Safety Nets Matter

Last week, Bill Gates's daughter graduated from medical school. Someone on Twitter posted a rational take: why would she bother with medical school when her billionaire dad could easily set her up for life and she can enjoy a life of pleasure?

Finishing medical school isn’t a walk in the park. It’s four years of college, four years of post-grad, years of residency, and countless exams. Screw up at any point, and you’re out. It’s serious business, taking years of intense studying. Then becoming a doctor is not easy either. Long hours, hospitals, tough decisions, etc.

So, why is she doing this? She doesn’t need to. With all that money, she could just live it up like Kim Kardashian.

Your whole mindset shifts. Doing hard things starts to feel fun when you’re safe. Challenges become a game, a puzzle. Through play, people exercise imagination, innovation, and problem-solving—key intellectual activities. You flex your intellectual muscles without risking your survival. There’s a thrill because you always have an out.

Without that safety net, hard things aren’t fun. They’re about survival, where failure comes with real consequences. Our brain and body can’t unfeel the downside. It makes things less playful, more serious, more strict, more tight, less loose and flows.

No one goes to war with a smile on their face

Think about what a safety net does. It creates a playful mindset when tackling tough projects, unlocking creativity and other hidden attributes. It turns life into a game because the stakes are low. You felt it as a kid, but it’s harder to connect with that feeling as an adult.

Homo Ludens

It turns out, this playfulness mindset is very Lindy. Here, a quote from Plato from his Laws

In "Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play-Element in Culture," Johan Huizinga delves into the idea of play as a fundamental element of human culture and society. He argues that play predates culture, pointing out that even animals engage in it. Huizinga believes human culture emerges and evolves through play.

Play lets individuals experiment with different roles, scenarios, and strategies in a low-stakes environment, fostering learning and adaptation essential for intellectual growth.

The "magic circle" concept suggests that play creates a space where normal rules are suspended, enabling free exploration and the testing of new ideas. This mental flexibility is vital for cognitive development and intelligence.

In This Newsletter

1) How Much of a Safety Net is Enough?: When we talk about safety nets, we need to be specific about what it means. They are not all equal.

2) The Joy of the Hobbyist: We Are Very Successful When We Treat Our Activities as Hobbies Instead of Work.

3) On Stoicism, Christianity, Philosophy and Risk Taking: What if there was a safety net normal people can get access too but it doesn’t include money. Let’s explore how philosophy can put you in this mindset.

What is An Appropriate Safety Net?

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