Today, I take a break from describing a specific fundamental principle of human effectiveness. I will take a step back and explain how I landed on some of the fundamental principles.
Like Altschuler I would like to start in the physical sciences with liquid contained in a bottle.
The liquid is in the bottle.
If the liquid is outside of the bottle, the liquid is not inside the bottle.
If the bottle contains soapy water, you cannot draw orange juice from the bottle.
If the bottle is not made to hold, say strong chemicals the bottle will deteriorate and might burst completely.
Once the liquid is outside of the bottle the liquid cannot be put back precisely as it was, the liquid, now exposed to the outside of the bottle, has picked up some contaminants.
The all-time favourite is that the liquid can only come out of the bottle if something else is let into the bottle. If the liquid is let out, without allowing air in, a vacuum is formed which will either stop the liquid from flowing out or will make the bottle collapse onto itself.
When the bottle is empty, it is empty. There is a finite amount of liquid in the bottle.
If you have water in the bottle and wish to make juice from a concentrated solution of the juice, the water will only become diluted juice if the concentrated juice is allowed into the bottle.
The above thinking gets me to the following fundamental principles of human effectiveness:
- The inside cannot affect the outside unless the inside is let out.
- The outside cannot affect the inside unless the outside is let in.
- Once something is let out, it cannot be put back in.
Green Octahedron Blogging 