systemsthinking — Andre Siregar

Picking what to learn next

November 21, 2020

Note: I originally posted this article on LinkedIn

Humans are living longer and longer. The majority of children born in developed countries today can expect to live to more than 100 years. Many of us reading this article will work until our 70s and 80s. At the same time, the world is changing quickly, so we must always adapt, grow, and learn new things.

However, even if you have decided to block some time for continuous learning, you have another problem. There is an abundance of learning resources out there. What should you learn? What learning resources should you pick? You have limited spare time and you can't possibly learn everything.

[LINK] The New York Times: 'How Zeynep Tufekci Keeps Getting the Big Things Right'

September 2, 2020

Ben Smith at The New York Times wrote about Zeynep Tufekci, a Turkish-born writer, programmer-turned-sociologist, and associate professor at University of North Carolina (emphasis added):

These are, by her lights, the ingredients in seeing clearly: – An international point of view she picked up while bouncing as a child between Turkey and Belgium and then working in the United States. – Knowledge that spans subject areas and academic disciplines, which she happened onto as a computer programmer who got into sociology. – A habit of complex, systems-based thinking, which led her to a tough critique in The Atlantic of America’s news media in the run-up to the pandemic.

She obviously has a great track record to attract the attention of The New York Times. She has proven to be able to connect the dots from her diverse background, combine them with new findings, and form a fresh view about what's happening in the world. While the article is not about systems thinking, I would love to dive into her psyche and understand how she thinks.

#systemsthinking