Following from some of the previous blogs, this is some sort of an outsider view of what my life looks like - and based on my experiences and understanding I want to regard it as a constrained optimization problem.
We are all, at the end of the day optimizing for a metric - the source of these metrics is often unclear and unconscious.
After choosing the metric we start directing our actions towards achieving those desired metrics, which is being referred to as here by "optimizing on those metrics"
But this optimization is not unconstrained - we have our constraints - there are bounds to our actions - either imposed by external and physical circumstances or the ones we develop mentally. For instance, there are constraints of physics - I cannot travel faster than light or make water float in oil. Then there are person-specific limits to actions : I might not be able to buy a million dollars worth of land as opposed to a millionaire who can do this without a second thought. This results in the disparity in what humans can seemingly achieve through immediate actions - resources, environment, geography, up-bringing, money, politics - things that are completely beyond our control might affect the physical constraints we might be subjected to!
Then there are constraints we impose on the mind - these include obligations, expectations, principles etc. Most of us have been tied by certain expectations on our actions (note that these are different from the expectations in choosing our goals/metrics) - for example greeting the elderly when they came to our house and bragging about my scholastic achievements was an expectation - I wasn't forced to, but expected to do so. Then there are principles that might be passed on from our lineage, people we admire and ones we develop overtime -- no one forces you to follow them but you expect yourself to abide by them.
But here is a conjecture I want to make:
- The metrics we choose are often not ours, a lot of them are unconsciously picked up, while being irrelevant at the same time. More on this here
- The mental constraints that we choose to put on ourselves are often quite unnecessary!
A lot of these can be eliminated if thought over carefully. No constraints to satisfy my ego, No constraints like "hey I can't do this", No constraints like "I have to be with these people". No constraints on what I think. No constraints on my confidence. Not constrained by materialistic desires. No constraints on making judgments based on social status. No constraints on thoughts imposed by how the society wants us to think. No constraints on being affected by how others behave with us.
In essence, I mean to say
We all have certain choices given our physical constraints - our goals and principles.
Some might say "Hey no! I should do blah" -- it is most likely to be a matter of choice - going deep down to the basics. So, with the limited view of life I have right now, I would say minimizing such constraints or rather minimizing unchosen constraints can be very liberating.
The other thing is often we might optimize on metrics curated by society to raise ourselves to a level where we can think more broadly -- but this action is driven towards a goal that we chose for ourselves not the metric itself.
This post is highly inspired from Victor Frankl's book - Man's search for meaning. I am not talking about logotherapy or finding purpose here but the ability of man to still "think" the way he wants to, in an environment as harsh as a concentration camp. If you and I are under better circumstances, where our actions are not monitored by someone else and we can walk and talk freely - why not think freely ?