On surface area maximization
don't forget the surface area to volume ratio says the wise bird
When I set off on the nomadic phase of the Dogyssey this Feb, I did not have a plan.
Sure, I had a starting point in Israel and a loose narrative of how things could unfurl from then onwards.
But I did not have a well-fleshed out chronological order of places and events and people and things to do. I didn’t know I would be working on a startup (I entertained the idea of a PhD for a few short months). Heck, I didn’t even have a ‘real’ name for my project, I was just reversing my last name and calling it a day.
What I had instead was two things.
There was a launch-pad - 800 odd words distilling my foundations and my blue sky.
There was a gut hunch that the best guiding principle this year was to optimize for maxxing out surface area.
By surface area, I mean unfiltered contact with ideas, communities, and cultures. This is frequently, if not by definition, uncomfortable. As free-energy minimizing beings, increasing surface area runs against the basic instinct of the mind for predictability. Doing things that are uncomfortable is valuable in isolation and almost justifies going after surface area in of itself. However, the value of multiplying your contact with reality goes beyond that of a cold shower, I’d say it’s three things - fluency in what Tyler Cowen calls cracking cultural codes, building what Celine Halioua calls intersectional adeptness that crafts a unique POV, and ramping up your luck super-linearly like Altman.
Optimising for surface area can be one of the best things one does, with the caveat that it remains bounded in both time and theme. Without constraints, you end up forever treading the shallows, with potential insights and connections remaining unplumbed. Even worse, is to become the proverbial dosa that is spread too thin, with cracks in cohesiveness and fragments sticking to the pangAIa. Always remember the surface-area-to-volume ratio says the wise bird by the name of dylan.
When done right, maxxing for surface area can accelerate the speed at which you surf the xp loop and get closer to become, what Charles Fort calls, the expansive state of being "our own authors of the paranormal" [Kripal].
By degree of contact, happenings of Dogyssey 2023 —
Immersion
Research Visits - Tech4Animals, Haifa, Israel; Family Dog Project, Budapest; Medical Detection Dogs, UK
Plunge
Brainstorm National Neurotech Hackathon, Israel; Zuzalu, Montenegro; Effective Altruism Global, London; Canine Science Forum, Budapest; Emergent Ventures India Unconference; Assistance Dogs International, Croatia; fNIRS (Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy), UK
Dip
TechCrunch, SF; Uplift Panel on Interspecies Technology. SF; buildspace IRL, SF; Irish Substack Meetup, Dublin; Patch Hackathon, Dublin; Osmocosm, MIT (virtual); Bangalore Cabin Supper Club, Zo House; Bangalore Hardware Cabal.
will keep coming back to this.