| Username |
Post |
| ashu |
Posted
on 14-Jun-01 01:45 AM
GP wrote:
>In fact, in engineering design of
>infrastructures peoples
>use the following quote:
>Mark Twain said: " Good Judgement comes from
>experience.And where does experience
>comes from?
>Experience comes from BAD
>JUDGMENT".
>
>So, its a cycle that consists of Judgment
>and experience.
Agreed.
One reason why places like Silicon Valleys are Silicon Valleys
is that those who are movers and shakers over there have, all things being equal, a much higher degree of tolerance and even respect for failures and mistakes.
And, extrapolating slightly, I would argue, one reason why there is much mediocrity in almost all spheres of contemporary Nepal
is that collectively we have a very little tolerance for
failures and mistakes. I mean, we have a very narrow and a safe view of what success is, and this, I'd think, often discourages people from taking calculated risks and making bold leaps into
the unknown of anything.
And this widespread culture of fear-of-failure/mistakes has led to many of our so-called best and brightest to go after, what I would call, 'safe and predictable strings of success', usually without risking their ideas, thoughts and passions. Sure, nothing really wrong with that, of course; but let's not forget that
excellence in any field is formed in the crucible of mistakes/errors and a series of bad judgments.
True, NOT all failures and mistakes are the same. After all,
much depends on one's learning ability too. That's because one can make lots of mistakes and still learn NOTHING new . . .
and that would be sad indeed.
So, I think, both abilities: an ability to make mistakes, and
an ability to learn from those mistakes are important for continuous life-long learning.
oohi
ashu
|
| GP |
Posted
on 14-Jun-01 08:28 PM
Confidence or Perfection?
I think making a mistake and a bad judgment are not bad,
as quoted before, experience comes from bad judgment or
mistakes. Making the same mistake second time is bad if not
worst. To avoid the same mistake second or more time(s), we need
documentation or note-in-our-brain-n-heart (keep in mind).
This is what missing part among common peoples. Once one
great Hollywood actress told in an interview that
SHE IS LOOKING FOR A NEW MISTAKE.
(key word: new-mistake(s), not to repeat the same mistake).
BadJudgment-GoodExperience-GoodJudgment depends on culture:
Mistake comes from 2 side of Confidence: UnderConfidence and OverConfidence.
The extreme opposite of Mistake is Perfect. Mistake is
probably the measure of degree of Perfection and Confidence.
I had ever met and talked with a British turned to be Buddhist
Monk for last 25years (in Japan). I requested him to teach
my kids english, and he was a nice person who was aligned more
towards confidence than perfection. As many peoples who have
not come to Japan, must have seen the Japanese goods look
perfectly nice, why? Its based on their culture. The perfection
culture starts right from childhood at school. My kids were
using pencil, the British monk was angry over use of pencil.
He said Pencil allows them to erase several times, thus, they
can not develop Confidence, and he said in Britain he used
to use Pen from childhood and he had to develop confidence
before writing something, and he was complaining that Japanese
Kids do not have confidence. I agreed to him, in contrary I
told him that because of several erasing and writing with
pencil has allowed them to look for perfection. Thats why
Japanese govt. offices not only university or school students,
you find peoples use pencil to fill up forms first by pencil
and finally by using pen, like overriding. So, they dislike
scratches, and the police offices even don't accept any forms
like for driving license with a single mistake. Therefore,
Japanese always look for perfection, while, peoples from
around the world look for more confidence.
As Ashu said, Internet especailly computer has allowed us
real time editing, like eraser and pencil in Japan, and
with the input from opponents agree-disAgree comments,
we probably move towards confidence and perfection.
Confidence and Perfection should have degree to what
level, and extremely Confident peoples are not extremely
perfect and vice versa. We should lie in between them,
and the time and money are two factors that control the
level of confidence and perfection in addition to past
experience on mistakes.
I did not mean it to be read by everyone, but, I like
sometime Japanese way of erasor and pencil, and some time
British way of direct use of Fountain or ball pen.
Confidence or Perfection?
GP
|
| ashu |
Posted
on 15-Jun-01 05:30 AM
In the late '80s, a Japanese biologist, based at MIT in Boston, won a Nobel Prize.
A few years ago, I remember reading his interview somewhere, probably in an issue of The Scientific American, in which the scientist had said that had he worked in Japan all his professional life, he wouldn't have won his Nobel Prize.
Indeed, I have often wondered: While scientists based in America
regularly seem to win Nobel Prizes, why is it that scientists based in Japan or anywhere else lag so far behind?
Surely, that difference cannot be accounted to a function of intelligence alone. After all, good scientists anywhere belong
to the top-IQ cohort in any given population anyway. And so, given identically high IQs, and similarly good working
conditions, what makes some scientists become stars while
others simply muddle along fine?
I would think that intrinsic personal qualities (such as ability to make mistakes and learn from them . . . and so on)
are important means for one's being a "star" in one's profession.
It also seems to me that ALL THING BEING EQUAL (i.e. research funding, supply of smart PhDs, etc) American scientists value creativity more. And creativity, by definition, can only thrive in places where there is a great degree of tolerance for mistakes and failures. Creativity, for example, is the lifeblood of any competitive advertising firm, which routinely rejects or "makes mistakes on" hundreds of catchy materials (i.e. slogans/graphics/texts, etc) anyday.
I'd rather deal with Nepalis who make mistakes, are willing to share their mistakes with otehrs and learn from those mistakes than with Nepalis for whom everything is totally this or totallly that with absolutely no room for ambiguity or grey areas in between. The latter are the people who make efficient drones, automatons following the rules with all the predictability of a piston pumping. The former stumble, get up, and stumble again . . . and so on, persisting nontheless to ultimately reaching their destination.
oohi
ashu
|
| Robin |
Posted
on 15-Jun-01 07:56 AM
Dear Ashu,
I don't know you personally, but you are one of the best writers here!
It is very well put about making a mistake! A lot of people in Nepal fear about making a mistake. Once you make a mistake, people will put you down and crush you. Only, a few will get up and do it again with confidence.
All the people in the world fear of making a mistake, but if someone did not step up and face the unknown we would be still in stone age. People like Wright brothers, Leonardo da Vinci, Einstein and many more were not afraid of making mistakes. In fact they learned from their mistake.
In America NASA spends billions of dollar making a space lab, rocket etc. NASA has the best scientist working and they take many cautions, still the top scientist's work and Billion dollar goes kapoot. NASA probably has more failure record than success record, but they keep going to explore the Universe. Same account in 1492, if Christopher Columbus did not dare to take on exploring he would not have reached America.
Wise men learn from their mistakes and others don't. Wiser men learn from others mistake and others don't. ;)
Robin
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