The Great Mental Models, Volume 2: Physics, Chemistry and Biology

by Shane Parrish

Taking action that works with the world is more effective, less stressful, and ultimately more rewarding. We don’t waste our time fighting to accomplish the impossible.

Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.

Einstein’s thought experiment to describe special relativity illustrated the concept that observers in relative motion experience time differently. This means that two events can happen simultaneously from one observer’s perspective and at different times from another observer’s perspective.

The less willing you are to accept and acknowledge limitations, the less useful your perspective.

You will always have limitations to your frame of reference that you need to account for in an effort to better understand reality.

integrating multiple perspectives gives us a better view. In any

Perspective-taking in psychology refers to the ability to perceive a situation from an alternative point of view.

we don’t gain perspective only with our eyes, but through the lens of our experiences, biases, desires, and more.

Reciprocity teaches us why win-win relationships are the way to go,

physics, reciprocity is Newton’s third law, which states that for every force exerted by object A on object B, there is an equal but opposite force exerted by object B on object A.

Jet propulsion works by forcing matter, such as gas produced by burning fuel, in one direction, leading to a corresponding movement of the vehicle in the opposite direction. This holds true for everything from fireworks and guns to huge spacecrafts.

Jet propulsion only works if the forward push is stronger than the forces acting on the object, like air friction and its own weight. The greater the force in comparison to drag (the amount of force opposing the motion), the faster the object can move.

Reciprocity can be summed up like this: when you act on things, they act on you.

“We are driven more strongly to avoid losses than to achieve gains.”

The trick is to start looking at outcomes in the aggregate instead of focusing on each unique situation.

You are more likely to survive if you receive help from others. And you are more likely to receive that help if you have offered assistance in the past.

Life is easier and more enjoyable when we act on starting and maintaining win-win relationships with everyone.

What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others.”

Schadenfreude: The Joy of Another’s Misfortune,

schadenfreude is tied to three things: aggression, rivalry, and justice.

seeing things go wrong for other individuals gives us a stronger sense of our own superiority because we look and feel better in comparison.

Reciprocation teaches us that if you give people cynicism and curtness or nothing at all, you are likely to receive the same. But if you give people opportunity and the benefit of the doubt, you will, more often than not, be on the receiving end of the same behavior.

The second law of thermodynamics states that entropy (a measure of disorder simply understood as energy unable to be used to do work) of an isolated system always increases.

Isolated systems are those that spontaneously progress toward the state of maximum entropy of the system, also described as thermal equilibrium—no net heat flow between objects.

The entropy of the universe only increases with time. One of the impacts of this law is that we need to expend energy to create order. Without the deployment...

The third law of thermodynamics states that as temperature approaches absolute zero, the entropy of a given sys...

The fourth law of thermodynamics is known as the zeroth law. This is because it was formulated after the first three laws but is fund...

It states that if two objects are in thermal equilibrium with a third object, then those two objects are also in the...

The energy state of an economy—that is, its temperature—largely determines what its members can do and how fast they can do it.

Temperature—the average kinetic energy of the moving molecules in a gas—affects every chemical process and every physical property associated with life. It influences not only the cost of doing business, but the speed at which tasks can be accomplished, and perhaps most importantly the range of adaptive options available. Temperature is, in other words the crucial link between energy and time; the two components of power.»

There are three physical modes through which to transfer energy: radiation, convection and conduction. There are clear analogies of how these modes are used socially to achieve equilibrium across boundaries. For example, radio and TV radiate ideas across borders. Teacher-student exchanges act as intellectual and social convection currents. Brands and foreign aid conduct values.

To keep two substances in direct contact from adjusting to the same temperature is difficult. It requires an insulator and preventing any temperature change in the two substances is only possible with a constant investment of energy.

a closed system that has some order will move toward disorder, which offers so many more possibilities.”

Art is born out of as well as encapsulates the continuing battle between order and chaos. It seeks order or form, even when portraying anarchy

In Into The Woods, John Yorke suggests that the way we tell stories is indicative of our desire to find order in the world. Stories are an attempt to tame the terrifying randomness that surrounds us.

“every act of perception is an attempt to impose order, to make sense of a chaotic universe. Storytelling, at one level, is a manifestation of this process.”17

The Hero‘s Journey ‘Home’ is threatened The protagonist suffers from some kind of flaw or problem The protagonist goes on a journey to find a cure or the key to the problem Exactly halfway through they find a cure or the key On the journey back they’re forced to face up to the consequences of taking it They face some kind of literal or metaphorical death They’re reborn as a new person, in full possession of the cure; in the process ‘home’ is saved.

We are drawn to stories that make things feel a little less random, just as we are drawn to storytellers who seemingly simplify complexity.

By turning individual struggles into common experience, fairy tales put order into the disorder of “assault, cruelty, and injustice.”

What you learn about the world through fairy tales is to accept things that may not make obvious sense. Trust that there is order behind them, and by doing so slow down the entropy of life.

Starting something is hard, but so is stopping something. In physics, inertia refers to the resistance a physical object has to a change in its state of motion.

Things at rest don’t start moving on their own, and planets continue to circle the sun without a means of propulsion.

“An object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless...

Left to themselves, systems resist change.

In his book Principles of Philosophy, Descartes talks about inertia as well, stating that the first law of nature is that “each thing, as far as is in its power, always remains in the same state; and that consequently, when it is once moved, it always continues to move.”

Inertia implies that once we stop doing something, getting started again is harder than continuing the whole time would have been.

At a basic level, many brain studies have shown that the idea of multitasking is a myth.

it is easier to stay on our current path, however stagnant and unfulfilling it may be.—

Most of the time, our consumption patterns are based on habit, not new thinking.

The longer we’ve been buying something the more ingrained this product is in our lives.