latticework and jenga, a perspective on independent thought

I thought I was an independent thinker because I put Ruffles in my egg salad sandwich.

You might listen to gangster rap on the way to your engineering gig and think you’re walking your own path.

I’m with you. Let that freak flag fly.

But is this independent thinking?

These actions buck the trend and defy stereotypes. But is it based on independent thought?

We are looking for the ability to analyze, evaluate, and form judgments without influence from external factors or personal biases.

If your ideas are independent from others and based on your own homework, that is an excellent start.

But the other piece is tricky. Independent from your own personal bias.

Independent from those other ideas you’ve got rattling around.

Latticework and Jenga:

With latticework, a mental model is weaved into others, creating a structure that is sturdier than the singular ideas on their own. Each person’s latticework is based on their own learning, an individualized point of view with its own independent aesthetic.

You learn the basics and build on those, weaving in resilient and flexible ideas as you go.

Pretty dope, right?

But what most people have, instead of latticework, is Jenga.

They keep pulling old ideas from the bottom and putting them on top.

Ideas they borrowed from Mom and Dad or the kid down the street.

Each idea is dependent on the levels below, and that creates instability. Those old ideas might be total trash but that’s hard to admit when they hold up everything you think you believe. You’ll ride or die with those reusable Jenga blocks, no matter how precarious the tower becomes.

If you’ve built a latticework and some pieces break, it might be a pain in the ass, but the whole structure doesn’t come crashing down. You can carefully pull them free and weave in a new piece.

Independent thinkers can hold multiple ideas in their mind at the same time, even those that — on the surface — seem to be at odds with one another.

Independent thinking is different from other people, and different from other ideas in your own homemade latticework.

If someone can meet you and inside of a few minutes they can sketch out your thoughts, desires, hopes, and dreams — you’re not an independent thinker.

You’re playing Jenga.

Celtics shirt, Irish Catholic family, problem with the booze? Uncle is a cop, bad shamrock tattoo? Does that sound like you?

If I ask you about guns, or taxes, and based on your answer I can dial in your politics, your socioeconomic status, and your hobbies, that means they are dependent thoughts.

You’ve been programed. I’d urge you to break free.

Independent thought is powerful and fun. It can really throw people for a loop.

If I tell you Trump is going to win the election, you might think I’m voting for him. You might think I’m a Nazi or a crook or I cheat at golf or I like reality TV.

If I say he’ll lose, the answer is much simpler. West coast crybaby lib.

That’s playing Jenga. And that’s what we do.

I do love reality TV though. And the west coast.

Pushing back against cognitive dissonance:

Cognitive dissonance is when your actions and beliefs differ, and then resolve.

Your new healthy lifestyle and the holidays, for example. You’ve been so good. You got all your macros dialed in and haven’t missed a workout in three whole days.

But now comes the real test. Now it’s time to have seven glasses of eggnog at the company party.

Your actions (gulping down eggnog) differ from your beliefs (you are a healthy human with some level of self-control).

Somethings gotta give.

So, you either admit you are not a changed person on the path to fitness and longevity, or you do what most people do and tell yourself that eggnog has some high-quality proteins, essential for building muscle.

Ahhh, that’s feels better, doesn’t it? Differences have now been resolved and you can go back to talking trash about Annie in accounting.

How about this one?

You hate Elon Musk, you hate his politics, you hate that he bought Twitter, renamed it, fired everyone, and pretty much nothing changed. You hate that he is trying to repopulate the earth via unwedded relationships with gothic DJ’s.

[Elon. Not the picture of a person that has full self-control. Still makes rockets though.]

And because you have these thoughts, you also think Tesla will go bankrupt and SpaceX is a fluke.

It’s either that or you love Tesla and SpaceX so much that you think the goth DJ thing is normal human behavior and “Dude, you would totally do the same thing if you had, like, a bazillion dollars in the bank. Literally, dude.”

The truth? The truth is somewhere in between, or a mix of the two, but your truth is resolving to one side or the other based on the Jenga blocks you have in place.

Our brains have a hard time resolving the fact that Musk is both a jerk and a misogynist in addition to being a terrific engineer and a ballsy entrepreneur.

But why is it so hard to believe?

Mark Zuckerberg, the guy who stole or copied nearly every feature in the software and services that made him billions. The guy that is so hated they couldn’t wait until his 30^th birthday before making a movie about how terrible he is. Zuckerberg was the guy that…wait a minute…he did what?

Damn, Zuck. Wake surfing, in a tuxedo, with a tall boy in one hand and the flag in the other.

Pretty. Damn. Cool.

And confusing as all hell. I mean, we know the crowd that chugs beer and waves the flag. He doesn’t really fit the profile. Depending on your feelings, this new Zuck will require a bit of resolving.

If you are like me, and think the guy is so creepy you did the #DeleteFacebook thing back in the day (not Insta though, Insta is too good) you’ll resolve this whole wake surfing awesomeness as a publicity stunt dreamed up by an overpaid PR team.

That was close. I almost allowed myself to think he had changed, matured, into somewhat less of an ass.

Pull that preconceived notion from the bottom and put it on top.

To anyone standing a few feet back, the whole thing looks like it’s on the verge of collapse. To you, it’s a whole lot easier to pull blocks than get to weaving. New ideas be damned.

But can we resolve this in a different way?

Sure we can.

People who do remarkable things are often remarkable in several ways…including ways we don’t agree with.

Hitler’s Olympics:

Cognitive dissonance, Jenga, is what allows you to love the zoo and SeaWorld, even after you see Blackfish.

Resolved. Gross, but resolved.

Cognitive dissonance, dependent thinking, is what allows you to love the Olympics and all they stand for, even after you learn that the modern Olympics were created as a propaganda machine for Nazi Germany

I mean, are you really surprised to hear that the Olympics are a political tool? That it’s not just about sport, competition, excellence, and the beauty of our collective human spirit?

Russia hosted the Winter Olympics in a location that doesn’t get actual snow. From what I’ve heard, Russia is solid in the snow department.

So, there might have been some underlying motives that didn’t involve sport. What do you think?

How about the Bejing games? Just one look at this drumline and you’ll know that it was about more than steroid infused swimmers. It was about power. Projecting it.

But we forget about Nazi Germany, Russia, China, and their propaganda because we love the 4×100 relay, and we have fond memories of the Dream Team.

That’s Jenga.

Also, deep down, we like some propaganda. We like the homemade kind.

You are what you eat:

I thought I was an independent thinker because I put Ruffles in my egg salad sandwich.

But as I upgraded from Jenga to latticework, I started wondering why I put chips on my sandwich in the first place. Divine intervention? A desire to be different?

Could be, but it’s mostly because the older kids did it.

Not so independent after all.

I’m programmed. Dependent. But I’m working on it.

Gaining your independence can take time.

I recognize that a little crunch and some salt can really upgrade that mush. Not just Ruffles, it can be celery, apple, bacon, whatevs.

Now the latticework is taking shape. It’s not my way or the highway. It’s principles and ideas that are interoperable.

To move our thinking from rigid Jenga blocks to flexible latticework, we’ve got to ask ourselves why we do the things we do. Why we think the things you think.

And infuse ourselves with fresh ideas and counter positions.

Pain!

If your idea snacks —those mental model morsels you are ingesting — are all polarizing drivel, that is what you’ll become.

You are what you eat.

It’s Cheddar & Sour Cream for me these days, but occasionally the Flamin’ Hot ones that Lebron likes.