Welcome explorer

You’re back in the Slipstream. Your weekly portal into the way of entrepreneurship, self-improvement and lifelong learning.

You’re here because you understand one thing:

The better your ideas, the better your life

Today’s issue is here to help.

LIFE/ PHILOSOPHY

What’s the difference between true, truth and… the metaphorical truth?

What’s the difference between true, truth and… the metaphorical truth?

In recent years, we’ve moved into what many call the “Post-truth” movement.

It’s horrible.

People believe in all sorts of crazy things. Now we have come to accept those things as “alternate facts” and in some cases, “reality”.

With the definitions of words changing over time, its hard to know up from down.

Let’s start with something obvious - reality.

Reality is what we collectively refer to as the objective, underlying state of things. In a physics-centered world, it can be precise and defined by being accurately measurable.

We often use sophisticated instruments to gain granular perceptions of the world, allowing us describe it and determine some pattern to its being - that description and pattern of explanation is what we call reality.

It’s hard to imagine a different world from what we live in. Yet if one has to comprehend the limited scope of our senses, they would realize we are already missing out on so much of what is already here.

What we perceive, through our senses, is only a sliver of reality. One that’s been filtered and then rendered on the screen of our mind. What we see in our mind is not what is actually happening in reality, it is only a representation, and a lower resolution one at that.

As part of life, we gather new (and improve our existing) models of describing the world, aka reality. These models have been refined by our life experience and are very much true with respect to those experiences. However, they may fail when presented with another set of circumstances, experiences, opportunities.

This is why its fascinating to meet other people and find out how they view the world. What are their models for how to operate within it? What were their experiences that shaped their views of the world?

Oftentimes, people get together to compare their versions of truth (their slice of reality) to see if they are on the right path and are perceiving it correctly. When combined it a positive way, it can enhance both people’s ideas of the world - their models improve and get better by being applicable to more circumstances.

It is also the case that people see that they have different viewpoints of the world and decide the other person is wrong - rather than seeking to understand.

Something can be defined as true if it is useful and correct in its prediction or description of the behaviour of the world.

There are largely agreed upon “external” truths and more secretive personal “internal” truths. They are not the same, but they are all slices of reality from your view point.

It’s also not a binary divide, there is a scale to which others also agree with a particular “truth”.

The Metaphorical truth

This is a fascinating concept introduced to me by Brett Weinstein.

It comes from the line of thinking above - oftentimes, the test for what is true is determined by its applicability to the real world i.e. is it useful?

In the case of an objectively false fact such as “porcupines can shoot their quills”, we find something interesting occurs.

The resultant behaviour of the people that believed this were more wary around porcupines and as a result suffered less injuries and deaths. Because this conferred a survival advantage, this myth retained its potency as a truth. We call these facts which are objectively false but functionally useful as “metaphorical truths”. It’s factually incorrect but confers survival advantages through its belief and propagation.

The shows how incredibly powerful the human mind is.

How to use this?

1. One can use this fact to adopt some powerful metaphorical truths (beliefs) about the world that will have a positive impact on your results.

2. It is also interesting to dissect your current beliefs and see if they are objectively or just metaphorically true - you might be in for a surprise.

The bigger picture

What’s most powerful about this idea is that it underlies humanity’s potential to be driven by stories, narratives and beliefs.

It shows that what’s true is not actually as important as what you believe is true.

Choose your beliefs carefully.

PRODUCTIVITY, LIFE

How to Start a Blog that Changes Your Life - Nat Eliason case study

This piece by Nat is a core one in my library of inspiration. Nat is basically retired at the ripe age of 30. He is a digital or internet entrepreneur.

This blog post is a very detailed breakdown of how he applied himself and eventually broke out of the rat race.

His secret - starting a blog!

Now that may not sound too revolutionary or sexy, but how can writing a blog change your life is such a dramatic way?

By making it less about producing content and more about gaining skills and sharing value.

For instance, Nat wrote a piece of content every 3-4 days for 6 years, getting about 650 pieces of content on his website.

Its hard to commit to writing 650 pieces of content.

It’s easy to commit to sharing an interesting story, advice or resource every 3-4 days. And while you do so, you will learn about building a website, copywriting, marketing and a how to use a few tools along the way.

What can you write about? The best things are to write about:

• what you know (easy)

• what you’re excited about (fun)

• What you believe (clarifies your thinking)

Platform choice? While Nat suggests a building personal website using Webflow, I would say leave that for later and just sign up for a Medium or Substack account, or maybe even a Beehiv newsletter.

What’s important is you focus on building the writing habit.

The payoff

Monetization through writing can take on many forms. Here are a few notable ones:

• Running ads on your website, newsletter or social media pages

• Affiliate links on your websites

• Products of your own

• Consulting/ coaching services

What do you think? Would you consider starting something like a blog or newsletter?

Read the case study and let me know!

Read👉🏻 https://www.nateliason.com/blog/start-a-blog

1. Dorian Yates- The Genius Scientist of Bodybuilding

   • One of my all-time favourite podcasts. Dorian Yates is a 6-times Mr Olympia winner (consecutively) and is the definition of a warrior poet, a silent master. If you need an inspiring story of a blue collar boy becoming a world champion, don’t skip this.

2. What Does A Product Manager Do?

   • Short but informative article on the Product Manager role in many digital companies and what skills and knowledge is needed. The Product Manager is often thought of as the CEO of the product and is a good role to gain experience before becoming a founder or CEO.

3. Horowitz: Massive Danish study on surgical masks found no statistically significant benefit against COVID-19

   • It’s always been known that surgical masks, which have pores about 30 times larger than virus particles and are not form-fitted around the edges, cannot protect against airborne viruses such as the flu. It says so on the boxes themselves. Nonetheless, here’s a study that proves they are useless at protection from things called viruses.

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Till the next time,

- Karmsheel