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File: ThereIsNoTimeForThis

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----
My latest posts can be
found here:
  * ColinsBlog
----
Previous blog posts:
  * PublicallySharingLinks
  * LearningTimesTables
  * GracefulDegradation
  * DiagrammingMathsTopics
  * OnTheRack
  * SquareRootByLongDivision
  * BeyondTheBoundary
  * FillInTheGaps
  * SoftwareChecklist
  * NASASpaceCrews
  * TheBirthdayParadox
  * TheTrapeziumConundrum
  * RevisitingTheAnt
  * TheAntAndTheRubberBand
  * IrrationalsExist
  * MultipleChoiceProbabilityPuzzle
  * RandomEratosthenes
  * WrappingUpSquareDissection
  * DissectingASquarePart2
  * DissectingACircle
  * DissectingASquare
  * AnOddityInTennis
  * DecisionTreeForTennis
  * DecisionTreesInGames
  * AMatterOfConvention
  * DoYouNourishOrTarnish
  * BinarySearchReconsidered
  * TwoEqualsFour
  * TheLostPropertyOffice
  * TheForgivingUserInterface
  * SettingUpRSS
  * WithdrawingFromHackerNews
----
Additionally, some earlier writings:
  * RandomWritings.
  * ColinsBlog2010
  * ColinsBlog2009
  * ColinsBlog2008
  * ColinsBlog2007
  * ColinsBlogBefore2007
********
!!! I don't have the time ... - 2015/04/03

[[[> One of my _ RandomWritings ]]]
I'm finding these days that I just don't have
the time to do everything myself. I need reliable
sources that I can trust to do my input filtering,
reliable advisors to whom I can entrust the task
of doing some of the analysis of the huge flood
of data available.  I don't have time to evaluate
everything on its merit, to research in depth the
sources, and to compare details.  Most likely people
have done it before me, and some of them are better
qualified, better informed, and better suited.
Why should I throw away the information about their
skills and redo their work less well than they did?

Hackers have a deep loathing of repeated, wasted
effort. "Three strikes and you automate" is a
horribly mixed metaphor, but it captures the idea
that you shouldn't waste your time repeating the
same actions over and over.  You should use your
time constructively, inventively, creatively, and
not repeat work needlessly.

But at the same time there is also a culture of
disregarding authority and judging everything
solely on merit.  The problem is, doing so requires
that one has the ability, knowledge, time and capacity
to do a better job than the author.  But why discard
information only to re-cover the same ground?  Why
continually re-invent the wheel?

[[[>50 Of course, there /*is*/ merit in re-inventing
wheels.  Doing so is a way of acquiring skills by practice.
[[[> In medicine they say:
  * Watch one,
  * Do one,
  * Teach one.
]]]
Ideally one would then turn to /*teaching*/ wheel-making
to further improve one's own wheel-making skills
but, quite bluntly, I don't have the time.  There are better
things for me to be doing, and therefore I will buy my wheels,
taking care to buy them on occasion from those who
are still learning their craft of wheel-making, thereby
aiding their process of learning. ]]]

So I have now decided to trust the judgement of
selected others, those who have proven themselves
trustworthy in their area of expertise.  I will no
longer reject out of hand the pronouncements made
by others, saying that I will not accept "Argument from Authority".
I will accept that I don't know everything, and
that there are things that cannot be deduced
quickly and accurately from a combination of
first principles and the limited things I already know.

I will gracefully accept the hard-gained wisdom of
others (tempered with a critical eye) and not refuse
it simply because I cannot immediately see why it
must be so.

I will accept these things because, at their heart,
they are gifts of time.  There are risks involved in
this course of action,
but I will accept those risks and deem them worth
taking.  I am no longer a teenager, so I no longer
know everything.  My life is probably half over.

I have a lot I still want to do, and I don't really
have a lot of time left.

-----
See also: RandomWritings
----

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!! Comments

I've decided no longer to include comments directly via the Disqus
(or any other) system.  Instead, I'd be more than delighted to get
emails from people who wish to make comments or engage in discussion.
Comments will then be integrated into the page as and when they are
appropriate.

If the number of emails/comments gets too large to handle then I
might return to a semi-automated system.  That's looking increasingly
unlikely.

********<