Information vs Knowledge, Smart Toilet Seat, and Foundations of a High-Performing Team

SPEAKER_1 (0:05)

Junto Club Welcome to the meeting 67 of the Junto Club. In 1727, Ben Franklin organized a group of friends to create a club for mutual improvement. So we are inspired by his previous club. So in following the same spirit of night, looking to discuss topics and science, philosophy, politics and business, and anything that interests us to fix it for improvement. So join us, Mike and Matt. And today, the main topic for the day is a book called The Five Dysfunctions of a Team.

It actually was published like probably 20 years ago. So getting through the challenges, the main challenge of building a team and why is it hard and things like that. So before we do that, I'm gonna start with a couple of quotes for today. The first quote is, A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting its shoes on by mock train.

Matt (1:13)

I think that quote is very relevant in the modern internet age.

SPEAKER_1 (1:18)

The second one is, Where is the knowledge we have lost in information by TS. Eliot?

Matt (1:25)

Is this a question about, like, in the modern world, where you have so much more information available, there's some sort of, like, is he implying there's a good knowledge about how to, like, deal with things or handle things when you just can't know everything? Are you loose?

Is that what he's trying to imply? I'm not sure.

Mike (1:44)

Like, there's always been a move toward more information is accessible. And, but, like, I guess with, like, just because you can get information more accessibly, doesn't mean you understand how to, like, you know, like, you understand that information in a way that makes it actionable or, like, operationalizing in a meaningful way.

Matt (2:06)

Do you know when he said this out of curiosity?

SPEAKER_1 (2:09)

Not sure. Sometime before he dies, probably.

Well, maybe he said after he died.

Matt (2:19)

I think to Mike's point, this is, we have moved in this direction for centuries now of more information, faster society, whatever. So it's fully understandable that someone, like, would make a quote like this. Not in the past.

But it is a little bit amusing. Imagine being like, oh, wow, like, you know, TV and radio is information dump. You can get a newspaper every day, the new stuff. Imagine bringing them to, like, the modern world and being like, here's your smart phone, you know, and just the overwhelming amount of information that is available and spammed at you on a day. I feel like people would from the past would freak out.

Mike (3:03)

Yeah, well, I think it is. Because if you think back to like the 1800s, it's like literally like you had no choice but to just specialize in some, like some, like a couple of things, like for your world, essentially.

Yeah, I mean, you farmed, you worked with metal, you tied rope, like, you know, if you like worked on a ship or something, like tying ropes was like a big piece of your life. Like you knew how to like tie every knot. You knew how to be like, I mean, it's like now it's like, even if you specialize in something, it's like, yeah, you're bombarded by 50 other things, like by noon, just because of headlines popping up on your phone or whatever.

SPEAKER_1 (3:46)

Yeah, I think it is also related to the first quote from Mark Twain, right? So, a light can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting its shoes on. So, information spread very quickly, but the truth or the knowledge on the night is kind of lost with all the information that is buzzing around, right? So, we are not paying attention to what's underneath the information, I guess, right?

Matt (4:15)

Yeah, I just double-checked, he died in the 60s, right? So, he didn't see the internet, right? But he saw TV and radio and stuff spread.

SPEAKER_1 (4:26)

Now, I thought I have is education, right? Similar to school, education, and I feel like school education is where all kinds focus on information sharing, rather than teaching the knowledge, the principles. For example, in science, science is just like sharing the information, what's in the textbook, but some people do that. I think very few those great teachers that actually teach you the scientific principles and scientific methods, and then how to think and things like that, how to learn, right?

Matt (5:01)

Yeah, that's tough, right? I feel like that's been a problem for a long time. Semi-related on this first quote, though, about the lie versus the truth, I think one aspect is, I mean, information is shared by people, right? And I think what I've realized in modern times is that a lot of lies spread so effectively because it's what people want to believe.