A/Prof. Khoa N. Cao
What we find more important than cognition at MMTL is meta-cognition. What's the difference?
Cognition refers to the acquisition of knowledge (what to think),
while meta-cognition refers to insight into cognitive processes (how to think).
Many universities used to focus on the latter, but now focus on the former.
At MMTL, we are looking for students with precocious meta-cognition skills for a few reasons.
Firstly, cognition strongly follows from meta-cognition. Students with robust
meta-cognitive processes are more capable of strong, first-principles cognition.
Secondly, knowledge is changing faster than ever. What you learn today may no longer be applicable
by the time you graduate. Meta-cognition protects against this as your focus is on how to think no matter
the circumstances.
Finally, meta-cognition isn't really something you can "game". It often requires a gestalt knowledge base and
highly developed soft skills. Students who are able to obtain meta-cognition earlier than their peers
are likely to be set-up for lifelong success under the right environmental conditions.
How might you improve your meta-cognition?
1. Read widely and broadly. Read about anything that interests you and dig deeper than you should.
Read stuff that challenges your current worldview. Build up your curiosity and hypertrophy that muscle.
As you move further into adulthood, there becomes a clear distinction between those who read and those who don't read.
We all knew it as children, but the world is a fascinating and wonderful place! I have listed some links at the bottom of this page
which I found particularly insightful in updating my worldview.
2. Don't specialise in just one thing! Medicine might be your primary role, but what about the humanities, business, geopolitics or basketball?
There are millions of doctors, but add some additional specialties and you find it quickly reduces to tens or ones.
I've always hated the "jack of all trades, master of none" argument because it fundamentally assumes constant effort. If you enjoy what
you do and you spend a lot more time than others, it isn't that hard becoming a master of multiple domains (aka a generalist or polymath). Beauty and innovation
are often found at the intersections of fields.
3. Understand that there are many, many different ways of thinking. In a single day, I think like a doctor, an engineer,
an educator, an economist, an inventor, an academic and an entrepreneur many times over. This is an incredible skill that allows me
to tackle challenging problems from many different angles and bring solutions from one field to another.
4. Bring yourself to the edge of knowledge or ask someone to bring you there! A depressing amount of
modern education teaches facts to memorise. Facts about proteins or Alzheimer's. Well, did you know that we understand
surprisingly little about protein structures? 50% of all human proteins are in the "dark proteome", the set of proteins
where its 3D structure remains a complete mystery because the proteins cannot be crystallised with X-Ray crystallography.
You read that right - we have never even visualised half of our proteins! Or that we still have no idea what causes Alzheimer's
and that the leading amyloid/tau theory is coming under question? (and maybe there is a relation to HSV-1?) Maybe that
explains why decades of amyloid therapies have completely failed! There are so many unanswered questions and the clinical medicine
we have today will look hilariously archaic in 100 years. It is your job to solve what earlier generations could not figure out.
Interesting Short Reads
On Curiosity by Faith Fitzgerald:
A short read on the importance of curiosity for doctors and researchers. How curiosity is linked to empathy and so much more.
I Should Have Loved Biology by James Somers:
Why biology is taught wrong at universities and why we should focus on asking questions rather than memorising facts.
How to Be Successful by Sam Altman:
How to be successful and use the power of compounding to your advantage. I read this every 3-6mo to remind myself of my priorities.
Finite and Infinite Games by James Carse:
A summary of the notion of finite and infinite games and how you can work outside of the system.
It's Time to Build by Marc Andreessen:
A call to action to build rather than consume.
Definite Optimists by Peter Thiel:
Explains the concept of definite/indefinite optimism and pessimism and what type of individual builds the future.
How to Get Ideas by Paul Graham:
Originally written for startup ideas, a great list for generating ideas, whether they be for a personal project or a research project.
Interesting Long Reads
How Life Works by Philip Ball: Written by a retired Nature editor, this book raises significant questions on current biology research
and discusses novel approaches for the coming century.
Zero to One by Peter Thiel: Despite Peter Thiel's controversial politics, a fantastic book on how to think about
competition and societal mimicry. Personally life-changing and a great window into how "Silicon Valley" thinks. Good summary here.
In Praise of Idleness by Bertrand Russell: A great read on the absurdity of our societal contract and what success really looks like.
Mimetic Theory by René Girard
I can't seem to find a good summary of this concept online, so here's a brief overview. Individuals fundamentally trend towards mimesis - wanting what others have.
Imitating others is one of our greatest evolutionary strengths (think mirror neurons and building societies), but can lead to great oversights in our
individual behaviour in contemporary times. Why do so many of us want to be a lawyer
or a doctor? Because many of us have been conditioned from childhood that it is prestigious or the "right thing to do". If we were told art or poetry
was prestigious (think Renaissance times), many of us would want that instead!
Much of our educational and vocational
system is built upon an obsession with competition from mimesis. Growing up, we want higher grades. We want to go to the best universities and enter the best careers.
We want to work at the most prestigious hospitals. We want to get into most prestigious clinical specialties. So much of our individual worth
is based on what seems to be contrived and fairly recent badges of success. This can lead to perverse outcomes for both society and the individual.
Stated differently, society shepherds our smartest individuals into increasingly narrow and fierce tiers competition for doubtful societal outcomes. For example, many bright and talented young individuals
are shepherded towards management consulting and rising tiers of prestige. Say we have smart person A and smart person B who expend a lot of their time, effort
and intellect on becoming a partner at McKinsey. At a broad societal level, does it really matter who made partner? Not really, but either way, one talented person wasted
a lot of time and effort that could have been spent on something of real value - maybe an important research insight or creating something of beauty.
Similar arguments could be extended to the field of healthcare. Every year, we have a lot of bright and talented doctors who compete for the right to become a dermatologist or surgeon.
Does it really matter at a societal level whether smart person A or smart person B managed to obtain specialist college entry? Not really, but one wasted a lot of time and effort that
could have been used instead for a research insight or making something of true societal value. It's funny to see that smarter people are more likely to fall into this "mimetic trap" of defining success
narrowly based on what others have.
What can you do to avoid the mimetic trap? The first step is to recognise mimesis. If you personally don't succeed, will someone else do it instead? If the
answer is yes, you're probably in a mimetic trap. The second step is to identify a role that enables you to do unique work - i.e. work where if you fail, no one
can really replace you. More often than not, this correlates to the frontiers of knowledge or capability. If you're researching or building something novel,
it is typically a lot harder for someone else to replace you. Another strategy is to focus on areas that you're unexpectedly good at or passionate about. If you're in the top 1%
at coding, or biology, or art, then it is also challenging to replace you. If you're not in the top 1% of anything, then bring yourself there with a growth mindset.
Most talent in the 1% is through years and years of hard work, rather than natural ability.