WORLDVIEW: Novel notion for SA – use Einstein’s advice to unshackle economy

By Alec Hogg.The Americans have a wonderful way of extracting wisdom from their society's best. They use something called the Commencement Address, a motivational speech by an invited guest to graduating college students. The more prestigious the university, the more expected of the presenter..California's Stanford is among the leaders, but easily the famous of its addresses was the 2005 masterpiece by Apple's founder, the late Steve Jobs. The YouTube video of that 14-minute talk has been downloaded more than eight million times. It's a must-watch for anyone seeking a burst of inspiration..___STEADY_PAYWALL___.Those delivering Commencement Addresses mostly offer advice to the rising generation on the right things to do. But occasionally someone takes the opposite approach, using inversion to advise what NOT to do. Specifically, super-rational vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway and Warren Buffett's business partner for over half a century, the inimitable Charlie Munger..There are two ways, Munger says, of finding the solution to the most difficult problems. The first is to explain it to someone who simply nods in response. It's what Munger calls the Orangutan Method. If you enter an orangutan's cage, give him a banana and explain the problem to him, when you leave the orangutan will still be eating the banana. But you'll be a little closer to the solution..The second is encapsulated in his 1986 Commencement Speech to his alma mater, the Harvard School. Drawing on the experience of the great algebraist Carl Jacobi, he urged the graduating class to "invert, always invert." Even the toughest problem can be solved if approached backwards. Solutions often emerge after trying to discredit your assumptions..Munger used namesake Charles Darwin as an example of one who wasn't afraid to attack theories he cherished. And, in the memorable Harvard address, Munger quotes Albert Einstein who put his string of successful theories down to "curiosity, concentration, perseverance and self-criticism – the testing and destruction of his own well-loved ideas.".Insanity is described as doing the same thing over while expecting a different outcome. South Africa is a near perfect example of this. Its leaders talk about creating jobs. They delude themselves with unrealistic economic growth targets. But instead of smelling the coffee when predictions are undershot, repeat the same, tired Soviet rhetoric, convincing themselves this time will be different..What the nation needs right now is a large dose of Einstein with some Munger and Darwin thrown in. A backward examination of its problems. A "testing and destruction of well-loved ideas." That will liberate solutions which can restart the country's motor. And unshackle the best Constitution on earth by allowing it to unleash human potential champing at a collective bit.

WORLDVIEW: Novel notion for SA – use Einstein’s advice to unshackle economy

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