Created: February 10, 2022
Modified: February 10, 2022
Modified: February 10, 2022
looking under the lamppost
This page is from my personal notes, and has not been specifically reviewed for public consumption. It might be incomplete, wrong, outdated, or stupid. Caveat lector.There's a tendency to focus on things that we have the (conceptual/mathematical/societal) tools to understand, even when we know this is ultimately barking up the wrong tree. The [classic illustration]:
A policeman sees a drunk man searching for something under a streetlight and asks what the drunk has lost. He says he lost his keys and they both look under the streetlight together. After a few minutes the policeman asks if he is sure he lost them here, and the drunk replies, no, and that he lost them in the park. The policeman asks why he is searching here, and the drunk replies, "this is where the light is".Looking under the lamppost - Sketchplanations: "It's an apt metaphor for how, if we're really honest with ourselves, sometimes we find ourselves working, or searching, or staying in the places where we find it easier rather than the places where we know we ought to be."