12th
A Whole New World
A lot of the value in a word is that it means the same thing to you as it does to me. It tends to be a problem when that’s not true. Just think of the last time you asked someone if the food was spicy and they said no and then you ended up crying.
We think like this:
Level 1
x = f(a,b,c)
y = f(d,e,f)
z = f(g,h,i)
Level 2
M = f(x,y)
N = f(x,z)
O = f(y,z)
Level 3, etc…
Wherever possible, though, when we’re communicating with each other, let’s try to stick to the lower levels when we can. Generally, before we move up a level, we need to internalize the variables of the level we’re on. If we internalize them wrong or their internalized meaning starts to shift over time or they mean different thing to different people, that’s a problem, and we’re just going to compound that problem with each level we ascend and with each level we ascend, there are more potential problems. I envision a world where we’re all talking at level 500 and none of us has any idea what the other is saying.
