_^30/07/2024

Via Negativa

I stumbled upon the idea of via negativa, or as the cool kids say; Apophatic theology, while reading Skin in The Game by Nassim Taleb:

Via negativa: the principle that we know what is wrong with more clarity than what is right, and that knowledge grows by subtraction. Also, it is easier to know that something is wrong than to find the fix. Actions that remove are more robust than those that add because addition may have unseen, complicated feedback loops.

Again, Nassim Taleb, in his book Antifragile, says:

We know a lot more what is wrong than what is right, or, phrased according to the fragile/robust classification, negative knowledge (what is wrong, what does not work) is more robust to error than positive knowledge (what is right, what works). So knowledge grows by subtraction much more than by addition—given that what we know today might turn out to be wrong but what we know to be wrong cannot turn out to be right, at least not easily.

Originally the idea comes from the theology, where it is said that God can be described by what he is not.

For me, it is interesting because it is resembles the mental model of Inversion. Instead of trying to find out what to do, you can try to find out what not to do. It is easier to find out what not to do, because there are more ways to do something wrong than to do it right.

For example, if you have a sleep problem, adding more things to your life might not be the solution; such as taking sleeping pills, drinking alcohol, or watching TV before bed. Instead, you can try to remove things from your life; such as not drinking coffee after 4pm, not eating after 8pm, or not using your phone before bed, etc.

_{PS: Obviously, this is not a medical advice. Also, one should not judge others. Even if the intention is good, it is not a good idea to give unsolicited advice to others. Something to work on. :^)}

Have a problem? Try to cut things out before adding more. Don’t know the solution? Try to find out what is not the solution. Work from there.