be no less than twenty minutes early to any engagement. If he ever sensed he was the slightest bit late, he would get super-anxious. This rigidity didn’t allow any nuance to enter his perspective.
[9]Having options means possessing flexibility, autonomy and range of choices. Thus redundancy generates flexibility, fluidity, the ability to change and out-of-the-box thinking.
[10]L.S. Mancini discusses a pitfall of developing medication to completely remove anxiety: “If we did not have anxiety – specifically, the fear of getting killed – what would prevent us from driving our cars into the oncoming traffic?”
[11]Anxiety allows you to do the smart thing; to wait till your at a safe distance, then call that number on the back of his truck called “How’s My Driving”. (The “How’s My Driving” sign was probably developed by anxious truck companies.)
[12]The Talmud tells the story of a Rabbi did not study the story of Jacob meeting Esav, and therefore made a mistake when dealing with the Romans. He did not prepare enough food (redundancy) for the Roman officials and therefore placed a bar of gold on one officials plate. I don’t recall if this Rabbi was executed. (I could not recall the source, let me know if you find it.)
[13]Optimizing means giving something the effort, energy or time projected, but not a drop more. The system or task which is optimized is now efficient. Anything extra, superfluous or redundant is discarded as wastful. But optimization has a downside. If the unexpected should arise, one is not prepared. Optimization, by discarding redundancy, can’t deal with change.
Bob the bureaucrat needs to drive home. He calculates using advanced mathematics, the exact amount of gas needed to get home. He has optimized. This worked for two weeks and three days. Then there was traffic jam (the unexpected). Bob got stuck on the side of the road.
[14]Anxiety can compel us to develop redundancies on a purely emotional level. It can also compel us to change our thinking process. Instead of thinking about and convincing ourselves how much we know, anxiety can push us to think about what we don’t know, to plan for a future we have not predicted, and to rationally prepare.
[15]Bus drivers or bosses
[16]This footnote explains number 5 in the anxiety-optimization continuum. When Bush confidently led the invasion of Iraq, America was not prepared for the many surprises and unknowns it discovered (for example: ISIS). The designer of the twin towers made them strong enough to withstand “a Boeing 707 weighing 336,000 pounds and carrying 23,000 US gallons of fuel impacting the 80th floor of the buildings at 600 miles per hour.” The planes that hit the twin towers were Boeing 767’s, planes that were produced subsequently. They are about 20% larger than the the Boeing 707.
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collapse_of_the_World_Trade_Center, http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/factsheet/wtc_faqs_082006.cfm, and http://permanent.access.gpo.gov/lps18973/fema-403-wtc.pdf
[17]Temple Grandin notes that in animals, fear/anxiety is calibrated to both keep them safe and allow them to live a normal life: “A herd of antelope won’t show the tiniest concern about a pride of lions sunning themselves not too far away. When you observe these animals you see that prey animals are very aware of whether or not a predator is stalking them…We have a lot of evidence that animals are put together in such a fashion that they have a good choince of not getting frightened any more than they have to. Nature seems to have tried to wire animals and people to have useful emotions…Emotions keep us alive by letting us make good predictions about the future, and good predictions let us make good decisions about what comes next.” (Animals in Translation p.206)
[18]While animals don’t have anxiety in the same way people do, I’m proposing that what Temple Grandin refers to as fear is a close enough analog to anxiety.
[19]From Temple Grandin’s fascinating book Animals in Translation p.222
[20]Or join the military or make a major life change.
[21]Dr. Sobo describes how a patient when given an antidepressant lost his financial anxiety. Dr. Sobo refused to allow him to risk his inheritance while the medication was reducing his anxiety: “On an SSRI Mr. Q, a 27 year old car mechanic with an Ivy League degree, decided to quit his 9-5 job as well as his part time band (which all along he had considered not up to his talent level). He planned to use his inheritance and “go for it” as a singer. Was this realistic? I suppose it depends on his talent, connections, and luck. He had previously been cautious about his inheritance (one million dollars from his grandfather) recognizing that it was a one-time thing and was his only hope for financial security….Only after Mr. Q decided he was going to use his inheritance to develop a solar car did I feel forced to act. He was not manic or hypomanic. He was calm and sleeping well. But he was about to gamble with his future financial security, possibly on the basis of a drugged state. When advised he would have to stop the SSRI, so that he could review without medication his solar power car investment, he stopped therapy and went to a different doctor.” http://simonsobo.com/pursuing-treatments-that-are-not-evidence-based
[22]Redundancy is defined here as overpreparing, overcompensating, saving, having options… This “more than seemingly necessary” preparation means that one is prepared should the unanticipated happen.
