I studied physics to nearly the farthest levels you can at one of the great institutions. Now I study evolutionary psychology more. I’ve thought about these things a lot.

As a practicing businessman and inventor, I look to nature — physics — for ideas to create and engineer to bring to market. As a leader I look to people — biology — to interact with, team up with, buy from, sell to, etc; in short, to influence.

Sometimes I think about the fields and how I interact with them daily, not abstractly asking about the fields or as a researcher but in how I use their domains in my professional life. If you work on sales, you’re using biology and psychology. If you invent something mechanical, you’re using physics.

• Which is easier or harder to understand — nature in general or people in particular?
• Which is easier or harder to influence — nature in general or people in particular?
• Which is more or less useful?
• How separate or distinct are we as people from nature in general?

I don’t have answers, but I find the questions thought-provoking.

• ← Rules are other people telling you what to do; Breaking rules lets you excel
• Jon Kabat-Zinn, mindfulness, meditation, and ordering and simplifying your life →