Lenses
April 2023 ‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒ 7 minute read
Our perspective of life, of how we view the world, is an ever-changing kaleidoscope. This kaleidoscope, this worldview, can be broken down into lenses. In the simplest terms, a lens is a filter through which you view the world. It can be a simple as an insight, or as intricate as aligned set of knowledge and expertise. I'll show you what I mean with an example.
When you look at an apple, what do you see?
What one person sees may differ from another. I might call that colour red, you may call it pink. I may see a snack, you may see an ornament. But the idea of a lens can be taken so much further. An artist may see the form, the texture, the colours and how they might replicate it. A writer may instantly furnish words to describe it. A miser might estimate the monetary value of the apple. A farmer may see the apple and consider its journey from orchard to fruit bowl. A biologist may see the biological processes which led to the apple's creation. And so on. The possibilities are endless. It all depends on what lens you are using.
Do you catch my drift though? A lens is much more than an analysis or field-based scrutiny, though that is a part of it. More than this, a lens is the means by which you view the world. The artist didn't have to consciously apply artistic theory and speculate how they would go about replicating it – that's just how they saw the apple irrespective.
This is one type of lens – that of the subconscious. The view which is just baked into you, whether genetically or learnt. On the other hand, a conscious lens refers to the more deliberate use of a lens in order to purposefully view something in a specific way. Consider: John Doe may be naturally optimistic, and that is just how he subconsciously views the world. Dohn Joe, on the other hand, may be naturally cynical, but consciously tries to view things in an optimistic light. In the same way that a skill is learnt, a conscious lens can gradually shift to a subconscious and eventually even unconscious lens. Though the distinction between the two is useful, I won't consider it any further, and will instead just focus on the idea of a lens in the first place.
So now we know what a lens is. How does it work?
In the physical world, a lens such as a magnifying glass can bring things into focus.
The greater the magnification, the more concentrated the beam.
But, the more concentrated the beam, the less are you can focus on.
It's the same for lenses.
This links to the principle of simple=accessible
– a simple lens
will be more accessible/applicable, while a specific, or more complex lens will only be useful for its particular niche.
With this is mind, here is the spectrum when dealing with lenses:
Broad lens = wide application but reduced capacity for insight
Specific lens = high capacity for insight but limited application
Consider the difference of lens between economics and micro economics. Economic theory in its entirety can give broad insight into the workings of the economy, but little depth into the nitty gritty underpinning its influence on a specific business. On the other hand, micro economics, as a specific lens, is limited only to economics with regards to businesses, but can give much greater insight into this field.
The fact that we view the world through lenses is not particularly ground-breaking. What is ground-breaking are the insights which are revealed by viewing fields through different lenses in order to see the parallels between them.1By no means am I saying that this is the only way in which insights are created. But as far as I can see, this is undoubtably a major component, if not the major component.
Historically, the pioneers of different fields are typically polymaths – innovators in not just one but many disciplines. Think of some of the geniuses throughout history – Da Vinci, Newton, Galileo – each of these men were not just scientists, but also mathematicians, philosophers, engineers, theologians, artists and painters... The list goes on.
Now these different fields are more than expertise or knowledge, but also lenses from which to view other fields. And ultimately, these lenses were even complimentary in their ability to produce breakthroughs and innovations. Da Vinci's breakthroughs in anatomy and biomechanics wouldn't have come about if he was not already a skilled artist and painter. Through the lens of a mathematical understanding of the universe, Newton revolutionised physics. Galileo's alignment to scientific method allowed for his discoveries in astronomy. You get the idea.
To give a more recent example, Daniel Kahneman's innovations in psychology, summarised in his bestselling book Thinking Fast and Slow, won him the Nobel prize for economics. By integrating psychological insights into economics, Kahneman pioneered the field of behavioural economics, which aims to view economics through the lens of psychology.
A major foundation of behavioural economics, as highlighted in the book Nudge, by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein, is the rejection of the age-old economic assumption that humans act rationally. Sometimes subversion produces breakthroughs. By looking at economics through the lens of psychology, this insight is obvious. But why wasn't this thought of before?
Interestingly, one of the reasons a lens from one field is able to produce insights in another is because the experts of one specific profession only look at their given field through the one specific perspective. Schools and universities teach the same content as they did decades, even centuries ago. Entire fields can remain deluded under the same theoretical principles, because they keep on using the same old lenses. Lenses which won't reveal anything new that they haven't already shown.
The Santa Fe Institute, a university dedicated to multidisciplinary study and the intersection of fields, is a stark illustration of what happens when experts of all kinds begin to embrace the use different lenses to gain insights.
'The Santa Fe Institute was founded in 1984 by a group of scientists frustrated with the narrow disciplinary confines of academia. They wanted to tackle big questions that spanned different fields, and they felt the only way these questions could be posed and solved was through the intermingling of scientists of all kinds: physicists, biologists, economists, anthropologists, and many others.'
One of their main areas of focus is the idea of complex adaptive systems, a framework which can be applied to everywhere from the weather to economies, ecosystems to social networks, the human psyche to the internet.
More practically, for us mere non-intellectuals, the idea of similar principles in different fields is also the subject of Morgan Housel's outstanding piece, Little Ways The World Works. Drawing one example from the article, studies found that accelerated growth in animals during adolescence reduces their life expectancy; the same principle is also true for businesses. As you look at one field through the lens of another, you’ll be surprised how many similarities you may find; not just in intellectual fields, but in life generally. Sometimes all you need is the right lens to see those fundamental principles which keep cropping up in varying fields under slightly different guises.
All this talk of using different lenses obviously raises the issue of specialization versus generalization. And admittedly, I do realize that inherent within this central idea – that the interconnectedness between lenses reveals insights – is a clear argument for generalisation. However, sometimes specialisation is required in order to understand a subject in enough depth to illuminate insights in the first place. These cases, of which there are many, are where collaborations and teams come into play – there’s a reason many books have two co-authors, or why scientific studies have many co-writers. Regardless of whether you specialise or generalise, there is always a capacity for great things.
Our overall world view is a kaleidoscope of entwining, interrelated views and perspectives. Lenses. Now this worldview is greater than the sum of its lens, but these lenses can be greater than their sum as well. It just depends how you use them. Whether by using multiple lenses yourself, or finding the right people to collaborate with, aligning lenses will always show new and interesting things. You just have to find them. The most profound pieces of writing are the ones which fundamentally change the way you view the world. Sometimes equally profound are the ones which also equip you with a new lens from which to see it with. Hopefully this essay has achieved this, or at least equipped you with the lens to see all others. To see the world in a new light. The light of a lens.
Proof of Concept
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