An Average Joe is Just Six Steps Away from Einstein

We are born to be interested in everything. Just look at how wide a child’s eyes get when they see the world.

I recently wrote a short piece on a fascinating topic in quantum physics. It was on retrocausality. As you know, things at the quantum level are nothing short of crazy. Retrocausality is no exception. In our world, causes precede effects. Take the case of a hunter killing a bird with his shotgun. Here, the firing of the gun is the cause, and the bird’s death is the effect. Cause happens first, and the effect happens next. But in the quantum world, this sequence can be reversed. The bird could be hit first — and then the hunter can fire the shot. This is retrocausality.

Now you might be wondering — what business do I have with quantum physics? I’m just a freelance writer, with no big degrees or even casual training in the subject. It’s a fair question. We’re always told to be lifelong learners — but usually, only within our own fields. This belief is so widespread — even among the most educated people.

There was a man named Hans Rosling — a physician from Sweden. He travelled around the world, met different groups of people, asking them a set of multiple-choice questions in areas like health, education, and poverty. The questions were simple. Like, what percentage of people in the world live in extreme poverty today? And in more than half the cases, the participants got every single answer wrong. Even Nobel laureates often answered as poorly as the average person. He wrote a remarkable book called Factfulness, encouraging everyone to be factful, and form opinions about anything only based on facts.

But if we are a little open, we can not only be factful but also insightful. That is, we can develop insights not just in our own field, but in many others as well. (Thiruvalluvar, unconstrained by disciplinary boundaries, could produce 1,330 irrefutable insights across as many as 133 specialised subjects - some 2,000 years ago!) It’s just a matter of being methodical in how we learn and create. I’ve come to understand that developing insight — in any field — usually involves six important steps. They are:

1. Step one is to learn a topic in any subject that you’re interested in. Your sources can be anything — articles, books, videos — whatever helps you build a strong foundation.

2. Step two is to take notes.

3. Step three is to summarise what you actually understand from your notes — not just what is there in the notes. For summary, use your own words, your own logic, and add your perspective. The summary should say ‘This is what I’ve understood so far’.

4. Step four is to go back and revise your summary once in a while.

5. Step five is probably the most exciting one. It is about value addition. Every time you revise your notes, you may discover something new — a fresh idea, a deeper angle. These are value additions. Fodder to the emerging insights. Sometimes, new doubts will emerge. That’s a good thing. Go back to your sources, learn more. Keep adding your thoughts.

6. And that brings us to the sixth and final step: expression. When you think you have something interesting to share, write it, speak it, draw it, teach it. Expressing what we have learned is what completes the journey from information to insight.

After several revisions of the notes (that I took from this wonderful article on quantum physics) and my summary, and further ideation, I thought retrocausality was akin to watching a film in reverse — where the effect comes before the cause as we’re seated on a time plane that is on the other side of the ‘screen’. Well, this idea could be ridiculous in the eyes of experts — and that’s okay. What matters is that the journey is great - from learning to creating!

We are born to be interested in everything. Just look at how wide a child’s eyes get when they see the world. Is there any event or person or thing that fails to capture their attention or curiosity? But then, slowly, we’re taught to be disinterested in everything except a few. We were conditioned to close our eyes. Schools keep our eyes closed until we’re halfway through life — and then, the organisations we work for take over from there.

But we can redeem our freedom — the freedom to learn and be insightful beyond our specialisations. All it takes is a spark of interest and a methodical approach to learning. Insight isn’t reserved for experts. It belongs to anyone willing to follow the steps.

Best
Sankar G
Rajapalayam

Thank you for taking the time to read this newsletter. I value your feedback. Feel free to reply directly to this email or reach out at sankar@sankarg.com. You can also contact me via phone or WhatsApp at +91-9790276206. My website: www.sankarg.com to know more about me and what I do.

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