008 - if you can't search...

If this is you, you're fucked

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Daniel Lombraña on Warpcast

Let's turn this now into books. When I was doing my PhD my students didn't know how to use the glossary (they didn't know it existed) and how to search within a book. They're so used to type and wait for the computer to return something. If they don't find the right answer, they give up.

I'm out with kid #2 looking for vaseline. For those not familiar with this product, it's a basic creme you can use for everything. Like Nivea or sudocrem. You get the gist: It's an every-day product available every-fucking-where.

We enter store #1.

I start scanning the store for cremes. Should be near shampoo and shower gel. Why? Because it is (or should be) part of your hygiene routine. You wash yourself, then hydrate your skin. But it isn't. Fair point, the store is weird. Targeting people at least 20 years younger than I with make-up products (and sex toys).

My kid goes straight towards the first assistant and ask where the vaseline is. Answer: They don't have any.

We leave the store with 2 types of shower gel, sun lotion, after-sun creme, and shaving heads because I, while exploring the store, remembered that we still need those things.

We enter store #2. It sells 99% the same stuff than in store #1. It's also next door. No idea who decided this was a good idea. The vibe is different. More upscale, selective, and pharmacy-grade hygiene products. No sex toys and less make-up.

Same thing happens. I scan the labels above the shelfs, and think "Where would I put vaseline so that people buy it?" It's not next to the Nivea. My daughter comes to me with the information she received from the shop assistant. It's near the pharmacy-stuff. I'm already there. Turns out it was next to the toothpaste 🤷‍♀

Exactly what Daniel mentioned. You need to know when to use what tool to find something. Our grand-parents are laughing at this generation knowing how to decipher block-explorers but not knowing how to find a word in a paper-dictionary or that books have an index.

We're used to be given answers on a silver plate. But who cares about the answer, when magic happens while you are searching. Yes exploration is less efficient, but that's because you are learning and discovering on the way. You are trading short-term gains in efficiency for long-term gains of knowledge.