Living on the Ocean (8/30/20)

Hey Friends,

Sunday School is officially two months old. This is still a tidy little community of 64 people, but I hope everyone learns a little something each week. Just a reminder that if you got smarter because of this, or maybe answered a random question correctly at your weekly virtual trivia game at your local virtual bar, go ahead and click this share button to spread the love:

This week we have, as always, four courses on the Sunday School menu…but first, imposter syndrome.

You’ve probably heard of imposter syndrome, but if you haven’t, you’ve almost certainly experienced it. Imposter syndrome is that feeling you get when you’re somewhere on a team or in a group of people, and you’ve made it there, but feel like you’re not qualified to have made it there.

This commonly happens after we experience the thrill of achieving something by getting somewhere we want to be, only to feel the backwash of dread come on to remind you that it’s going to be hard. It’s at that moment that you question whether or not you deserve to be there. You look around at everyone else and perceive that they’re heads and shoulders above you.

This is familiar to all of us.

I’ve read several essays about imposter syndrome recently and they all boil down to this: the majority of us are right there with you in the way you feel

Statistically, there are brilliant people who may never be able to relate, but they sit out wayyyyy ahead of the curve. The fat part of the curve is really clustered behind the outlying geniuses, and we’re all just “underachievers” in that sense.

If that doesn’t make sense, this article helps describe that idea visually.

A little more on this subject in a moment…

Let’s get to class for the week.

Homeroom

My Essay: Google’s Blow to Higher Education

Google broke news in mid-July that they’re starting a new program called Google Career Certificates. I haven’t quite figured out why this isn’t being covered in the mainstream news (maybe because it’s an election year and mainstream news is ALL about that), but this is the biggest blow yet to higher education.

If you haven’t heard about Google’s program, here are the basics:

• Courses focused on in-demand, high-paying jobs

• Courses are only 6 months long

• Google will treat these certificates as the equivalent of a four-year degree

• It’s only about $300! 🤯

In this essay, I explain a few of the key points as to why this is different than other EdTech groundwork and what it means for traditional academia.

Psych Syndromes

Essay: Nobody Knows Nothing - Nick Maggiuli

The best thing I’ve ever read about imposter syndrome is this essay by Nick Maggiuli. Nick is the COO at Ritholtz Wealth Management in NYC and a Stanford alum. In this essay, he tells a story about his time at Stanford and dealing with feeling like he didn’t belong there.

Read the essay to get the best nuggets of wisdom, but Magguli’s conclusion is this.

No one is infallible. No one has a monopoly on knowledge.

All it takes to realize that we belong is one moment of proof that’s bound to happen at some point because of the simple fact that everyone is in the same boat. We’ll all have moments of failure and we’ll all have moments of great success.

The Future of Real Estate

Link: The Seasteading Institute

This is 100% real. It’s even backed by the venture capitalist who seems to fit this vibe perfectly, Peter Thiel. Welcome to seasteading. Your new future home?

Seasteading is exactly what it sounds like; settling a house or community on the sea instead of land. Here is a rendering of a potential community at sea.

This isn’t just a dream, the Seasteading Institute is working on making this happen. They’re building prototypes and refining how this can be done. The purpose behind seasteading is to have a politically autonomous community that exists outside the rules of any government. You’re on the high seas!

It’s also an interesting environmental solution. Quite obviously, Earth’s surface is made up mostly of water, so seasteading unlocks the opportunity to expand where humans live in a naturally environmentally friendly way.

Debt Economics

Essay: We Cannot Amuse Ourselves to Death - Zander Nethercutt

This is an interesting essay in general about how humans entertain ourselves and how that conflicts with truth. I won’t give much of the content away, but it’s a great read.

The point I’d like to pull from this essay is an interesting fact I’ve been thinking about on the topic of debt.

There is about $10 trillion circulating in the global economy. The interesting thing is that only about $1 trillion of that actually exists. The rest is credit. We’ve convinced ourselves that the future economy is going to be much, much better than the economy of today.

But here’s the problem: the economy is heavily reliant on finite resources. In order for the economy to grow, more resources need to be created and consumed. With our reliance on finite resources, this just isn’t possible. You see what I’m getting at.

We have a finite resource problem and a debt problem that’s just getting infinitely kicked down the road. But where is the end of the road?

Health Class

To wrap things up this week I’m going to share a fairly disturbing chart. Take a look:

Look at the Americans! We’re taking home all the top spots on this chart.

There’s a clear geographic theme in obesity rates in US states, although I’m sure culture and economics have more to do with the actual results. Southern and Midwestern states make up the entire top 24 on the list (with the exception of Alaska). Colorado takes home the spot for least obese US state.

But how about how we compare to Europe? Not looking pretty. Only Turkey is a European outlier that rivals some of the worst US states.

While this is interesting, I’d be even more interested in research showing the correlation between wealth and obesity, or more accurate the inverse correlation. This could be something I do some more exploring on in the future.

Photo of the Week

I can’t resist and opportunity to include my favorite soccer player in a photo of the week. On Saturday, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored a goal in the FA Community Shield match against Liverpool and paid tribute to Chadwich Boseman with his “Black Panther” celebration, something he’s done for a while now.

Boseman passed away on Friday at the age of 43 after a four year battle with cancer. Boseman was a fantastically talented actor and played leading roles in movies like 42 and Black Panther, with as a black lead in traditionally white worlds (baseball and superheroes).

Quote of the Week

This week’s quote is from a Chadwick Boseman acceptance speech at the 2019 SAG Awards:

“We all know what it’s like to be told that there is not a place for you to be featured. Yet you are young, gifted, and black. We know what it’s like to be told there’s not a screen for you to be featured on, a stage for you to be featured on. We know what it’s like to be the tail and not the head. We know what it’s like to be beneath and not above. This is what we went to work with every day. Because we knew that we had something special that we wanted to give the world. That we could be full human beings in the roles that we were playing. That we could create a world that exemplified a world that we wanted to see.” - Chadwick Boseman

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That’s all for this week, thanks for attending!

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See you all next week!

-Ryan