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Useful Mental Models (2016)

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Re: Useful Mental Models (2016)

#51

Post by vorpalhex »

mythrwy wrote: post #27

Most of these are really good, especially productivity and time estimation. Some I do not agree with (although perhaps the model presented is useful depending on desired outcome). -Efficient market hypothesis: Markets are not fully efficient and the state of the world is not optimal. Thus opportunities exist. It's our job as engineers (and business people/humanitarians/writers/philosophers etc.) to recognize and corr…

Re -Charitable interpretations

I use a modified model of this called the 'Forgiving Copycat' model. Basically, I assume there is some chance people accidentally do rude/inconsiderate things. At the same time, someone who consistently does rude or inconsiderate things is probably rude or inconsiderate.

To that end, I ignore rude behavior the first time, address it the second time, and return it the third.

Re: Useful Mental Models (2016)

#52

Post by klausjensen »

c3534l wrote: post #30
gerad wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Earn $1000 = $500 after taxes. :)

More like 800, I don't know why people like to exaggerate how much goes to taxes. Median marginal federal tax rate is 15%, which means on average it's less than that.

Hello from Scandinavia!

(Ok, I don't live there any more but... )

Re: Useful Mental Models (2016)

#53

Post by klausjensen »

fredley wrote: post #36
golergka wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends on the country. In US, it seems that everybody does their taxes and all salaries and income are discussed as "before tax"; in Russia, for example, all taxes and payments for employees are done on employer's side and all salaries and income are usually discussed as "after tax" - people don't even usually know how much are they earning "before tax".

Same here in the UK. You can look at how much tax you've paid on your payslip, but you never feel like that money was yours in the first place since it never hits your bank. I had to complete a tax return for the first time last year, although it's completely illogical (and I'd budgeted the number so knew what it would be well in advance), it felt more painful paying the ~£_,000 of extra tax I owed than paying the ~£…

>>...but you never feel like that money was yours in the first place since it never hits your bank.

A politician (republican-ish, Scandinavia) once told me, that the whole tax-system would fall apart if people were paid their salaries in full and had to pay their taxes in cash.

It is of course absurd and impractical in our day and age, but I think most people are blind to the amount of tax they pay.

Re: Useful Mental Models (2016)

#54

Post by NegatioN »

haukilup wrote: post #50
gonzo41 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depending on where you live, that extra 5 hundred means that the streets are safe, you have clean drinking water on tap and if you get hit by a car crossing the stree you'll probably make it. And defence and welfare and such and such. suck it up. Taxes have a point.

> suck it up. Taxes have a point. Your comment feels completely out of line. This comment thread is talking about mental models about money. The GP comment isn't complaining about taxes. Most likely, the observation about taxes is to say that earning an additional $1000 income does not translate into the same amount that could be spent. Or something similar, related to the mental model topic they're talking about.

He should probably have elaborated on that then imo. It seems like a low effort post if that was what he was trying to convey. However the comment you're replying to is also a useful mental model. Even though tax is "money spent", it is coming back to you through having a safer environment. Therefore it shouldn't be considered "wasted money" at the very least.

Although the last sentence of the comment doesn't add much to his point.

Re: Useful Mental Models (2016)

#55

Post by DrImplausible »

xtony wrote: post #3

What does LRU (least recently used) have to do with picking the highest-priority problem? But overall, pretty good overview and I appreciate the links to other sources.

To pick an example out of thin air, think of stage act trying to keep a number of plates spinning. You can keep a number of them going, but the LRU one is the one most likely of falling because it's lost some energy, and you need to check it to keep it up in the air.

Re: Useful Mental Models (2016)

#56

Post by arundelo »

joe_the_user wrote: post #22

Efficient market hypothesis That's a kind of ideological way to phrase the situation. It's easier to just describe the "stable market hypothesis"; however things are organized is the way that market structures have stably gone and thus can't easily be changed (whether market are efficient or not). This includes all the points in the parent plus the point that you may have improved on app/gimzo X significantly over th…

The efficient-market hypothesis is an idea that already has a well-known name. In the article the words are a Wikipedia link.

Re: Useful Mental Models (2016)

#57

Post by kaycebasques »

vanzorn wrote: post #6

A personal favorite on the subject of mental models: A Lesson on Elementary, Worldly Wisdom As It Relates To Investment Management & Business Charles Munger, USC Business School, 1994 http://old.ycombinator.com/munger.html

As far as I can tell, Munger is the one who really popularized the notion of mental models, so this is a must-read.

For anyone not in the know, Munger is Warren Buffett's business partner. The basic idea is to collect an interdisciplinary checklist of different paradigms for viewing the world, and then run through that checklist and apply each mode of thinking to whatever tough problem you're working through.

HN readers probably already know all of this, but I just love this approach to thinking and wanted to share the wealth :)

Re: Useful Mental Models (2016)

#58

Post by 323454 »

cam_l wrote: post #16
finaliteration wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article said, “upgrade the units and double the estimate.” So 20 hours -> 40 days -> 80 weeks -> 160 months

so 1 month -> 2 years but 4 weeks -> only 8 months

30 days is 720 hrs -> 1440 days which is 3.9 years.

I love it

Re: Useful Mental Models (2016)

#59

Post by kaycebasques »

Great list! Two criticisms:

1. One mental model that I applied when reading this post on mental models (so meta!) is "audience". As I was reading I thought to myself, "Who is this guy? Why should I trust his mental models? Is he living a life that I want to duplicate?" I mean it with respect and with no malice towards him, he's probably awesome. It's also possible to pick up useful mental models from people that you may not necessarily want to emulate. All I'm pointing out is that it's been really useful for me to consider the motivations and track record of the person giving me advice, before I take that advice to heart.

2. It's a long list! I wonder if it'd be more fruitful to have a shorter list, but to apply each mental model rigorously, every time. Charlie Munger (the guy who popularized mental models, as far as I can tell) himself is a huge advocate of checklists. I remember him saying something along the lines of "you have to be disciplined about your mental models. You have to apply every one, every time. You can't pick and choose."

Re: Useful Mental Models (2016)

#60

Post by b0rsuk »

"The teaching method" - I observed this myself while helping Python newbies on the internet. Pretty often when you're answering a newbie question, you gain a deeper understanding of the problem. Newbies don't ask exactly the same questions as you have in the past, so you start seeing old problems in new light. Also, you dust off your skills.

Moral of the story: helping people on IRC can be a fun and enlightening past-time.

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