I'm travelling at the moment, and I've been trying to be more conscious with the things I do in my quick moments of downtime between events. Since I don't have a great data connection all the time, I've been trying to do more casual things like playing sudoku or reading. I've been picking through a book called The Art of Doing Science and Engineering by Richard Hamming. Richard Hamming was an accomplished mathematician, engineer, scientist, and professor; he was present both at Los Alamos and Bell Labs, and as such had a singular perspective on a crazy period of scientific development. His book has been a good read so far, especially because it goes over how to develop a specific style of thinking rather than going over concrete problems and technical knowledge.

Hamming definitely had a ton of technical knowledge on pretty much any engineering topic, and it would definitely be valuable to hear his thoughts or experiences in that context. But he raises a good point in the first few chapters of the book--that as fields of knowledge change (quicker than anyone can anticipate), it's important to learn how to learn and how to think about problems, so as to be prepared for new knowledge as it comes.

I thought this was a pretty good point, and it made me start to think about how I conceptualize my future. Hamming raises the point that in the context of engineering and scientific development, "Unforeseen technological inventions can completely upset the most careful predictions". But he's quick to assert that despite this, you must still foresee the future that you will face. Even if the future you foresee is inaccurate, the point is that you can at least foresee it, and act with that greater context in mind.

The above point might be obvious to you, dear reader, but it really sat with me. I started to realize that despite trying to foresee my future in the macro scale, I had never really put much stock in it. It's not that I don't try and foresee my future, or give myself the usual year-long and 5-year plans. But, I had always sort of thought that because life can be so unpredictable, I shouldn't even try to predict it. I am still a believer that the best things in life are the unexpected joys you encounter everyday--things you can't plan for. It's like choosing to walk home instead of busing, and seeing a friend on the walk back; or choosing to see a random movie in the spur of the moment, and being totally floored by it. So many of the great and little joys that happen in my life are not the result of carefully laid plans. They're spontaneous happenings, things that cannot be foreseen, and they’re all the sweeter because of it. Life is greater than whatever plans I can set for it, and so I had always been afraid to devote excess energy to meticulous future planning.

But Hamming asserts that even though your preconceptions for the future will never truly align, it's still worth having them. And I think I'm coming around to this way of thinking. Whether in a more technical and professional sense, or an overall personal sense, I think it's possible to balance having a vision for your future and being ok with whatever life unexpectedly throws at you. It's possible to enjoy the spontaneity of life, while still trying to actively direct it.

As an aside, I’ve been listening to this song a lot.

https://open.spotify.com/track/1jcPcDu2YawPfLhwjYnqK2?si=0963beb4db7c49af