>Be Uncompromising. For the man who refuses to compromise holds The Universe in his hands >~ [[Kapil Gupta - Direct Truth - Uncompromising - Non-Prescriptive Truths to the Enduring Questions of Life|Kapil Gupta]] Compromising can be taking one thing and another, and pick the average. <iframe src="https://link.excalidraw.com/readonly/lXyFD7Rrp35iwepE8ppf" width="100%" height="600px" style="border: none;"></iframe> Suppose humans are robots who create models (maps) of the world (territory). When Bob believes X and Alice believes Y and they need to cooperate to achieve a common goal, they either use the average of X and Y, or one of the two, or something in between. In social interactions, this can be a form of politeness, e.g. Bob wants to eat pizza while health-conscious Alice wants to eat broccoli, so they go to an Italian restaurant that also serves salads. This is not a bad compromise, however. When a developer creates what we call a "pull request", it's like sharing a code change with another piece of code, like two codes making love for (hopefully) a better result. The other developers can accept, refuse or ask for "more sex" to improve the result. So it's a form of compromise, taking the average of two pieces of code and making it better. In a team, people have different maps of the world, different beliefs, different directions (goals), but usually a common goal. <iframe src="https://link.excalidraw.com/readonly/FQ4547WKbQ5tbfJQthH3" width="100%" height="600px" style="border: none;"></iframe> This is where the [[Principal agent problem|principal-agent problem]], as described by Naval, comes into play. The principal (the leader) wants what's best for the team or the project, while the agent (the team member) might have personal interests that don't align perfectly with the principal's. This divergence can lead to a need for compromise. [[Idea meritocracy]] is a concept that can help mitigate this problem. In an idea meritocracy, the best ideas win, regardless of who they come from. This aligns everyone's interests towards finding the best solution, rather than pushing their own agenda. In an **idea meritocracy**, the focus is on the merit of ideas, not the people behind them. It's a system where [[open communication]], [[radical transparency]], and [[lack of ego]] are key. Ideas are evaluated through a rating system based on shared principles and goals. This approach aligns everyone's interests towards finding the best solution, fostering a culture of learning from mistakes and constructive disagreement. #metaphysical #humans #social #essay ## Related - [[Conflict resolution strategies]]