> People in organizations don’t change until their fear of survival exceeds their fear of learning – Organizational theorist [Edgar Schein](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Schein), [via](http://fora.tv/2010/10/16/Long_Conversation_with_Stuart_Candy_and_Katherine_Fulton) [Katherine Fulton](http://www.monitorinstitute.com/about_team.html#fulton)
> But to think that buying the book gets you somewhere, that’s maybe the bigger fallacy. It’s just like the evidence that shows the most dangerous people are those that have been taught some financial literacy. They’re the ones who go out and make the worst mistakes. It’s the people that realize, “I don’t know anything at all,” that end up doing pretty well. – [Tyler Cowen](http://lesswrong.com/r/discussion/lw/8w1/transcript_tyler_cowen_on_stories/)
I’ve been worried about the fact that as I get older, I feel like I “know” less and less. But in today’s world, falsely believing you know something can be a lot more dangerous than simply admitting you don’t know.
> Of the 136 children invited to share some of their sets of stickers, two participants stood out for giving away their entire supply. Asked in a videotaped interview why he gave away all his stickers, one child responded: “That’s how you become happy”.
[Smart kid](http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204450804576623162047263634.html).
[According to Daniel Gilbert and others in the Journal of Consumer Psychology](http://dunn.psych.ubc.ca/files/2011/04/Journal-of-consumer-psychology.pdf):
1. Buy more experiences and fewer material goods
2. Use your money to benefit others rather than yourself
3. Buy many small pleasures rather than fewer large ones
4. Eschew extended warranties and other forms of overpriced insurance
5. Delay consumption
6. Consider how peripheral features of your purchases may affect your day-to-day life
7. Beware of comparison shopping
8. Pay close attention to the happiness of others
The paper goes into more detail and gives good examples…interesting stuff.
Nathan Shedroff and coauthors identified [15 meaningful experiences](http://makingmeaning.org/meanings.html) that are common across many people and cultures, and helpful to consider when designing products and services.
1. Accomplishment
2. Beauty
3. Community
4. Creation
5. Duty
6. Enlightenment
7. Freedom
8. Harmony
9. Justice
10. Oneness
11. Redemption
12. Security
13. Truth
14. Validation
15. Wonder
Seems like a noble way to design things, focused on bringing people meaningful experiences.
> We are shaped and fashioned by what we love. – [Goethe](http://www.austinkleon.com/2011/03/30/how-to-steal-like-an-artist-and-9-other-things-nobody-told-me/)
Another reason to keep track of [some of the things you love](http://www.thefancy.com/bobryskamp). From an excellent article on creative work, [HOW TO STEAL LIKE AN ARTIST (AND 9 OTHER THINGS NOBODY TOLD ME)](http://www.austinkleon.com/2011/03/30/how-to-steal-like-an-artist-and-9-other-things-nobody-told-me/)
Fascinating article in the NY Times that explores how language shapes the way we think about the world. Different languages, different ways of experiencing it.
> When your language routinely obliges you to specify certain types of information, it forces you to be attentive to certain details in the world and to certain aspects of experience that speakers of other languages may not be required to think about all the time. And since such habits of speech are cultivated from the earliest age, it is only natural that they can settle into habits of mind that go beyond language itself, affecting your experiences, perceptions, associations, feelings, memories and orientation in the world.
Similar to my observations about [how language affects meaning](http://www.ryskamp.org/brain/?p=68) from years ago.
That is, addiction in general and information/Internet addiction in particular.
> The world is more addictive than it was 40 years ago. And unless the forms of technological progress that produced these things are subject to different laws than technological progress in general, the world will get more addictive in the next 40 years than it did in the last 40…
> My latest trick is taking long hikes. I used to think running was a better form of exercise than hiking because it took less time. Now the slowness of hiking seems an advantage, because the longer I spend on the trail, the longer I have to think without interruption…
> We’ll increasingly be defined by what we say no to.