Episode 41 The Unity of Knowledge
I've been a blogger for over a decade. In the recent two to three years, I mostly post on Wechat moments, which is pretty much the equivalence of Facebook used by the Chinese community. Very often if a non-Chinese friend asks "So where is your blog?" I have to awkwardly say oh that's on a Chinese social media.
Yesterday I had dinner with a friend. He asked me two difficult but necessary questions. I was inspired, and moved a selection of blog posts on Wechat here. His name is Chris.
- Chris: So Why don't you post on a platform that we all can read?
- Me: Because I am not familiar with the value system in the US. I am afraid of being judged.
- Chris: Wow. Is China's culture very judgmental? that makes you afraid of being judged?
- Me: I don't know. (It makes me reflect where my fear comes from)
- Chris: Then what specifically are you afraid of being judged?
- Me: My point of view and it takes time to make it sound "safe"; my imperfect English and it takes time to make sure all gramma is correct; am I disclosing too much about myself or about other people. A lot of things.
- Chris: You said value system. I don't even know what value system we have. Even if people judge you based on what you write, why should you care?
---
- Chris: Tell me something about what you write.
- Me: (I looked up on Wechat and find a blog posted when I just started learning Computer Science. The post is about what specifically is challenging for an "old" CS student, starting from scratch)
- Chris: Is Computer Science is significantly different and more difficult than other things you've learned?
- Me: I think so. (I am surprised by his reaction. Most of the time when people get to know that I did a master in cs in 8 months, without a relevant bachelor, they would agree that it is very hard, or sometimes question why the school let me do this.)
- Chris: But I don't think so. All knowledge are fundamentally the same. I used to be a JD in U Chicago law school. I don't like it, so I switched to Computer Science. I am not sure how to describe it, but they are very very similar. I believe in The Unity of Knowledge.
---
The Unity of Knowledge. The phrase has been hovering in mind ever since.
Today I had lunch with a good friend and mentor. And we talked about what it takes to be at a General Management position.
"In a corporation, there is Marketing, Operations, Tech, HR, etc. There are VPs taking care of each of these functions. Then what does CEO do? CEO doesn't not have any work to do!?"
"CEO looks around the corner. CEO makes sure these gaps are filled, people are communicating with each other. CEO connects the dots."
"Basically, it's the ability to drive, and comment on a wide spectrum of things even if you don't have experiences in them."
"When you are on the ground level, Marketing, Operations, HR, Finance, all seem drastically different. But beyond a certain point, you will find more and more commonality."
And once you find it, you will be empowered.
---
The idea of unity was reinforced. This idea is enlightening, mysterious, but still ambiguous to me.
I am not there yet. But I am on the way.
Yesterday I had dinner with a friend. He asked me two difficult but necessary questions. I was inspired, and moved a selection of blog posts on Wechat here. His name is Chris.
- Chris: So Why don't you post on a platform that we all can read?
- Me: Because I am not familiar with the value system in the US. I am afraid of being judged.
- Chris: Wow. Is China's culture very judgmental? that makes you afraid of being judged?
- Me: I don't know. (It makes me reflect where my fear comes from)
- Chris: Then what specifically are you afraid of being judged?
- Me: My point of view and it takes time to make it sound "safe"; my imperfect English and it takes time to make sure all gramma is correct; am I disclosing too much about myself or about other people. A lot of things.
- Chris: You said value system. I don't even know what value system we have. Even if people judge you based on what you write, why should you care?
---
- Chris: Tell me something about what you write.
- Me: (I looked up on Wechat and find a blog posted when I just started learning Computer Science. The post is about what specifically is challenging for an "old" CS student, starting from scratch)
- Chris: Is Computer Science is significantly different and more difficult than other things you've learned?
- Me: I think so. (I am surprised by his reaction. Most of the time when people get to know that I did a master in cs in 8 months, without a relevant bachelor, they would agree that it is very hard, or sometimes question why the school let me do this.)
- Chris: But I don't think so. All knowledge are fundamentally the same. I used to be a JD in U Chicago law school. I don't like it, so I switched to Computer Science. I am not sure how to describe it, but they are very very similar. I believe in The Unity of Knowledge.
The Unity of Knowledge. The phrase has been hovering in mind ever since.
Today I had lunch with a good friend and mentor. And we talked about what it takes to be at a General Management position.
"In a corporation, there is Marketing, Operations, Tech, HR, etc. There are VPs taking care of each of these functions. Then what does CEO do? CEO doesn't not have any work to do!?"
"CEO looks around the corner. CEO makes sure these gaps are filled, people are communicating with each other. CEO connects the dots."
"Basically, it's the ability to drive, and comment on a wide spectrum of things even if you don't have experiences in them."
"When you are on the ground level, Marketing, Operations, HR, Finance, all seem drastically different. But beyond a certain point, you will find more and more commonality."
And once you find it, you will be empowered.
---
The idea of unity was reinforced. This idea is enlightening, mysterious, but still ambiguous to me.
I am not there yet. But I am on the way.
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