Intellectuals and Occam's Razor
I thoroughly believe there is an inverse relationship between book smarts and an aptitude for handiwork. Those who rely on their intellectual skill to rationalize the challenges they face don't always realize that Occam's Razor is the best way to deal with it.
For example, in my limited experience, I find that the people that appear to be the most book smart are the ones who have the most issues with the merchandise I help sell. I work for IKEA, a furniture company famous for its mass produced Swedish furniture with funny, hard-to-pronounce-in-English names. The instructions to assemble everything we sell comes with little to no printed text. That way, IKEA can produce one set of instructions for all the countries they sell furniture. In fact, the lack of words in the instructions tells me that someone who is functionally illiterate can assemble whatever they buy, provided they can follow the pictures.
In my experience, people who are book smart tend to over-analyze many aspects of life (myself included). Instead of applying Occam's Razor to things or simply taking what's before us at face value works against us to our peril at times. For example, a good friend of mine told me a story about her roommate's recent attempt to put together a large piece of furniture she purchased from IKEA (a six-by-six foot TV unit). This TV unit, held together by eight long screws and a ton of wooden dowels to hold it together. Considering the construction of this particular piece, it holds together quite nicely if it's assembled properly. This is where Occam's Razor comes in.
Instead of waiting for my friend and her coworker buddy to assemble the TV unit for her (they also work for IKEA and build these things for forty hours a week), the roommate, an Ivy League educated lawyer, decided to tackle the project herself. She then proceeded to render the TV unit into a piece of Homer Simpson Outsider Art. The roommate punctuated every dent in the veneer and every hammer sized hole in the façade with expletives describing how poorly designed IKEA furniture is and how the instructions are too complicated. It would be easy to feel sorry for her. However, her big brain and ego (from what I've been told) coupled with her desire to one-up her sister in sibling rivalry enabled her to get cut deeply with Occam's Razor. Now the roommate has to live with a $200 mistake of her own doing.
For example, in my limited experience, I find that the people that appear to be the most book smart are the ones who have the most issues with the merchandise I help sell. I work for IKEA, a furniture company famous for its mass produced Swedish furniture with funny, hard-to-pronounce-in-English names. The instructions to assemble everything we sell comes with little to no printed text. That way, IKEA can produce one set of instructions for all the countries they sell furniture. In fact, the lack of words in the instructions tells me that someone who is functionally illiterate can assemble whatever they buy, provided they can follow the pictures.
In my experience, people who are book smart tend to over-analyze many aspects of life (myself included). Instead of applying Occam's Razor to things or simply taking what's before us at face value works against us to our peril at times. For example, a good friend of mine told me a story about her roommate's recent attempt to put together a large piece of furniture she purchased from IKEA (a six-by-six foot TV unit). This TV unit, held together by eight long screws and a ton of wooden dowels to hold it together. Considering the construction of this particular piece, it holds together quite nicely if it's assembled properly. This is where Occam's Razor comes in.
Instead of waiting for my friend and her coworker buddy to assemble the TV unit for her (they also work for IKEA and build these things for forty hours a week), the roommate, an Ivy League educated lawyer, decided to tackle the project herself. She then proceeded to render the TV unit into a piece of Homer Simpson Outsider Art. The roommate punctuated every dent in the veneer and every hammer sized hole in the façade with expletives describing how poorly designed IKEA furniture is and how the instructions are too complicated. It would be easy to feel sorry for her. However, her big brain and ego (from what I've been told) coupled with her desire to one-up her sister in sibling rivalry enabled her to get cut deeply with Occam's Razor. Now the roommate has to live with a $200 mistake of her own doing.
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