Can you make a Pencil?

The ordinary lead pencil found at the next door stationery shop.

Do you know what it takes to actually make a pencil? The human effort, the technology, the resources.

No single human in the world knows exactly how to make a pencil, yet billions of them are churned out from factories around the world everyday.

Production of an ordinary pencil is a testimony to the power of human collaboration and ingenuity.

Economist Leonard E. Read wrote a short essay in 1958, beautifully demonstrating this irony. The essay was titled I, Pencil.

Much like the humble pencil, making of a nation also requires many complex human and technological collaborations to come through.

Collaborations which cut across national and cultural boundaries.

No nation in the world today can claim to be self sufficient, it cannot claim to not be dependent on some other nation for some commodity or service.

And its a good thing.

This complex network of interdependence helps nations focus on the things that they are good at, and outsource the things that someone else is better at. This sort of collaboration benefits both parties involved.

And yet, across the world, today we see a wave of protectionism and conservatism sweeping across. We see even countries which have benefited tremendously from international trade, raising their tariffs and discouraging international trade.

Couple of months ago, the Indian government kicked off its “Aatmanirbhar Bharat” campaign. It roughly translates to “Self reliant India” and its a clarion call for Indians to consume Indian products and services as opposed to foreign imports.

While there have not been any visible changes at the policy level, this seems like the government’s effort to jumpstart the economy and boost domestic consumption. Something which might now work if domestic production cannot match up to the country’s imports.

The move triggers more politics than policy, and seems fundamentally flawed.

Last month we sat down with our friend Gaurav Tiwari on a zoom call to discuss the merits of this bold ambition.

In this hour long conversation we discussed the historical patterns of protectionism across the globe, India’s relationship with China and we discussed areas where India can truly become a leader in the global economy.

You can listen to the audio version by clicking on the play icon at the top, or you can watch the conversation on YouTube —

Part 1—

Part 2—

Signing off for the week, here’s a quote worth pondering from the essay I, Pencil

I, Pencil, am a complex combination of miracles: a tree, zinc, copper, graphite, and so on. But to these miracles which manifest themselves in Nature an even more extraordinary miracle has been added: the configuration of creative human energies—millions of tiny know-hows configurating naturally and spontaneously in response to human necessity and desire and in the absence of any human masterminding!

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Hope you liked today’s post, if there are any improvements we can make do let us know by replying to this. We love listening to feedback.

This was Wisdom Letter #60. In case you want to revisit any of the previous 59letters, checkout our entire archive.

Tell a friend about The Wisdom Project, spread some wisdom :)

Love,

Aditi & Ayush

Today we are talking about the story of an Iron Man.

Do you Run? or Cycle or Swim?

What do you do to stay fit?

And what do you do to entertain your adventurous spirit?

What do you do to feel Alive?

A modern sedentary lifestyle can easily begin to feel mundane. We are knowledge workers now, working from the comfort of our couches, striking away at our keyboards.

Suffering from growing waistlines and weakening hearts.

But we were not meant to live like this. Our primal brain still craves the adventure of the jungle, it still craves the adrenaline rush of unknown dangers and the thrill that comes from pushing its body to the limits.

It is only when we push our bodies and minds to their limits, that we finally start to feel the “life” in our lifestyle.

It’s a high like no other.

A simple and healthy way to achieve that high in the modern world is through sport. Our guest today is an expert in the ability to miraculously test and push the limits of his body and mind.

Check it out—

The Iron Man

Last month we were joined by our dear friend Amar to discuss health, fitness and endurance sports.

In a Pre COVID World, earlier this year Amar ran the famous half triathlon -- Ironman 70.3 Dubai 2020

The race entailed 1.9KMs of Swimming, 90KMs of Cycling and 21.1 KMs of Running.

He accomplished this feat in less than 7 hours. And after 4 months of self directed preparation.

In this fascinating conversation we discuss his passion for running and sports, his preparation for the triathlon and his struggles with Swimming and Cycling.

There are plenty of lessons in here for all of us.

Apart from the obvious lessons on fitness and preparation, Amar's story is the epitome of the human spirit of adventure and the incessant, fearless pursuit of the unknown.

Join us for this wonderful and inspirational discussion.

And yes, for your own fitness regimen, here's the mantra we boiled down to -- Just Get Started.

Listen to our conversation by clicking the play button at the top of this post.

Or check it out on Youtube —

Also, don’t forget to follow Amar on Instagram to get inspired everyday.

Signing off for the week. Here’s something to think about, something that Amar epitomizes for us. A snippet from Wisdom Letter #22 — The Spirit of Sport :

Sport is the ultimate test of our abilities, both physical and mental. Its the test of our skill and character, of our courage and fortitude. Its the living, breathing, physical manifestation of all of human knowledge and WISDOM.

