TLDR; (via OpenAI)

To truly understand something, you must consider the system it operates within. Newton’s 3rd law of motion applies to everything in a system, as there is always a cause and effect. Smart people consider 2nd and 3rd order effects, and when trying to find the root cause of an effect, they must work backwards. The #1 thing causing the effect must be identified and corrected. When observing an artificial system, if it produces negative outcomes, one must ask “to who’s profit?” or cui bono?

Original

The entire physical universe acts as a system, from the galaxies all the way down to the sub-atomic level.

system

a set of things working together as parts of a mechanism or an interconnecting network; a complex whole.

a set of principles or procedures according to which something is done; an organized scheme or method.

If you’re truly trying to understand something, you have to consider the system it operates within.

To every action there is always opposed an equal reaction: or the mutual actions of two bodies upon each other are always equal, and directed to contrary parts.

Newton’s 3rd law of motion applies to everything operating in any system, not just the physical world. There’s alway a cause and effect. In most cases, you’ll be looking at the effects, trying to find the cause.

However, if you’re operating on something in a system, you will be the cause.

Truly smart people

Truly smart people don’t just think about the effect, they consider the 2nd and 3rd order effects.

The same logic applies in reverse. If you’re looking at the effects, the results in isolation, and trying to figure out “why”, you have to work backwards, to find the root causes. In most cases, the action is 2 or 3 steps back. Beyond that and it becomes exponentially difficult to attribute cause and effect.

The #1 thing

Amongst those causes at the 2nd and 3rd step back, there is usually one that contributes most to the resulting effect. You must deep dive and ask “what is the #1 thing causing this effect?”

If you’re feeling ill and the doctor says you have foot fungus and cancer, only an illogical lunatic would worry about the fungus. If you are trying to improve the system by removing or correcting lesser aspects of it, the greatest way to do it is to repeatedly start with the #1 cause and correct it.

Cui bono

If you’re observing an artificial system, and you find something it does or produces, that is undeniably objectively inefficient or even produces negative outcomes, you have to ask “to who’s profit”, or cui bono?

Notebook