[23]Temple Grandin asserts that many emotions serve to help us understand the world around us and prepare us for the future. “A healthy animal is the exact opposite of an emotionl blank, and he makes sound, emotion-based decisions all the time. He has to; otherwise he’d be dead. The single most important thing emotions do is allow him to predict the future…Hunger makes you get up off your comfy seat..and go find something to eat…Hunger isn’t just a motivator of action, it’s also a pedictor of the future. Your body doesn’t wait until the last possible minute to get hungry. Instead you get hungry long before you’re in danger of running out of the energy you need to keep on finding and consuming food. Hunger is an early warning system…Emotions don’t just give you motivation; they give you information–information about the future and what you need to do about it. (Animals in Translation p.201)
[24]Abraham
is described by the Midrash as “saying little and doing much” and contrasted
with those who “say much and do little”. By factoring redundancies into his
plans, Abraham never made a promise he couldn’t keep and often delivered much
more than he offered.
[i]When nature prepared us for the unknown by providing us with two eyes, it enhanced not only our ability to recover from injury, but our ability to conquer the world. Sailor brings a quote from Cochran and Harpending that the animals that survived must have evolved to deal with more advanced humans “Africa, where the big game had a chance to adapt as mankind gradually became formidable hunters and thus managed to survive until today.”
[ii]To much anxiety leads to a life that is so safe and redundant, it’s dangerous. Eric Hoffer in his book The True Believer posits that the current social order is maintained due to fear of change. Perhaps he alludes to an underlying anxiety that paralyzes both the rich and the poor. It keeps them safe from change:
“The self-confidence of even the consistently successful is never absolute. They are never sure that they know all the ingredients which go into the making of their success. The outside world seems to them a precariously balanced mechanism, and so long as it ticks in their favor they are afraid to tinker with it…
Discontent by itself does not invariably create a desire for change. Other factors have to be present before discontent turns into disaffection. One of these is a sense of power.
Those who are awed by their surroundings do not think of change, no matter how miserable their condition. When our mode of life is so precarious as to make it patent that we cannot control the circumstances of our existence, we tend to stick to the proven and the familiar. We counteract a deep feeling of insecurity by and the familiar. We counteract a deep feeling of insecurity by making of our existence a fixed routine. We hereby acquire the illusion that we have tamed the unpredictable. Fisherfolk, nomads and farmers who have to contend with the willful elements, the creative worker who depends on inspiration, the savage awed by his surroundings—they all fear change. They face the world as they would an all-powerful jury. The abjectly poor, too, stand in awe of the world around them and are not hospitable to change. It is a dangerous life we live when hunger and cold are at our heels. There is thus a conservatism of the destitute as profound as the conservatism of the privileged, and the former is as much a factor in the perpetuation of a social order as the latter.”
To much anxiety is paralyzing both for an individual and for a society.
[iii]In Jericho, only the prostitute knew that security was a sham and that unknown visitors could change her life in unexpected and deadly ways. Note that the story (Joshua Chapters 2-5) calls Rachav a prostitute four times. Two of the times she is mentioned as “Rachav The Prostitute”, the other times she is called “(The) Woman, The Prostitute”. The narratives emphasis on her self-selecting profession might explain her defection to the Alien Israelite Conquerors; her ability to be concerned that her armed and walled city together with its allies would be destroyed, and make a snap decision to switch allegiance.
Consider this parable. An invading army with overwhelming numbers and advanced technology is scheduled to invade a city in one week. They plan to wipe out all the inhabitants. The invaders send out two pairs of spies. Here is their story:
The first pair of spies comes across Roko The Mercenary. Roko is a killer for hire. He sells his services to the highest bidder. Roko can turn in the spies, get them executed and win himself a nice bounty. Since Roko The Mercenary has been schooled (street life) in practical game theory (street smarts) and knows how to swim with the tide, he realizes he would be better off making a deal with the spies and having the invading army spare him and his family.
The second group of spies comes across Bob The Bureaucrat (IRS agent, Harvard Professor, DMV Professional…). Bob The Bureaucrat obeys the law without a second thought and turns in the spies. The spies are executed and a week later the city is overrun. Bob, his father, mother, sisters and his beloved cats are all killed by the sword.
Josh, the head of the invading army would like to impale Roko’s head on a pike for living a life of depravity and for being a member of the conquered city. But since “Roko The Mercenary” saved the spies life, Josh spares Roko The Mercenary.