Signup

If you’ve received this post from a friend, hit the subscribe button below to receive such Wisdom Letters directly in your inbox next week. It will help you spend your Sundays wisely.

Not an Email person? Subscribe to The Wisdom Project on Whatsapp to receive shots of wisdom directly on your phone.

Or ‘Like’ us on our Facebook Page. We will be in your feed and stories with byte size pieces of wisdom.

Thank you for reading.

Hope you liked today’s post, if there are any improvements we can make do let us know by replying to this. We love listening to feedback.

This was Wisdom Letter #58. In case you want to revisit any of the previous 57 letters, checkout our entire archive.

Tell a friend about The Wisdom Project, spread some wisdom :)

Love,

Aditi & Ayush

Morgan Housel of Collaborative Fund has written an article titled “Wounds Heal, Scars Last”.

He argues that while the COVID19 wounds would heal with time, but the scars that it will leave behind on our society culturally and psychologically will last long.

He further explores a couple of long term scars we are likely to see and explains his thesis for the same. The kind of changes we are likely to see in people’s behaviour and the social structures we will come up with in a post pandemic world.

This is an interesting idea, of wounds healing but scars lasting. It’s worth diving deep into this idea and attack it from various angles.

Today on The Wisdom Project podcast we springboard from this idea and look back at the wounds of our own history as a nation and discuss the scars those wounds have left us.

And of course, we talk about a few scars the current crisis is going to leave behind.

Just click play on the embedded player to listen in your browser.

Show Notes

* Wounds Heal, Scars Last - Morgan Housel

* A Life in Indian Politics - Jayaprakash Narayan | The Seen and the Unseen

* Inside Bill’s Brain | Netflix

* The Carbon Conundrum | Wisdom Letter #10

How are you dealing with the lockdown?

How are you working? Are you working from home? is it new for you or are you a WFH champ?

The industrial revolution created the work culture of an 8 hour day and a 40 hour week.

That was ideal for doing factory work on conveyor belts and churning out one finished product after another.

But today we live in the knowledge economy. Most of our work happens on laptops and by leveraging the internet.  Yet many companies even today impose industrial era rules on their employees. How are those companies dealing with these lockdowns?

And what turns will our professional lives take because of this forced remote work.

What happens to the 'people' managers whose only job was to supervise other employees? are you one of them? Is your boss one of them?  How will he 'control' his team remotely?

Checkout the 3rd Episode of The Wisdom Project Podcast as we continue our series on #CoronaCoversations.

Today we are joined by our dear friend Anirban Ghosh to talk about how the COVID19 lockdown will impact the way we work over the long term.

Listen in for a fun, casual, thought provoking conversation about calibrating the "Remote Controls" to our work lives.

Just click play on the embedded player to listen in your browser.

#CoronaCoversations

Find out more about The Wisdom Project at : https://wisdomproject.substack.com/

PS: The language of the podcast is a mix of Hindi and English.

The Corona Virus has taken over the World. Right from British royalty, to the average Joe on the streets, it has infected one and all.

Viruses are democratic in that sense, at least till a cure is found.

This pandemic resembles many historical crises. Right from the Spanish Flu of 1918, to the two world wars and even the financial meltdown of 2008.

The world is going to change forever, this is a once in a lifetime event, and for those asking, when will things get back to normal, it would be prudent to realize, that the Corona Virus will leave the world establishing the new normal.

 But how will we deal with it? Especially in India do we have the resources to fight this battle of attrition? And how will this change us forever?

Today on The Wisdom Project Podcast, we are joined by our dear friend Gaurav Tiwari aka GT to discuss the economic and social impacts of COVID19. 

We also discuss how might the Indian government deal with this crisis.

A side note, due to connectivity issues, there are a couple of minor disruptions in the audio, but don't worry, you won't miss any valuable insights!

Listen in for a fun, casual, yet thought provoking conversation as we try to calibrate what the new normal might look like.

Just click play on the embedded player to listen.

#CoronaCoversations

PS: The language of the podcast is a mix of Hindi and English.

Hello and welcome to the first episode of The Wisdom Project Podcast.

Its 2020 and everyone and their granny has a podcast these days, so we thought why not us!

On a serious note, we wanted to utilize this medium to express our opinion on issues that often get skipped in the larger ongoing societal conversation.

So here’s the 1st episode.

Women's day is upon us, we thought it's a good time to indulge in discussions that matter to women and the kind of discussions that society should be having more but somehow isn't.

Today we talk about Abortion. The ProChoice vs ProLife debate that is essential for every civilized society to have.

The Indian government recently raised the abortion limit to 24 weeks from 20 weeks. So a woman can now legally get an abortion for upto 24 weeks into her pregnancy.

Find out our thoughts on the matter and our take on the whole ProChoice vs ProLife debate.

Just click play on the embedded player to listen.